In both this and the Mark 6 feeding miracle it is like the ultimate Foodbank! People need food ... and it gets provided. The actual Ely Foodbank has been like it (albeit food provided by donations!) - the donations have kept coming to the tune of 584 tonnes over the 10 year lifetime, with just 2% being purchased. Even with the recent 60% increase in demand only certain items have run dry for short periods. This is God's economy of abundance!
Jesus operated with two clear principles. First was the very real need (verse 1 'they have nothing to eat'). Second was His compassion (v2 'I have compassion') - Jesus had a basic God-in-human compassion for what he saw. With these two principles together He wanted to do something ... which demonstrated the Kingdom of God.
The disciples were perplexed about how they were going to achieve the task of feeding the crowd - even though they had achieved it with the larger crowd back in Mark 6! They asked the practical, logical and reasonable question of 'Where can we get food here?'. But Jesus was operating at a different level: it was not how they humanly meet the need, but with God's compassion how they supernaturally meet it. Jesus demonstrated a simple model:
- Give thanks for what you have
- Put it at God's disposal
- Get started ...
There are examples of this working down the age, some are literal feeding miracles (e.g. in orphanages). When we are operating in God's grace-compassion, what we have now is enough to get started! Often Christians hold back, with 'if only we had ...' or 'wait until we get ...' in their heads. Yet the model of Jesus urges to start now, whatever you have now is enough to get going. Of course it is reasonable to assess what resources you have and to consider the needs, to inform your prayers for resources. Yet beware of holding back when the grace-compassion urges you to start moving.
Another detail in the story is that Jesus tells the crowd to sit down (presumably over an area the size of a football pitch). In the Mark 6 account they were sat in groups of 100s or 50s, for the disciples to then distribute. This shows another principle: the disciples had to spread out, taking the multiplying grace-compassion of God with them.
That is the principle we have been advocating for us as Countess Free Church. We don't need to bring people to our building, or even to our Sunday gatherings to let God's compassion flow. No, we can go out ... taking God's grace-compassion with us. We go out with the same source (akin to the few loathes & fish) - it is a spiritual resource, which we give thanks for, put at God's disposal, and then get on with it. At the Queen's jubilee we deliberately didn't do a central event, but instead scattered small events. We advocate the same this year for the King's coronation. We also challenge ourselves this Easter to each invite 1 or 2 people round - to have coffee, cake, easter egg hunt or whatever, but within that time to say 'can I share why Easter is important to me as a Christian?'. In each case our preparation has been Pray - listen - act! That's us tuning into God's grace-compassion resource, looking for the particular people He is directing us to. Naturally you might worry 'do people want to hear me?'. The answer, statistically, is 'Yes!' - the Talking Jesus research shows that 75% of non-Christians felt comfortable with their Christian friends sharing with them, and 33% of them wanted to know more about Jesus from such a conversation.
In John's account (John 6), they feed the 5,000 and then go off. Yet the crowd catch up and Jesus says "you have come because you had your fill of food ... but be open to spiritual food". If we meet physical needs, then of course people will come back - but we must learn to give out spiritual food. Let us look for those who are ready to receive such food, and know that you can feed them without having to be an expert. You might ask how you do that. The answer is to follow that simple model of Jesus: give thanks for what you do have (your story of God in your life), put it at God's disposal, and get started on sharing. We can scatter out and do this in diverse places.
One final thought. The Pharisees catch up with Jesus and want a sign. Hopefully you are thinking "He's just feed 4,000 people - duh!". Jesus answers "Why ask for a sign ... there will be no sign" (even though He has been doing lot's of signs!). The deal is that if hearts are hard, then there is no sign that will ever fit the criteria we set - hardness will always over-rule. Yet if hearts are soft to God and God working through Jesus, then spiritual food can and will flow.
Pray - listen - act ... look for those whose hearts are softening. Maintain a soft heart yourself, not just looking at physical, not locked in human calculations of resource, but open to the supernatural, saying "so we do have ...". You can give thanks for that which you do have, give it to God, and get started. In other words, operate in God's economy of abundance, scattering out to distribute the infinite resources of God's grace-compassion.
No comments:
Post a Comment