Presby-Musings

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green 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 his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.  They all ate and were satisfied...  Mark 6:39-43 In the above passage from Mark's Gospel, we get a glimpse into Jesus' miraculous "Feeding of the Five Thousand," a miracle that Jesus used to teach his followers something new about the kingdom of God.   The last phrase from the verses above is a beautiful description of how Jesus continually spoke about God's kingdom and what it would look like when the Shalom  or peace of God was fully present on earth.   They all ate and were satisfied...   As we are stumbling after Jesus, it's hard sometimes to the world as clearly as Jesus would have us see it.  According to Walter Brueggeman:...

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.    Mark 6:5-6 The author of Mark's Gospel recounts that when Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, he was not very well received.  His friends and neighbors listen to his teachings, and then mockingly ask,  "Isn't this the carpenter ?" The people who had been the closest to Jesus never really knew him.  When I was young I was taught that it was their "lack of faith" in Jesus as the Messiah that kept the people of Nazareth from experiencing the fullness of his ministry.   But after a close reading of that text, I discovered that to interpret that last line is, "He was amazed at their  lack of trust."  In other words, his hometown people let their familiarity with Jesus get in the way of truly trusting him, and following him completely.     I feel like far too many of us Chr...