The Abundance of God

If you read today’s text without some skepticism you may be a rarity. The question in both stories is, of course, “How can so little feed so many?” Note that was also the people’s question to Elisha and the disciples question to Jesus. Those who have tried to answer this question have done so in two ways. Some suggest that many of the people had brought their own food and seeing the example of Elisha and Jesus they shared it with others. The second explanation is that, since these stories were shared as oral tradition before they were written down, the number of the crowd grew while the amount of food available shrank making the story more miraculous. Both of these explanations may be part of the answer. The problem with this line of thinking is that the question is wrong. We are not called to question whether or not this happened and Elisha and Jesus created a large quantity of food out of little. We are called to see the abundance of God. Perhaps the reason many focus on the question of how this happened is that they cannot see the abundance that God has given them or do not want to hear the call to share their abundance with others.

We always joke about the glass – is it half full or half empty? While this is a bit crude it tells us much about people. For those who see it half full they can envision possibility. Those who see it half empty worry about the time when there will be none. I suppose both of these describe us. We have looked at many situations in our lives seeing in some the possibilities and in others worrying about when it will run out. In fact, the questions to Elisha and Jesus stem from seeing things half empty, worrying that there will not be enough, which leads to selfishness and hoarding.

Jesus calls us to see the abundance in our lives. His question to the disciples is our question. “Where are we to buy bread (clothes, home, heat . . . ) for these people?” Or, stated another way, “How do we share the abundance God has given to us with others? Just these past several weeks we have seen some examples of greed and selfishness. Instead of sharing their great wealth with people in need two men have chosen to launch themselves to the edge of space. How much human misery could have been avoided if they had chosen to use that money to help others? Many have argued with me that they can spend their money anyway they desire. But is it their money? Is it not God’s? Should they not have paid their workers better and spent some to lessen the environmental impact of their companies? We pray in one of our offertory prayers, “We offer ourselves to your service and dedicate our lives to the care and redemption of all that you have made.” We all are called by God to use the abundance of our lives so that the world may know God by experiencing God through us. Rededicate your lives to the care and redemption of all. God has not given us a partially filled glass but has filled our lives with love. Our cup surely overflows with God’s gifts. Share them.