This Is Jesus
One of the most famous stories in the Bible is the feeding of the 5000. It made such an impact on those who experienced it, that a telling of it made its way into all four of the gospels.
You probably know the outline of the story: Jesus and his disciples try to retreat to a quiet place to recover from a season of being sent in ministry (and from the blow of John the Baptist being killed). When they get to where they were headed, they find a huge crowd gathered there waiting on them. So, Jesus has compassion on the crowd, teaches and heals them. Toward the end of the day, a few of the disciples approach Jesus, “Jesus, it’s getting late. Let’s send these people home so they can get something to eat and rest.”
“You give them something to eat,” Jesus says.
Of course, this is a ridiculous proposal. There are 5000 men (not counting women and children) there! It would take half a years’ wages to feed them all. But Jesus sends the disciples out to scour for food…and it turns out that there is this one boy in the crowd who held on to his lunch a few hours too long.
One boy. Five loaves and two fish. Not enough to make a dent.
But then Jesus does what Jesus does.
He takes what is offered to him. He blesses it. He breaks it. And he gives it.
And at the end of the day, they collected twelve baskets of leftovers.
You know, this “taking, blessing, breaking and giving/multiplying…” I think these are the kinds of things Jesus does all the time – with all of us.
This is Jesus. It’s just who he is and what he does. These are the kinds of things Jesus does in our lives on a regular basis to help transform us into his own character and likeness.
We hope you’ll join us on Sundays this month as we explore these ways Jesus works in all our lives on a regular basis to help us become Kingdom of God people.