August 2
Weekend Bulletin
Children’s Bulletin
Deacon’s Digest
God can use what you have
In this weekend’s Gospel Matthew recounts Jesus feeding of the 5,000. What a marvelous miracle done to meet the most basic needs of the people who happen to be right in front of Jesus at the time.. Sometimes it can be easy for us to think of these miracles as something that happened a long time ago but probably won’t happen in our day - right? I mean, Jesus was physically present and by his power as the Son of God fed a great multitude. Matthew makes sure to tell us at the end of this story that there were 5,000 MEN - not counting the WOMEN and CHILDREN! I would guess that a full count of the people would have been closer to 10,000!
In John’s Gospel (14:12) Jesus says this :
Amen, Amen I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. Wow! We will do greater things than feeding the 5,000, than healing lepers, than giving sight to the blind and driving out demons?! If we believe the words of Jesus the answer has to be YES. The question becomes - “what am I doing with what God has given me?” We truly have what we need to bring positive change to the world we live in the physical and spiritual realms. We have been blessed by God to carry out the work that Jesus began.
But if you’re like me you’re always asking God for more. “God bless me with what I need for this, that and the other thing, God give me the power to feed, to heal, to clothe, to bring hope and live to this world”. God’s question to us might be “What are you doing with what I have already given you?”
Most of us think that we are not worthy or don’t have the talent, ability or time to be part of Jesus promise but that is NOT so. Everyone of us is gifted in some way to be part and parcel of God’s continuing work on this earth.
In today’s Gospel Jesus didn’t feed the people with nothing. He started with the small gift the people (or person) were willing to share - 5 loaves and two fish. Jesus turned the generosity of that gift into something greater and, what seemed like something meager becomes a blessing for all.
So again, God asks us - “what are you doing with what I have already given you?” You have been uniquely made with talents and abilities that are meant to serve the world, meant to make God’s kingdom on earth visible and meant to lead others to their heavenly home. We should ask ourselves:
Have I assisted in the feeding of God’s people, especially the poorest of the poor?
Have I helped in clothing others or providing shelter?
Have I brought comfort to the sorrowful or a message of peace to the tense or anxious?
These are, of course, just a few of the many ways we can use what God have given us. We need to be aware of the needs around and respond to them deliberately and with our own abilities increased by God’s Grace.