Good Morning Friends,
Jesus has an amazing gift for taking the traditions of the past and extrapolating their core ideas and the memories of the good times associated with them to create something new. Hopefully we get a sense of it in today’s lectionary scripture. We see in them that success is not measured by what we possess, but by who possesses us. More in what we might borrow than what we might buy. It is about our attitude more than altitude. And friends, if Jesus Christ possesses us, we are successful beyond measure despite the rung on the ladder we are climbing. When we learn to love the experiences of life God has allowed us to be in, we become fruitful despite position and power. Jesus teaches us the wisdom of being content with what we have but also to thrive and flourish in the abundance of the life victorious despite circumstance. Regardless, it would be wise to set some limits…portion our plate size and set a financial number of what we need so that we can help meet others needs with the rest. And so, we ask, When Is Enough, Enough?
Scripture: The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin. The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.”
Numbers 11:4b-15 (NRSV)
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 14:13-21 (NRSV)
Message: John the Baptist has just gotten his head cut off and the people of Jesus’ hometown have rejected him. Jesus has been telling his disciples and would be followers, parables about the Kingdom of God and now he is going to show them what it is like. And the response is not vengeance or anger but compassion. This is the setting for the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 and its images are so closely linked to the story of Moses that it should jump out of the pages of today’s text from Numbers about the Israelites giving in to wanting more. You see, we live in a world that tells us there is always something more, something better, something we must have to be happy. The twelve tribes of Israel whined about the food they had to eat but Jesus demonstrates the super abundance of God’s provision by feeding 5000 men plus thousands more women and children by borrowing five loaves and two fish and multiplying them in such a way that once all had had their fill, twelve baskets full of broken pieces of food were left over. That is the miracle of mobilizing the Kingdom and it is reflected all the things Jesus borrows…even you.
And So, God is the great provider and sometimes God uses us to help others and at other times the Spirit is not in it at all. Those with money have a radar that goes up in advance of an ask and part of the problem is being willing to give and the second is how much, even for very worthy causes that have been vetted by society. But guided by Jesus’ behavior, he often did not give money, nor did he ask for it, though he did talk about it at length. What he did was borrow what he needed from people willing to lend. He borrowed Peter’s fishing boat to give a sermon. He borrowed some loaves and fishes from a young boy. He borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus even borrowed the Upper Room to celebrate the Passover and borrowed a rich man’s tomb for his burial. Many of the things Jesus borrowed glorified God by fulfilling prophecy and to this day are great examples of how to be rich in the ways of God if we would just realize that we have more than enough if we lend to God what is God’s already. Proverbs 19:17 gives proper guidance: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will be repaid in full.”
Pray we realize that we cannot out give God. Pray we start with what we have, which by the world’s standards is much more than most. Pray we experience the rewards of lending our time and energy and creativity to Jesus. Pray the joy of life is more in the journey than the destination. Pray we not even want the right things if it is the wrong time or if we are motivated by the wrong reasons. Pray we realize that God does not want us to look somewhere else to have our needs met. Pray we are never unappreciative of God’s provision. Pray we do not reject God’s sufficiency. Pray we realize that godliness with contentment is great gain. Pray we look to God. Pray we realize that God can create something out of nothing. Pray we appreciate the abundance of God’s compassion. Pray we loan our lives to Jesus and surrender to him our voice and hands and smiles and eyes and allow God to live inside of us as an example of the life that lives on forever. Pray we let Jesus answer the question of when enough is enough. Pray we face up to the issue of obedience.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 