And all ate and were filled. –Matthew 14:20
One of the universities where I worked spent a lot of money hiring
a marketing firm to help them reach out to prospective students. After a year of research and development, the
university unveiled it’s new campaign, “It’s all about U.” Billboards, newspaper ads, brochures and a
new website all declared “It’s all about U.”
I cringed. But, the campaign was
successful. Enrollment increased. It seems that students resonated with the
“It’s all about U.” theme. I suppose it
shouldn’t have surprised me.
Not much has changed since those years. Today, many still resonate with the “It’s all
about you” philosophy of life. I hear it
in the churches too. Driven by anxiety,
a sense of scarcity and a fear for their own survival, congregations adopt an
“it’s all about us” approach to life and ministry. The result of such myopic thinking is exactly
the opposite of the goal. Congregations
turned inward invariably continue to decline and eventually die.
Jesus’ way is different.
Jesus teaches that it is never all about us. The Feeding
of the Five Thousand is a story about the power of looking beyond ourselves
to the needs of others. All the
disciples could see was a huge problem and limited resources when they asked
Jesus to send the people away. Instead,
Jesus turns their vision outward, and shows them how they could use their
seemingly meager resources to maximum effect.
Then, he blesses their efforts and multiplies their offering so that
everyone is filled. No one gets sent
away.
Jesus changes the meaning of “It’s all about U” from inward
focused self-service to outward focused compassion and care. “It’s all about U” is not all about ME, but
about the neighbor we are sent to serve.
It is all about us, but an “us” which is broadly and inclusively
defined.
The men, women and children around us are still hungry in so
many ways. His command is still the
same, “YOU give them something to eat.” Dare we risk offering what we have and who
we are to respond to his command? If we
do, Jesus will still bless it and multiply it until everyone is filled.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
Thanks for reading. Want
to help feed the hungry? I would invite
you to consider a gift to ELCA World Hunger, https://www.elca.org/hunger. Thanks!
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