Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 14 verses 13 through 21:
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ 16Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ 17They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ 18And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
We and many other churches are now in the midst of the stewardship season and we are asking the faithful to consider their pledge commitments for the upcoming budget year.
As I read the Lesson today and think on stewardship, I think of the line many preachers use about this time of year. “The good news I have to tell you is there is plenty of money in this congregation to do all the things we need to do in order to be a faithful and vibrant church next year. The bad news I have to tell you is that all that money is in your pocketbooks.”
There is a lot of truth in humor.
The story of the feeding of the five thousand tells us there is plenty to go around. We have plenty. We have plenty to share. And there will be plenty left over. In Jesus’ hands there is always plenty. But right now, it’s still in our hands, in our wallets, in our pocketbooks, purses, and bank accounts. The miracle can’t happen until it’s put into Jesus’ hands.
Augustine said, “That which does not give out when given away is never properly preserved when not given away.”
There are some things which in order to be stewarded correctly must like the bread must be taken, blessed, broken, and given away. It’s only then that all can fed and only then that all can be satisfied.
For God has so ordered creation that the miracle never happens unless the bread is offered up.
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