Be the Miracle
Most people know
the story from the Bible of how Jesus fed a multitude with a few fish and
several loaves of bread. They know that there were crowds of thousands who had
come to hear Jesus teach and they know that after being there for a while,
Jesus said to his disciples, we need to feed these folks. Most people know that
there are several versions of the story and in one, the disciples ask how they
should feed them, in another they discuss the amount of money it would take to
feed them, while in another someone says that no amount could feed the huge
crowd.
People know
that in the story someone tells Jesus that there is a boy with five barely
loaves and two fish. Jesus then blesses the two fish and five loaves and tells
the disciples to feed them to the crowd and then collect what is left over. (I
love that Jesus recycled.) The disciples do as they are told and there are
twelve barrels full of food left over.
I love this
story. I love that Jesus cared about the soul of the folks as well as their
physical needs. I love that there is a conversation about money because it lets
me know that these were also practical people. But for me the real miracle is
not that Jesus multiplied the food. The reason folks were following him in the
first place is because he had been healing the sick and teaching powerful lessons
in the first place.
The real miracle for me is that there
were 5,000 folks, but only one boy brought a lunch.
It gets
better; nowhere in the story do we hear about the little boy arguing with the
disciples. He never said, “Why should I
share my lunch? Why don’t they work for their own food?”
I think the little boy had the heart to know
that if Jesus could feed a multitude with two fish and five loaves of bread,
then he was going to eat too.
For me, the power of this story is
that we are to be the miracle on earth. God/The Universe/ Cosmos multiplies
every seed that is planted.
We must plant the seeds.
When someone
is hungry, we should care. I’ve been to churches that will feed the homeless,
but only if they listen to the minister’s sermon. But I’ve also been to
churches like SsAM in Wilmington, Delaware where the homeless eat first and the
members listen to them.
We often
look at the Bible, The Koran, TheTorah and all other Holy books as if they are
the thing. It hardly ever occurs to us that we must bring them to life.
Today look
for ways to be the miracle:
·
Pack
a lunch
·
Be
willing to share it
·
Save
what you have left
·
Share
that too
Miracles happen every single day because you are the miracle.
Be you, be well, be miraculous
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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