feeding the thousands
I think this story has many layers. Of course there is the miracle of the 5000, the lessons taught to the disciples, the grace & hospitality that Jesus shows. You can google this story and find a dozens of things about it. Something that occurred to me this morning is that Jesus was concerned for the basic needs of the people that were following Him. I don't think I am the first to see that, but it struck me how we, humans, tend to deal with the large following. In our gatherings of believers (you might call it the church-I am not because the church is the collective of followers of Jesus, not this individual groups) where there are thousands or tens of thousands following a person that person tends to take on a rock star personality.
What I mean is they tend to protect themselves and remove themselves from the "common people". I have seen this both in the evangelical community and in the traditional communities. While they manifest differently the end is the same, they are separated from the people and more focused on themselves while Jesus remained focused on the people and there needs. In my mind, He is the only one that has good background to take the rock star role, and by not doing that stays immersed in real life.
Created 10 months ago
