Monday, July 25, 2011

July 31, 2011 7th of Pentecost


Matthew 14:13-21
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
   15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
   16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
   17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
   18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
“With God, A Little Is A Lot”
Where are the miracles of today which match the miracles of Jesus day?

Right where they have always been; hidden in, under, and with the presence of God in the natural, there to be discovered and embraced with the eye of faith.

“A miracle is any event, natural or supernatural, in which one sees a revelation of God.”

The miracle here could have been that once the people saw what Jesus was going to do with a small boys small lunch, they opened their hearts and their lunches for all to share.

Either way, it is still a miracle!  In fact, it is possible this would be the more difficult - for it meant many hearts being changed, opened to sharing.  This is not an easy task.

“When God seeks to turn the world around, one person is usually enough.”
“Jesus risked his entire ministry on the sufficiency of the infinitesimal.”
“Every social change can be traced to a few determined individuals.”
Walter Wink, “The Power Of The Small”

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”  Mother Teresa

“To Be A Miracle” 
We would believe the miracles if we could reproduce them.  We find it hard to believe them when we can’t.  But a miracle is not a reproduction of something which has happened; it is a happening of something new.

Dare we believe that this miracle would not have happened had the boy not been there with his lunch, and willing to share it?  

We are not just to believe in miracles; we are to be miracles as we dare to believe that with God the impossible can happen even through and with us.

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