Monday, February 16, 2015

Thank God for what you have & share it with Others!

Mark 8:1-10

One day about this time as another great crowd gathered, the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples to discuss the situation. “I pity these people,” he said, “for they have been here three days and have nothing left to eat. And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road! For some of them have come a long distance.” “Are we supposed to find food for them here in the desert?” his disciples scoffed. “How many loaves of bread do you have?” he asked. “Seven,” they replied. So he told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces and passed them to his disciples; and the disciples placed them before the people. A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to serve them. And the whole crowd ate until they were full, and afterwards he sent them home. There were about 4,000 people in the crowd that day and when the scraps were picked up after the meal, there were seven very large basketfuls left over!

Food for thought!

Have you ever felt hungly while sitting at a dining table, or felt sick while in hospital, or felt dry while inside a church, or felt in need of love with your spouse around...? This is what the disciples did. They felt empty, insufficient, limited, while in the presence of Jesus. Jesus had said, “I pity these people, for they have been here three days and have nothing left to eat. And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road! For some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples responded, “Are we supposed to find food for them here in the desert?”

The disciples are frustrated and don't know what to do; they're with Jesus and they're are confused; they've Jesus and don't know what to do; they followed Jesus and don't know him. And so in order to open their eyes, Jesus makes a question to the disciples: “How many loaves of bread do you have?” This question reminds us several things: that sometimes we need what we have, we cry for what we possess, we search for what we already have; we're poor with all our talents and God given gifts with us; we don't see opportunities while God gave us eyes to see; we suffer when we have the cure with us; we starve with food in our hands; we have questions whose answers we know; we're ignorant with our brains in our head; we don't know with all the knowledge around.

How much bread do you have? How much intelligence do you have? How many talents do you have? How many friends do you have? How much luck and opportunities and money do you have? Not much? Do like Jesus did: Giving thanks, he took the seven bread loaves, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples so they could hand them out to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He pronounced a blessing over the fish and told his disciples to hand them out as well. The crowd ate its fill. Seven sacks of leftovers were collected."

Jesus did the following: 1) gave thanks for the seven loaves of bread. In other words, Jesus did not complain but thanked God for what he had. Do you ever thank God for what and whatever you have? 2) Jesus then broke them and shared them. Do you remember to share the little you have, or you think it is too little to share? So there're two things Jesus did to make the miracle: thank God for what and whatever he had; share what and whatever he had. Try this and you will have the miracle done by you. Thank God and share.

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