Sermon Notes: Psalm 145: 8-21, Matthew 14: 13-21: Miracle or Mystery- Help when needed This is a very familiar passage; we often get used to the story and may not see more in it. So much is going on around us. We are called as God’s people to be involved. It is easy to sit and just think “As long as I have my Jesus, he will take care of everything and I don’t have to do anything”- Indeed Jesus is all powerful and can do anything, but how are we as his followers to behave and act? He never told his disciples to just sit and wait for him to perform every act of miracle. He charged them with a task, a mission a command to imitate him. As Gods people we are called to be aware of situations and needs around us, live as compassionate people. We are called to glorify God in everything we do and he has put a spirit of compassion and giving in each of us. Often we may never know why things happen and it is Ok to live with the mystery. In this section we see that John the Baptist who was a close friend of Jesus was persecuted. Imagine your self-losing a close friend or a family member we often want to be left alone. Jesus shows his humanity as he grieves at the loss of a friend and decides to withdraw to a solitary place.The people who are benefactors of his ministry, who have seen all the miracles he had done, followed him, because they didnt understand his needs to be alone, but were more interested in their own needs. They wanted Jesus to take care of their needs. Despite his grief at a loss of a dear friend he showed compassion. When we grieve we often want to be left alone, and we don’t often want to help anyone in need for we consider our situation to be worse than the rest of the world. We grieve over so many little things. We even complain where God is when our car is broken etc. But our needs are so insignificant when we see what is going on around us and if we are willing to pay attention and listen. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the death toll and suffering of civilian in Palestine and Israel and Ukraine, the flight of Christians in Northern Iraq, The thousands of children coming to our borders.. The list goes on…Jesus though Human showed compassion ignoring and suppressing his needs of a quiet and a solitary place to grieve. This shows us what it is like to be a follower. Feelings dictate our lives. Compulsion and not compassion often forces us to do things. Jesus shows us to focus on the needs of others. Often the miracles of the feeding are emphasized when this section is read. The issue or the need was brought to his attention by the disciples. We don’t know for sure if they were driven by compassion or worry about not having enough for themselves. But they still have a concern. The moral here is how Jesus can bless the small things we have and multiply them like the mustard seed. God’s blessing can make the smallest gift to grow and be used for others, the least among us to be glorified etc. We often feel insufficient or incapable of doing things or accomplishing anything we underestimate the gifts given to us and focus on visible and bigger gifts. But Jesus only asks us to give what we have, and he will multiply it for the blessing of others, not just for our benefit. Our small gift may not be enough by itself, but Jesus can multiply it if we give it to him. The best way to increase a gift is to give it away so it multiplies. Jesus takes the little we have and makes it more than we have. It takes a step of faith. Like the wedding that runs out of wine, what are we running out of? What are the stone containers in our day- what does it mean for the empty containers to be filled? We don’t really know what took place that day. We are told people had enough to eat and had leftover. It is a mystery, miracle and we don’t understand it and we don’t need to. Jesus didnt perform his miracles to show his powers, but just to meet the needs at the moment. The abundance of God is not limited to finances. Abundance comes in many forms- skills, ability, peace forgiveness, love etc. But since the miracle of Matthew 14, how many millions of faithful, praying people have slowly starved to death and no miracle came. What do we do with miracle stories? “Perhaps a miracle story is meant to shake up our normal assumptions, inspire our imagination about the present and the future, and make it possible for us to see something we couldnt see before. Perhaps the miracle that counts isn’t one that happened to them back then but one that could happen in us right now as we reflect the story. Perhaps by challenging us to consider impossible possibilities, these stories can stretch our imaginations, and in so doing can empower us to play a catalytic role in co-creating new possibilities for the world of tomorrow.” (McLaren, we make the Road by Walking). By NOT reducing these miracles to the level of “mere facts” on the one hand or “pure superstitions” on the other, but allowing them to stir us to imagine new ways of seeing, leading to new ways of acting and ultimately leading to new ways of being alive. Seeing where we are and where we came from is itself a miracle- I see my life as a series of miracles. To be alive when hundreds of my close friends were killed is a miracle that allows me to be more imaginative if I stayed fully focused on Him and keep clear eyes and ears to see what the needs around me are. -- Solomon
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:00:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015