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Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Gospel:
Matthew 14:13-21
All You Need
Highlighted
Verses: Matthew
14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard
this, he withdrew
from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the
crowds heard
it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore,
he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their
sick. 15When
it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted
place,
and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into
the
villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them,
“They
need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied,
“We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said,
“Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the
crowds to sit down on
the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to
heaven, and
blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the
disciples
gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were
filled; and they
took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And
those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
I
wanted to talk this week about a mistake I make. Maybe it's a mistake
you make too?
You see, I love to read. One of my favorite things to do is go to
bookstores. And when I go - whether it's a big bookstore or a small one
- I always seem to find something I feel like I need to buy. Sometimes
I find two or three things!
The problem is as much as I love to read, I also have a lot to do. I
have a busy job and on the weekends I like to go out do fun things with
my family - and the truth is I don't really get to read all that much.
So what do you think happens to all those books? That's right. All
around our house are big piles and shelves full of books that - while I
wanted them - maybe I didn't
really need.
Maybe you do the same thing? It might not be with books, but whether
it's toys or books or shoes or food...we probably all sometimes make
the mistake of thinking we just don't have quite enough, when actually
we probably do.
In today's Gospel story the disciples have a problem. A huge crowd has
gathered to hear Jesus and as they look around they notice that they
don't have enough food to feed them all. In fact for the crowd of five
thousand people they have only five loaves of bread and two fish!
They start to get a little worried and they suggest that Jesus send
everyone home because they just don't have enough. But Jesus surprises
them. He tells them to start feeding the crowd - and when they do they
find that not only do they have enough for everyone, but they even have
leftovers!
And while this is story is very famous because it's one of Jesus'
miracles, for us it can be a kind of parable too. It can help us to
remember that when we really think about it we have an awful lot. Often
so much more than we realize!
So next time you find yourself spending a lot of time thinking about
"needing" something new, will you remember the loaves and the fish -
and that God has already given us so much? Good.
Will you pray with me?
Dear God,
We know that, like the disciples, sometimes we wonder if we have enough
in life - when really we have so much more than most. Thank you for
blessing us with health, food, shelter, and even some fun things now
and then. Help us not to become greedy by focusing us upon the needs of
others.
Amen.
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