Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Wednesday, August 20, 2014 

John 6:1-15

Today's reading is account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. I  have come to realize that this event is not about Jesus being a possible miracle worker as some might suggest. Yes , Jesus was moved by the hunger of the group gathered there , and there was an apparent absence of food, but you will recall that Jesus in resisting the Devil in the wilderness, did not want to base his ministry and message that would have made people follow him because  they thought he had supernatural powers and could perform miracles not available to the ordinary person. So he rejected this course of action for his life and work. 

So what is important here? If Jesus wanted to share something of God and the way God is present, he showed them a way that they too might engage and share. With 5 loaves and 2 fish, after he had given thanks, he distributed them. and when all was said & done, after all were feed, 12 baskets of food were left over. Did the people, after seeing what a boy with 5 loves and 2 fishes had shared, did some of them also do likewise, moved by the actions of that young lad, such that not only was their  physical  hunger met, but that a spiritual hunger had also been addressed.

And Jesus saw fit to slip away, before the crowd could do an action which might give the authorites at large an excuse to size him.

Archdeacon Ken Cardwell