Do You Believe In The Phenomenon Of Sharing So No One Would Have A Need?
Good Morning Friends,
Today’s scripture and message is about what happens after the Resurrection in the birth of caring communities and the role of the Holy Spirit in the feeding of Christ’s sheep. It is about victory over sin and victory over greed. It is about being one with each other and God in the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. Do You Believe In The Phenomenon Of Sharing So No One Would Have A Need?
Scripture: Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
Mark 6: 33-44 (NRSV)
Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
Acts 4:32-35 (NRSV)
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:19-31 (NRSV)
Message: We do doubt, like Thomas, when it comes to believing in the power of the Gospel and the power of sharing in unity. Multiple times Jesus faced the condition in people where they believed that they did not have enough…. enough information…enough money… enough food. We see it in the story of the loaves and fishes. The disciples saw the problem. They did not have enough food and yet Jesus tells them to give the people something to eat. The pattern is clear in other scriptures as well. The fact is that God knows what we do not have already. Because all that we have is given by him. So really, God is asking us to stop worrying about what we do not have enough of, and focus on what we can do with what we have already. All of us have the tendency to focus on what we do not have enough of. And something in our hardwiring makes us always want more than what we need. We hold back ourselves because we think we do not think we have enough of time, or money or skills or talent or popularity or energy. And this can apply to us doing things collectively for God too. The fact is all of us worry about what we do not have, forgetting the power of the resurrected Christ. Friends, embrace the grace and step on in faith to believe.
Pray we realize that God is interested in what we do with what we have.
Pray we focus on what we have and what we can do with it. Pray that we learn that the miracle of sharing multiples our love and is meant to help us learn to believe. Pray we learn to serve Christ out of our own comfort zone. Pray we have faith to build community of love with one heart and one soul in Christ. Pray we feed Christ’s sheep. Pray we experience the grace of generous giving. Pray we bear one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 