“A prevailing ethos of scarcity”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, August 17, 2022
John 6:1-15 (Forward, p. 19) CEV p. 1107
Andrew’s comment to Jesus after seeing what seemed to him to be a rather meagre and inadequate provision for such a large crowd, ‘But what good is that with all these people”, could well be the mantra, the recurring lament, of so much of the church over the years. Whether it referred to finances, volunteers and staff, facilities or physical resources, there is, far too often, what is basically a survival mode of thinking. “Well, we ‘managed’ again, this year.” (Clearly, the implication is that we might not do quite so well next year). This attitude of ‘managing’, of barely ‘making it’ year by year, is what Mary Joe Leddy, in her book Radical Gratitude, describes as an ethos of scarcity.
Jesus, we will note, has nothing of this ethos. He notes the boy’s gifts—as meagre and insufficient as they may seem--received them with gratitude, blesses them and then puts them to work. He has absolutely no qualms or hesitancy, no sense that this might not be enough, no sense of we’ll try or best or we’ll ‘make do.’ He simply takes the available resources, blesses them and uses them to ‘do the trick.’
So, where does this leave us, us today? Can we expect Jesus to literally multiply our resources such as He did with the feeding of the 5,000 on this occasion? I’m not sure whether most of us would want to try that, it would certainly stretch our faith far beyond what is normal for us.
So, instead, let me suggest three lesser, more intermediate steps. First, let us ask the Lord to show us what resources we do have, whether those resources be people, money, facilities or materials. (They may not be in plain sight or be obvious. In fact, they may be ‘out there’ in the wider faith community of our church. Like with the boy in our story they may need to be sought out and brought to the attention of the church leaders.)
And then, secondly, let us ask God how these might be put to work, whether in the church itself, or beyond. Here we might be quite surprised at what the Lord reveals. For instance, there may be talents and abilities and experience out there that we have never dreamt of. And likewise, with our church buildings, there may be uses that we never even imagined. And then, finally, thirdly, we will need to step out in faith and act on what God has shown us. I really do not believe that God wants us to wallow in what is often a sense of helplessness, hopelessness and self-pity, often bordering on despair. I believe that God is our provider and wants us to move ahead and meet needs and opportunities with confidence and joy and a firm resolve that, together, we can do it! Amen.
Forward notes: “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself” (verse 15).
“Each fall, teachers spend their own money buying stacks of pencils and notebooks for needy students. That is part of being a true educator—'feeding’ students in multiple ways. A hungry student cannot study well; a deprived one can’t take notes without pen and paper. Teachers help so that students can learn.
“Jesus, a true teacher, has seen his students hurting so badly they cannot hear him, so he heals them. They are too hungry to listen, so he feeds them. Then the crowd, rejoicing in his bountiful gifts, wants to make him king.
“It seems reasonable, but what the crowd misses, and what we sometimes miss too, is that Christ comes not to rule us but to heal and feed us in spirit. Empowered by Jesus, we are commissioned to become teachers to share with others the greatest lesson of all.”
Moving Forward: “Consider helping a local teacher buy extra supplies for students.”
