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Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Bread and Enough to Spare
Exodus 16:1-5, 13-21; Matthew 14:13-21
Sunday was our monthly time to share Holy Communion in morning worship. A bit of bread, a sip of grape juice, for every worshiper in the house. Not quite so coincidentally, the assigned Gospel for the morning was Jesus' miracle of feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. That feat was amazing enough in itself, but the kicker came when the disciples collected 12 overflowing baskets of leftovers when the meal was done.
That generous miracle -- bread and enough to spare -- reminded me of the Exodus story about "manna." The word is a pun on the Hebrew version of "What is it?" -- the question the Israelites asked in amazement when they first saw the breadlike stuff that fell with the dew each morning. They were out in the desert, partway between slavery in Egypt and security in their promised land. Every husband and father went out at dawn to collect enough to feed his family for that day. Everybody had just enough, and nobody went without. Each person was responsible to do his own part, for his family's sake and for the whole community's sake.
So it goes in all of life, especially spiritual life. Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." The same principles apply... Each of us is responsible to recognize and receive God's supply of our daily needs; none of us has to go without those needs being met. All of us are to look out for all of us. God's generous supply will never run dry.
In that light, I remembered a dream. In two brief scenes it dramatically portrayed both hell and heaven. Surprisingly, both scenes featured the same people, sitting at the same huge banquet table, in the same luxurious room. Just one detail was different between the two scenes, but that made all the difference in the world. In this world, and in the world to come. In a different kind of miracle, the dream transformed "Bread and enough to spare" into "bread and enough to share."
Curious? Then...
Listen to the GODblog!
posted by Jack Buckley at
11:11 AM
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