“A repeat performance? I doubt it”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Mark 8:1-10 (Forward, p. 43) CEV p. 1036
Some people are natural sceptics or doubters, slow to believe that God might actually be able to ‘pull off’ a miracle or intervene in a difficult situation. And yes, that happens even when they have previously seen evidence of His work!
Somehow, they need to see, or hear, it again. I experienced this during a parish visit in a rural area many years ago. I had shared with a man something of my own faith journey, my own experiences of God’s work, and the man exclaimed, “Oh, I’d read about such things in the Bible and in Christian histories, but I never knew they happened to real people.” He meant that meeting someone in person, alive in our world today, made all the difference.
The disciples in today’s account were something like that. They had already experienced Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000, so why should they have been so incredulous today? They still wondered where they’d ‘find enough food to feed such a crowd.’
Sure, the mechanics didn’t, but surely that wouldn’t make any real difference when it comes to God’s economy:
-4,000 hungry people rather than 5,000.
-seven small loaves of bread instead of five small loaves.
-a few little fish instead of two fish.
-seven large baskets of leftovers rather than twelve.
What it says to me is that God is not limited by numbers or by seeming scarcity. He is able to bless and make use of whatever we give to Him, whatever we surrender to Him. We, whether in the church or in society at large, live in an aura of scarcity, of ‘not enough’, of barely scraping by and having to make do. Or, if this isn’t our particular state, still being worried that what we have won’t go far enough or will be wasted or depleted or lost due to inflation and rising costs. Somehow, we miss out on seeing that our God is a God of plenty and of resources. God has enough, and more than enough, for all our needs, whether that be for ourselves, our churches, our
community and society, or our world. And, oddly, He has given us plenteous evidence of this in times past. And so, why do we doubt His ‘repeat performance’? Here’s to trusting Him more fully. Amen.
Forward notes: “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat” (verse 2).
Commemoration: Gregory the Great
“Gregory became pope in 590 CE, about 120 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. During his papacy, Gregory put his faith into action and developed an extensive ministry of feeding the hungry and welcoming the needy into his home. He lived in such a way that brought dignity and respect to others.
“At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, may churches sought new ways to put faith into action. In my congregation, ministry leaders created a food pantry at an elementary school because children isolating at home were going hungry. The initiative began out of deep compassion and has grown and expanded. Other churches got involved, and a new, sustainable ministry continues today.
“Jesus and his disciples gave the crowd an abundance of food, and their story lives on. With God’s help, may the stories from Jesus’s followers in our own time be retold and lived out.”
Moving Forward: “Support a local food ministry with your time and financial gifts.”