Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

St Matthew, Chapter 14, verses:19 - 20a, The Needs of the People: The Multiplication Miracle.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Jesus feeds five thousand) Part 3.   

And Christ told his disciples to bring the five loaves and the two fishes to him and he would demonstrate what needed to be done.  The disciples wanted to dismiss the people.  The disciples wanted the people to leave.  The disciples wanted the people to go away, to be on their own, to leave them, so that they could find peace.  But Christ did not want the people to leave.  Christ did not want to dismiss the people.  Christ did not want to send them away because they did not have food to feed the people.  Christ was their food.  Christ was their drink.  Christ was their clothing.  Christ was their all and the disciples did not understand.

The disciples did not know.  The disciples did not totally see Christ.  They did not see who he had made them to become and therefore did not understand.  For Christ wanted the disciples to feed the people.  Christ wanted the disciples to give them drink.  Christ wanted the disciples to clothe the people, to provide shelter, to provide protection, to provide for all their needs.  And they did not understand that they could do these things or, that they would do these things in Christ's name.  So they wanted to send the people away.  They needed to have the people leave.  They needed to separate themselves from the people that they may find rest for their own needs.  But who would provide for the people?  Who would give them food?  Who would teach the ways of the kingdom of heaven if the disciples did not understand who they were and what was their mission?

So Christ had to demonstrate the power that they would be given.  Christ had to show the disciples who they would become.  Christ had to, once again, provide an example for them to follow.   And when he had ordered the crowd to recline on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.   And all ate and were satisfied.

And so Christ gave his disciples an example to follow to do the multiplication miracle.  He showed them what to do.  And they saw with their own eyes how the miracle happened.  Yet it happened before their very eyes.  He gave them the loaves that was broken.  He gave them the fish that was broken into pieces.  And they gave it to the people.  The basket was passed around and each person eat from it.  Each person took their fill.  Each person ate their fill and the basket never emptied.  The basket never stopped multiplying.  The food continued to fill itself until the last person took from it.  And the basket was never empty.  The basket never stopped replenishing itself.  The basket continued to multiply the fish and the pieces of bread to feed the people.  This was the miracle.  This was the multiplication.  This was the work of Christ and the work that the disciples would do, to feed the people. 

We live in a rational world today.  We have science and math and history and believe that all is possible through our own ability to understand and explain our world and how it works.  Our achievements have surpassed all other achievements in the entire history of mankind.  We have achieved space.  We have reached for the stars.  We can see the distant Milky Way and other galaxies.  In our eyes our achievements are endless.  All this is given to us as men of achievement that we may believe in ourselves.  We  must believe that we can achieve.  We must believe that given time we will achieve all things.  We will tame the winds, calm the storms, understand the earthquakes, create rains and make the sun shine to our liking.  All these things we believe that we can do if we only believe in ourselves and throw off the beliefs of the past.

What, would you believe?  Christ tells us that he is the son of the one true God who is the father of all creation.  Christ tells us that the father loves us, will provide for us, will protect us if we only believe in him and heed his commandments.  And to those who do believe, he will provide a counselor to come and abide with him/her that we may know the truth.  Christ performed the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and the fishes before the eyes of his disciples.  The name of Jesus still brings forth miracles today, to the sick, and the lame, and the downtrodden.   But, we live in a world of achievements, a world that turns our beliefs away from God and towards ourselves.  How would you respond to a miracle performed before your eyes?  Do you believe that our achievements will be able to explain how it happened?  Would our science give meaning to the miracle?  Christ performed miracles.  The disciples performed miracles.  When will you realize that you are a miracle in Christ?  Come, feed the people.  Satisfy their needs!  For you are one in Christ and in Christ all things are.