Dan Kidd
May 282 min
by Dan Kidd
A renowned Old Testament scholar, Walter Kaiser once said "I love the New Testament--it reminds me so much of the Old." Today's story, though found in the second book of the histories of Israel's kings, sounds rather similar to two stories we encounter in the Gospels. In Mark 6, and again in Mark 8 we hear of Jesus miraculously feeding multitudes with but only a few loaves of bread and a few fish. As if it were not impressive enough that God would use humble offerings to feed multitudes not just once but twice, we then (re-)discover in the Old Testament that this is something of a pattern for the Lord.
Lately I've found myself returning time and again to this little phrase in the Lord's prayer: "give us this day our daily bread." On its face, this is a rather unassuming request. Given the multitude of things we need, want, and hope for from the Lord, a request for a day's worth of bread isn't altogether that remarkable. But within this phrase, baked into if you will, is the profound relationship between God's provisions and our contentment. "If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." A fed belly, along with some clothes, if we allow them, can be all we need in order to embrace the contentment the Lord intends for us. No wonder we so often see God's people (and Jesus himself) feeding each other!
One of the things I strongly recommend for small groups--bordering on an essential--is that they have a routine of eating together. For some groups this simply means providing a snack, for others in an occasional meal, and some groups opt to share a meal nearly every time they gather. There's something about eating together, and providing each other with food, that feels so natural to Christian fellowship that I now think of not eating as an exception to the rule.
One of the many extraordinary benefits of being the Church, of being God's family with one another, is that we get to share our food, and that the Lord uses our humble offerings in abundant blessings. Surprisingly so. Who can blame this man from Baal Shalishah for thinking his 20 loaves would be too few to feed a hundred men? How often do we underestimate what the Lord might do with our meager contributions. But, as we see today, the way of the Lord is and has always been to use his people to provide for one another and bless each other in multitudes. It should be no surprise then, that one of the persistent illustrations of the Kingdom of God is a banquet.
Lord we are grateful for the multitude of ways you provide for us and bless us. We are thankful that you have given us the each other, your Church, that we receive their gifts and can love others through our gifts. We pray that you would indeed give us this day our daily bread, and use us as you will to attend to the needs of others. As we eat with each other, bless us, fill us, and draw us into deeper love for each other and with you.