In John’s Gospel, chapter 6, we read about the feeding of the 5,000. Of course this is 5,000 men. I expect that they had women and children with them as well, so perhaps there might have been as many as 20,000 people. Jesus asks Philip how they are to feed so many people. On mere human terms this seems like an impossible task. But to Jesus, of course, all things are possible. Andrew finds a boy who has three small barley loaves and two fishes. This is a ridiculously small amount of food to feed so many people. But Jesus can do it. He breaks the bread and the fish and after everyone has eaten their fill the apostles collect 12 baskets of leftover food. How must that little boy have felt when he saw what Jesus had done with his tiny offering? When we are engaged in doing God’s work we may only have a very little to offer. Our meagre contribution to the task may seem to us to be insignificant. But God can take our small input and magnify it until it is enough, and more, to complete the task. If we give our little, then God will give a lot. Sometimes when we are faced with those seemingly insurmountable tasks, if our task is God’s will, then God will put his turbo on our engine and make us big enough to tackle the job.
Jesus walks on the water
How would you feel if you were in an open boat, in the dark, with a rough sea, there or four miles from land and you see a figure approaching you apparently walking on the water? I think you’d be afraid too. But Jesus calls out to the disciples that it is he, and they take him into the boat. Such is the narrative in John’s Gospel. I find that Matthew’s account resonates more with me. In Matthew’s account Peter asks Jesus to summon him out onto the water with him. Jesus calls him and Peter obeys faithfully (an example, perhaps, of Bonhöffer’s faith and obedience) and walks out onto the surface of the water. Peter, of course, becomes afraid because of the weather and starts to sink. He calls out for Jesus to save him which, of course, Jesus does. I think that this resonates so strongly with me because in my own personal walk with Jesus i know that once, if i were Peter, I would have reached out for the boat to save me. I would have put my trust in man and his abilities. Nowadays I know better and I would also call out to Jesus to save me. We must accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and put our trust wholly in him
amateurtheologica 