Wednesday 15 July 2015

Reflection on Feeding the Five Thousand (Mark 6.30-46)

We were exploring this passage during a recent quiet day and I just want to blog about some of the ideas and thoughts that came up.
We were asked to bring something that represents a part of the passage that spoke to us, I wasn't the only person to bring a cuddly sheep. Jesus has compassion on the people because they are like sheep without a shepherd. How many people in modern life are like sheep without a shepherd, searching for the right way, bombarded by messages on all sides claiming to have the right way to perfection and success if you only follow this diet, use this miracle product or follow these seven simple steps to perfect life, which you can only find out if you pay lots of money! There is a darker side to, young people being seduced by radicalists into thinking that only their way of death and destruction is the right way.
Jesus had compassion on the people because they were without a shepherd, as Christians we are called to be compassionate shepherds to the people we meet along the way, to try and show them that there is a different and better path to follow.
The disciples ask Jesus to send the people away, but Jesus tells the disciples to sort the problem out. The disciples response is that they can't, they don't have the material resources to buy food for all these people. The disciples are in a sense looking outward, they see the solution to their problem, money and food, being something they have to get from elsewhere. Jesus tells them to look at what they have, he then uses what they have to bring about the solution. How often do we look for solutions externally, if only I had this skill or those materials, then I could sort out this problem. If we dig deep into our selves we may find that we have strength and skills that we didn't realise.
These events in Mark's gospel take place shortly after Jesus and the disciples have learnt of the beheading of John the Baptist. They are grief stricken, exhausted, at the end of their tether and still more is being demanded of them. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the disciples were arguing and snapping at each other and then Jesus has put another seemingly impossible demand on them. How often in life do we feel as if we are reaching breaking point, more demands being put on us at work, coming home to the demands of family needs, wanting to spend time with friends but feeling like we don't have the energy, but then ending up in a catch 22 by feeling guilty when we say no to something. At the end of the reading Jesus finally succeeds in what he wanted to do at the start, getting away to a quiet place on his own. We all need to recognise that we are human, not superhuman, we can not always do everything, be the perfect person and solve everyone else's problems.
We put pressure on ourselves to be the perfect person portrayed by media that we think we should be. Sometimes, we need to stop, pause and realise that the only person we need to be is the one God wants us to be, the authentically real me, which may well be messy, not perfect and not able to solve all the worlds problems.

from my LiveJournal, Jane Williams - The Wombling World of Madness

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