Is Your Glass Half Full or Half Empty or Would You Like it to Overflow?
Good Morning Friends,
In my work I get to meet a lot of people with dough and a lot of people that hunger daily for baked bread.
Connecting them both to the Baker is what God does all the time. And sometimes he uses our little gifts of faith to connect, to change, to help transform and multiply. But let’s face it. Most Christians only have enough belief to be miserable. Most do not believe that God can help them achieve what they need immediately. Most of us have an uncertain attachment to Jesus. We are stiff necked. We hardly notice our own prosperity or the physical poverty of so many others. We discount the spiritual. We are torn apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God’s abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity. Do not be confused. This is not a promotion of a social justice theology or a strategy for raising funds. It is about staying closer to Jesus because in doing so we will bring a new economy of abundance to the world. So, Is Your Glass Half Full or Half Empty or Would You Like it to Overflow?
Scripture: 6After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.* 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages* would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ 10Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they* sat down, about five thousand in all. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.
John 6:1-13 (NRSV)
27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ 28Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’
John 6:27-29 (NRSV)
Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:57-69 (NRSV)
Message: The Earth Day Celebration at Lake Trafford in Immokalee, yesterday reminded me of the miracles of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee. Indeed it was a day of abundance for Jesus was part of it. There was no scarcity of food. The sun, breeze and view and music was inspiring. The words offered and art created was stimulating. We read about this presence of holy abundance in today’s scripture. But let’s take it a step further and what happened after the miraculous sign of the feeding of the five thousand. Here Jesus teaches about the work of God and the Bread of Life, but the crowd does not get it. Or at least not fully. They call Jesus a Rabbi but do not treat him as one. Something is terribly wrong with their motivation. The same spiritual problem afflicts us today. Too often we fail to have eyes to see and ears to hear God present in our lives. We are to be faulted not for our interest in the physical, but for lacking perception of the spiritual through and in the physical. We focus on scarcity when the God of abundance is with us. Indeed, Jesus is in the sacraments and the events of daily life. Jesus was at the Earth Day Celebration in Immokalee because the lake was dead and is now being resurrected. Friends, Jesus has a great ability to provide. He is bread for the hungry.
Rome in the first century had a welfare program they called Bread for Peace. The plan backfired because the demands of the crowds simply grew and grew. Jesus knew He faced a similar problem after He had fed the masses. In response he said that He was the Bread of life. He told the crowds: Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life. So friends, we need to feed the poor and hungry, but conversion to Christianity in exchange for food and benefits is not the answer. The class warfare when Jesus walked this earth is all too similar to the class warfare we face today. If we are Jesus’ disciples we carry with us the ability to turn everything upside down once again. There is no turning back now. Jesus is the only way our spiritual needs can be met. If we are focused on the materialistic we will be disappointed. Learn that little is much if God is in it….that Jesus alone can truly satisfy. Discover that every problem we face, every difficulty that challenges us is allowed or even sent by God to enrich and increase our capacity to serve His Kingdom. When it comes to understanding God, believe Jesus.
Pray we have a real interest in a relationship with God. Pray that we believe that in all things that matter, the answer is Jesus. Pray that the next time we partake of communion we remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life.
Pray we receive our daily bread not as a demand but as both a gift and way of work. Pray we follow Jesus for the right reasons. Pray that we realize that man cannot live by bread alone; we must feed on every Word of God. Pray that the power in the Word nourishes us….heals us and changes us. Pray that we not feed on that which is does not nourish. Pray we hunger for spirituality and justice through Jesus. Pray we imitate Christ’s love. Pray that the truth transforms us. Pray we realize that the Word has become Flesh.
Pray we not get discouraged when our resources are inadequate, but rejoice knowing that God provides only if we have a need. Pray we realize that Jesus is the Bread of Life and every difficulty is allowed by God to enrich and enlarge us. Pray we realize that only Jesus can truly satisfy.
Pray that even a small piece of Christ in us…even a weak faith, will in time make a big difference. Pray that we see beyond the miracle to the miracle maker…that we see beyond the function of the feeding to the intimacy and completeness of being at Christ’s table partaking of a meal that truly satisfies. Pray our motivation is one of love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 