Feeding time...

Excerpt from Luke 9.10-17 (RSV)

But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish--unless we are to go and buy food for all these people."

A book I was reading recently got me to thinking about what makes a feast a feast.  In the book, all it takes is getting out every food item that you have and sharing it all.  There was no planned out courses or special invitations just people responding with joy to folks that showed up.  People took what they had and laid it out on the table for everyone to enjoy.  So it turns out that a feast is more than just food or the right dinner ware, it is also an experience, filling body and heart with gratification and delight over doing what is expected and proper according to social convention. 

In the feeding of the 5000 (found in all four of the Gospels), the disciples get caught up trying to make due with meager resources.  They think “we have scarce items and there are umpteen people that are hungry.”  Instead of getting started, according to our Biblical narrative, they trade in the joy for being stuck until God does something amazing, creating a feast for everyone.

God’s ways shown to us most vividly in Jesus Christ really has a vision for the world that there is enough for everyone.  If we share what we have with others trusting that others will share with us, we find that God does provide, it just might not be in the way I thought it would and it is a feast for heart and soul!

Sunday we look at I Corinthians and here’s some “food” for thought.  “What in our lives might need to be transformed by God so that we can fully embrace what God is calling us to be and do?”