You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don’t make judgments like that. John 8:15 (MSG)

A Convenient Miracle – The Table Series – Part 6

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6  |  PART 7

The feeding of the five thousand is told in a way that makes it look like it was an afterthought. As if Jesus said,

“Oh goodness me, it's getting late! Everyone must be hungry! BUT WAIT, there’s no food for miles. I know! I’ll pull some fish and bread out of my hat and feed everyone. That will do the trick.”

What if feeding the five thousand plus people who had desperately followed Jesus that day WASN’T an afterthought? WASN’T a convenient miracle to control a large and hungry crowd? WASN’T a means to an end, a solution to a problem?

What if it was an opportunity to gather together a group of unlikely friends and family? It was unheard of that a group that large and that diverse would gather together to break bread. A group full of people from all different social classes and beliefs that previously would have never done something so intimate as eat together.

Such a group would be a startling message to the Romans who controlled and occupied the land; to Herod who had just beheaded the one who proclaimed the coming Christ; to those who sought to suppress Jesus and his message of unconventional peace, and for those who sat waiting, hungry, and unified.

I have a feeling that Jesus looked around at the crowd and the land that they stood and thought, “This is the perfect place to prepare the table and share a meal.”

It was more than a meal. More than a convenient miracle. More than a display of Christ's power. It was a subversive feast protesting the social, political and religious labels and constructs of a day and age where separateness and control were of highest value (have things really changed that much?). The powers that controlled the land wanted anything but unity and togetherness amongst the Jewish people. They were doing all they could to divide and conquer.

So, Jesus gathered together. He had a picnic with five thousand plus people, sending a message saying, “we can do this.” We can live together; we can be at peace. God’s table is not exclusive but inclusive. And his message is that there’s always room at the table for as many who are hungry.

The only prerequisite for a seat at the table is hunger.

Jesus said, “You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don’t make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn’t make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father.” (John 8:15-16).

This is where I am challenged and encouraged the most these days. Who do I accept and who do I turn away? Do I judge out of the narrowness of my own experiences? Or out of the largeness of the Divine?

And if I was to lean on the largeness of God, who am I to say who and what he includes if it is not one and all?

I am thankful he includes me. And if he includes me, if he sets a place for me at his table, then I figure there is a place for everyone.

Go to Part 7 – Bread and Wine »

[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]