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Hear the devotional narrated here: http://bit.ly/2nnDZRj
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. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When 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." 16 Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." 17 They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." 18 And he said, "Bring them here to me." 19 Then 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. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21 NRSV)
A blessed Monday be yours, my dear Friend. I pray this finds you well, safe, and blessed. The news of people that Nellie and I both personally know who are dying of Covid-19 keeps increasing and it's sorrowful for us, not to mention those who have lost loved ones. A longtime friend and former member of one of my churches, Rev. Fito Alvarado died this weekend of the virus and his wife, Yolanda, is in the hospital fighting for her life. Ms.Patty Chebultz, beloved and longtime conference worker (she coordinated moves for all pastors in our conference) died of cancer this weekend. The brother of retired DS and friend, Bill Henderson, Jim Henderson, died of complications from MS. Also, prayers for those affected by Hurricane Hannah this weekend in both Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley. Some are still without electricity. May God be with them!
I don't know if I should laugh or cry when we encounter people who, because of their own limitations, seek to interpret events in the Bible according to ways that most will find more credible. I entered seminary when the big thing was the "de-mythologization" of the Bible, which was the attempt of theologians from around the world, seeking to remove elements found in the Bible that could be considered myths. A myth is something that cannot be proven to be true, but is accepted with a skeptical eye as being a story worth keeping, but limits it to being fiction. Most of Jesus' miracles tend to fall, in the opinion of those theologians, as myths. How could a rational mind truly believe that from two fishes and five loaves, comes a meal for five thousand men, and more, if you counted the women and children present at such an event.
One counter explanation is that present at this miracles was a legion of Roman soldiers, each having lunches just like the small boy (from other versions who include him) and when made aware of the need to feed this multitude, they shared their lunches. That would have been a miracle in itself, for the Roman soldiers were hated by the Jews and would not have touched the sack of the sack lunch containing the loaves and fishes. Romans soldiers were also known to be rough people, not known for their kindness, so for either of those to have occurred that would have been counted as a miracle. Another holds that this was an illusion, a trick performed by master magician Jesus. The disciples had this much food with them all along, and when pressed, Jesus tricked the multitude in believing that God had multiplied the 2 fish and 5 loaves into the amount that fed 5,000. Some even said, "It didn't happen; people were told it did, and they went with that story." And some hold that the miracle was a miracle of sharing, that people found more food because those who had little were able to share more. I'll leave it to you to decide what you truly believe.
My dear friend, call me old-fashioned or worse, but I honestly believe that the Son of God, who was God Himself, Who had created all things out of nothing, could have very easily taken two fish and five loaves and through His power of "blessing and (breaking) the loaves," provided enough food for a crowd of spiritually hungry people, with a powerful symbolic leftover collection of twelve baskets full. The God of the twelve tribes of Israel could and did, provide for their needs, and all at the right time.
You and I have been blessed with unexpected, but needed, things at just the right moment; and to this day we cannot begin to explain how. But that's the least important thing; ours is to enjoy and return thanks to God for His lovingkindness to us. The explanations would not do justice to God's power. We can try, and we can also make God laugh. Remember the man, who in the presence of his parents, was asked by the religious leaders if Jesus was a sinner or not, replies, "Whether that man is a sinner or not I do not know, but one thing I do know; I was blind, but now I see!" Same for me. And I know the same for you.
PRAYER: Awesome Father, as we pray, we pray as people in need of so many things, but we begin by thanking You for all You have done and shared for and with us. You indeed are the source of all our good! You have filled our hearts with love, our minds with hope, and when needed, our stomachs with food. We are a blessed people, and we seek to bless others. Guide us to that; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share what you have in Jesus' name, to bless someone today.
Receive my blessings of peace and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
