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Monday, June 11, 2007

Feeding the Thousands

Most Christians know the story of the feeding of the 5,000. The story is found in Matthew 14. Jesus went away after the beheading of John the Baptist, but found that a crowd had followed. His compassion overwhelmed Him and he healed their sick. But the hour grew late and the people hungry. The disciples told Jesus, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves" (Matt. 14:15). Jesus responded, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat" (Matt. 14:16). They assured Him that they lacked the capacity. "We have only five loaves here and two fish" (Matt. 14:17). To their surprise and, perhaps, dismay, Jesus told them to bring Him their meager amount. He had the crowd sit in groups, blessed the food, and distributed it to the disciples who distributed it to the crowd. When they were done, there were twelve baskets of leftovers (Matt. 14:19-20).

I'm not going to debate the miracle. I learned something interesting from this passage that I think we can take away for ourselves. I see a principle here that we can and should use in our daily lives. Look again.

The disciples did the right thing. They saw a need that they couldn't meet and took it to Jesus. They were tuned in to the needs of the crowd -- the crowd was tired and hungry. And they were aware of their own shortcomings -- they didn't have the capacity to feed them. They took it to the Lord in prayer. Jesus responded, "You feed them." What an interesting response! "Lord, there is a need we can't meet." And the Lord responded with "Meet the need." How did He do that? He asked them to take inventory. "You don't have enough to meet their need ... fine. What do you have?" They had enough to feed one or two people. And Jesus, by implication, said, "Good enough -- give me what you have." You know the rest of the story. He blessed it and met the need. But He didn't do it alone. He had them do it. He took what they had, blessed it, and used what they had (in materials, time, and effort) to meet the needs of the crowd.

In fact, this was the same approach with Moses, wasn't it? At the burning bush encounter (Exo. 3), Moses worried about how he would convince the Israelites that he was actually from God? Remember God's approach? He chose to use what Moses had. He had a staff, so God turned it into a snake and then into a staff. He had a hand, so God made it leprous and then clean. He could get water, so God told him He would turn it to blood. God seems to use what we have at hand -- inadequate in and of itself -- to accomplish His plan.

I suspect that we are often like the disciples or Moses in this way. We see a need. "Lord, there's a serious need and I lack the capacity to fix it." And we leave it at that. I suspect that many times what Jesus wants is for us to give Him what we have so He can bless it and use us to meet the needs we cannot meet. I am confident that many times what Jesus wants is for us to give Him what we have so that we can do the ministry to others that we don't have the capacity to do.

I hear too often about "burnout", the apparently common occurrence where pastors and other Christian workers simply run out of steam and cannot continue. I don't understand this concept. The disciples in this case started with insufficient means to meet the need that they saw. All it took was Jesus's blessing and they had more than they needed. I wonder how many times what we call "burnout" is one of two other possibilities. Either the person who burns out wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, or they stopped relying on the Sovereign of the Universe to supply what they needed to perform the task He gave them to perform. The alternative is hard to imagine. In terms of the story, it would imply that the disciples correctly saw a need and Christ certainly called them to meet it and then failed to supply what they needed to accomplish what He gave them to accomplish. "Okay, I said the blessing over your loaves and fishes; now distribute them." And five loaves and two fishes later they're "burnt out".

That's not the God we serve. He is the All-Sufficient One. He supplies what we need, even when we don't see it. And often He calls on us to step out in our weakness to do the miraculous even when we don't see the resources at hand. To participate in a miracle like that would be glorious. I think we all get the chance. Let's taste and see that the Lord is good.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I have another theory Stan regarding this part of your blog: "I hear too often about "burnout", the apparently common occurrence where pastors and other Christian workers simply run out of steam and cannot continue. I don't understand this concept. The disciples in this case started with insufficient means to meet the need that they saw. All it took was Jesus's blessing and they had more than they needed. I wonder how many times what we call "burnout" is one of two other possibilities. Either the person who burns out wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, or they stopped relying on the Sovereign of the Universe to supply what they needed to perform the task He gave them to perform."

What I observe all to often is that perhaps the OTHERS that God has called to come alongside the Pastor are not doing their part and therefore it falls back to the Pastor to take up the yoke God has placed upon him. From one who has been in leadership for a long time I see this all the time. AND people buy into the 10% of the people do 90% of the service/ministry and become content in that. They become what I refer to as a pew warmer. AND they are in every church. Sad but true.

Pastors get burned out because they do not follow that other piece of advise and the example of Jesus -- to draw away, to rest, renew, and refresh.

Pastors need our prayers, not our critism. Pastors need our support not our complaints. Pastors need our love, not our hate. Our Pastors need us.

Yes we serve an All-Sufficient God, who supplies all our needs & sometimes even the desires of our hearts. Its time for us all to step up to the plate and SERVE the one Living God and to carry the burdens together. Many hands make light the load of one.

Blessings,
LouAnn

Stan said...

LouAnn!! How nice to hear from you!

I'm sure there are reasons that pastors get tired. (I'm sure that there are reasons that anyone doing anything God wants them to do get tired.) I'm sure it is often the failure of the support. I'm thinking, however, that God probably knew if the support that was to be there would fail and would be sure to provide what is needed. I'm just thinking that in our weakness His strength is sufficient.

And I would never criticize your pastor. =) He's on my prayer list.

(I do need to point out, however, in all fairness that some pastors do need criticism/correction. Maybe not yours or mine, but some.)

Stan said...

One really important thing I need to mention and not just to LouAnn.

When I spoke of "burnout" I didn't actually have "pastors" in mind. I had in mind anyone who ever does anything that they believe they are called of God to do. Some are called of God in leadership roles. Others are called of God in support roles. LouAnn was right about the fact that too many people go to church without being part of church. That's just as much a failure to do what God asks as any pastor who suffers the "burnout" of it.

I didn't have failing pastors in mind when I wrote this piece. I had every single believer in mind because each of us is called by God to do things. All of us are inadequate for the task. We will always need the provision of God to accomplish what He asks of us. Fortunately, it is His way to both ask the impossible of us and then enable us to do it.