Tale of 2 Meals

Different passage from bulletin

Jamaica Meal - Satisfied - Abundance Kids camp -Never satisfied - Scarcity Look at two meals that are back to back in scripture - Matthew 14 1st - The feast of Herod’s birthday. Should have been marked with abundance, but instead was marred by scarcity. But it wasn’t the food that was scarce. It was a mindset of scarcity. John the Baptist had been arrested. He had been calling out Herod to tell him he shouldn’t be with Herodious - which also happened to be his sister in law. Herod didn’t like that, but also didn’t want him killed. Fast forward to this feast. The daughter of Herodious danced at the party, did well, Herod granted her a request. The request was to behead JTB. Made by Herodious. Herod complies So much scarcity here that leads to JTB’s death - at the core, there was a scarcity mindset. Jesus and John the Baptist were threatening the power of the empire. The empire was marked by looking out for number 1. Gotta get mine. Power grabs. Not enough power to go around. Herod wanted Herodious… who was already taken. A scarcity mindset. There’s not enough, so I’m going to hoard it all. The message of Jesus and JTB was that there is enough for all. The kingdom of God is for all. There is no scarcity! But that message was threatening to an empire marked by a scarcity mindset, and it ultimately leads to the death of JTB. Jesus gets word of JTB death, and that’s where we pick up our main scripture reading: 13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Jesus learns of death of JTB - obviously devastated. It was his cousin. Grief leads him to a place of withdraw. To a deserted place. Was depleted - scarcity But the crowds followed him. As is often the case, had compassion and healed them. What’s interesting is he did this in a time where scarcity would be expected. How? Seems that he took just a few minutes to connect with his father. In a situation that would have caused depletion and scarcity, just a short time with God seemed to have refilled him. I think he understood that his father is a God of abundance. They were headed toward evening. Disciples advised Jesus to let them go get food. Used to think this story read that the crowd was hungry and the disciples, in a moment of non compassion, sent them away. The reality is, the disciples sent them away out of concern for them. No food, had to get to town, and do it before town was closed. Not that they weren’t compassionate, they were just operating from a mindset of scarcity. Jesus replies “You give them something to eat” - from mindset of abundance Turns out they have nothing except 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Matthews account doesn’t specify where the food came from, but other accounts credit it to a little boy. This little boy: This is all I have, but here it is… Abundance! So Jesus takes what is given, blesses it and gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it. As he offers it up to the Father, he recognizes that the abundance is because of God But in blessing, breaking and giving, Jesus also foreshadows the first communion with his disciples. On the night he was betrayed, he blessed, broke and gave. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of abundance. There is enough for all! Disciples distributed the food, they ate and ALL were FILLED That’s not an exceptional statement in our American culture, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t the norm. For most of us, to eat and be filled is an every meal occasion. Not the norm across the world, and certainly not this context. Men, women and children were FILLED There are 2 perspectives of Abundance that I want to point out: The childHe gave what he had. He didn’t say “Oh this is all I have, it’s not going to be enough to feed everyone, so I’ll just keep it to myself” He somehow understood that in God’s economy of abundance, it was enough to make a difference. Tell you about a modern day story of people with this same perspective. There’s a large gathering online who follow a lady named Sharon McMahon on social media. What started out as an individual just trying to help everyday people understand how government work has gained a huge following. Sharon has decided to use this following for good. Over the past 2.5 years, she has used her platform to raise 8.7 million dollars for causes ranging from supporting teachers, disaster response, medical debt, and other areas. She has accomplished this by convincing her followers to accept an abundance mindset. She challenges her followers to just give the balance from their venmo, or other small amount… even if it’s a few cents. The scarcity mindset says my $2.32 venmo balance isn’t enough to fix the problem, so I’ll just keep it. The abundance mindset of this little boy says I may only have $2.32, but I’m going to give it. And of that 8.7 million that Sharon has raised, the average donation is LESS THAN $5! JesusHe understood the idea of abundance. He also understood the need to connect to the source of the abundance in a time of grief and depletion. When the disciples wanted to send them away, he knew there would be enough. He offered what was given to God - again, the source of abundance. There’s another component of abundance present in this story that I think is worth noting. It’s in a small but significant detail of the story. When it came time to distribute the food, Jesus invited the disciples to participate in the miracle. All the glory could have been his, but that would be a scarcity mindset. So he let his disciples participate in the miracle So a couple thoughts for you as we discern what we can take away:

Do you believe there is abundance?In the stuff of this world? Food, resources, etc. That affects the way you view people An abundance mindset will help you understand that your gifts and resources are a significant contribution

But also do you believe the kingdom of God is marked by abundance? Sometimes I wonder if we are scared there is not enough to go around. Not enough grace for everyone, and that makes us quick to draw lines of who is in and who is out. What would change if we truly believed there was enough for everyone?

Second thing stems from Jesus inviting the disciples’ participation.

Are you inviting others to participate in your kingdom work? If you are involved in any sort of ministry, within the church or outside, what would it look like to invite someone to join you in your ministry?

I invite you to the kingdom of abundance