Miracle

After this Jesus went across the Galilee Sea (that is, the Tiberias Sea). A large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miraculous signs he had done among the sick. Jesus went up a mountain and sat there with his disciples. It was nearly time for Passover, the Jewish festival. Jesus looked up and saw the large crowd coming toward him. He asked Philip, “Where will we buy food to feed these people?” Jesus said this to test him, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, “More than a half year’s salary worth of food wouldn’t be enough for each person to have even a little bit.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread. When he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted. When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten. When the people saw that he had done a miraculous sign, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.” Jesus understood that they were about to come and force him to be their king, so he took refuge again, alone on a mountain. When evening came, Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake. They got into a boat and were crossing the lake to Capernaum. It was already getting dark and Jesus hadn’t come to them yet. The water was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing. When the wind had driven them out for about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He was approaching the boat and they were afraid. He said to them, “I Am. Don’t be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and just then the boat reached the land where they had been heading. (John 6:1-21, CEB)

Why do you believe in and follow Jesus?

Here the disciples, particularly Philip, didn’t get it. They were with Jesus and knew what he could do and yet still questioned things.

I have seen many miracles in my time and I still think about things in a human manner and question how things will work.

When the disciples saw Jesus on the water as they were crossing the see, Jesus said to them, “I AM.” At least the translation above says that. The NRSV says, “It is I.” The CEB gets the words, and the NRSV has in a footnote that in the Greek is is I Am. I Am is what God said to Moses when Moses asked what God’s name was. Jesus literally said, I’m God, don’t be afraid. The disciples still didn’t get it and I doubt we would either.

We are each a miracle and a vessel of God’s love to the world.

Don’t doubt that God is with you and try not to get in the way of God working through you.

Loving People. Loving God.

fed

In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” The disciples asked each other, “Has someone brought him food?” Jesus said to them, “I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then it’s time for harvest’? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest. Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests. I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.” (John 4:31-38, CEB)

How are you fed?

And what does Jesus mean by “I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work.”

Does he mean physically fed or emotionally or spiritually or something else?

We need to eat physical food or our bodies will start to eat themselves from the inside out, but we also need to feed our mental, spiritual, and emotional lives.

How are you fed?

By sharing love and grace and showing the world that hate will not win.

Loving People. Loving God.

tolerant…

Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people. The word of Christ must live in you richly. Teach and warn each other with all wisdom by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17, CEB)

Be tolerant with each other. It seems we as a society in the USA have forgotten how to do this. But to see how we need to really understand, tolerant.

According to m-w.com tolerant means willing to accept the beliefs, feelings, habits, or behaviors of another group, culture, etc. as legitimate even when they differ from one’s own. There are many groups pushing for one religion to be the main understanding in a country that is founded on the separation of church and state so there would never be a state religion. If you do not conform you need to go back where you came from. One group was seen recently holding signs that said mass deportations. This is not tolerance. This is hatred and pushing something that is not a part of what we are called to be as followers of Christ.

Also according to m-w.com tolerant means permitting or accepting something (such as a behavior or belief) that one does not like. We can not make everyone else like us, and really how boring would that be if we were all alike? I mean seriously I really don’t want a whole bunch more of me running around.

We aren’t all supposed to be the same or even alike. We are each a beautiful creation of a master creator, that stitched us all together to make their image! We are a part of the image of God and without everyone the image isn’t complete and we are not the image of God. We need everyone who is a child of God, which is everyone.

Be tolerant and forgive as God forgave you and love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

praying

Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, CEB)

We are praying for you.

That you will be filled with the Spirit
That you will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will
That you will be filled with all wisdom and understanding

That your life will be pleasing to God.

Share love and accept everyone as you are accepted.

Loving People. Loving God.

found

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. (Luke 15:1-7, CEB)

So the Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling because Jesus was welcoming everyone and spending time with them. Today this would be the evangelical church saying that LGBTQIA2S+ aren’t welcome because they are sinners and not following the life God calls them to follow. And the church would still grumble when Jesus shows up at the gay bar and has a drink with them. Now push the parable further and I am not saying members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community are sinners nor need healing, any more than any of the rest of us are sinners and need healing.

All of us need to be in the presence of God because all of us fall short and need to know that we are loved as we are, and lifted up as we are and children of God as we are.

God celebrates when we live as we are created to make the image of God complete.

You complete the image of God when you live as God created you, not as the world wants you to be.

Know you are loved as is. Period.

Loving People. Loving God.

Testify

From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus calling for the church’s elders to meet him. When they arrived, he said to them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time I was with you, beginning with the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears in the midst of trials that came upon me because of the Jews’ schemes. You know I held back nothing that would be helpful so that I could proclaim to you and teach you both publicly and privately in your homes. You know I have testified to both Jews and Greeks that they must change their hearts and lives as they turn to God and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Now, compelled by the Spirit, I’m going to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. What I do know is that the Holy Spirit testifies to me from city to city that prisons and troubles await me. But nothing, not even my life, is more important than my completing my mission. This is nothing other than the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus: to testify about the good news of God’s grace. “I know that none of you will see me again—you among whom I traveled and proclaimed the kingdom. Therefore, today I testify to you that I’m not responsible for anyone’s fate. I haven’t avoided proclaiming the entire plan of God to you. Watch yourselves and the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as supervisors, to shepherd God’s church, which he obtained with the death of his own Son. I know that, after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and won’t spare the flock. Some of your own people will distort the word in order to lure followers after them. Stay alert! Remember that for three years I constantly and tearfully warned each one of you. I never stopped warning you! Now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all whom God has made holy. I haven’t craved anyone’s silver, gold, or clothing. You yourselves know that I have provided for my own needs and for those of my companions with my own hands. In everything I have shown you that, by working hard, we must help the weak. In this way we remember the Lord Jesus’ words: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” After he said these things, he knelt down with all of them to pray. They cried uncontrollably as everyone embraced and kissed Paul. They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. (Acts 20:17-38, CEB)

The plan for all of us is “to testify about the good news of God’s grace.”

We all need to watch out for anyone who tries to lead us astray from doing what we are called to be doing.

When we focus on what is right and in line with what we have been taught or think is the way God wants us to act or be and then enforce rules for others to follow to be like we think God wants them to be, we are not testifying about the good news of God’s grace. We are building walls to keep people out. When humans build walls, God is usually on their other side.

Testify about the good news of God’s grace!

Love like Jesus.

Build bigger tables and welcome everyone instead of being an enforcer of rules that you made up.

Loving People. Loving God.

support

Rely on your leaders and defer to them, because they watch over your whole being as people who are going to be held responsible for you. They need to be able to do this with pleasure and not with complaints about you, because that wouldn’t help you. Pray for us. We’re sure that we have a good conscience, and we want to do the right thing in every way. I’m particularly asking you to do this so that I can be returned to you quickly. May the God of peace, who brought back the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, from the dead by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good thing to do his will, by developing in us what pleases him through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory forever and always. Amen. I urge you, brothers and sisters, to put up with this message of encouragement, since I’ve only written a short letter to you! You should know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, we will travel together to see you. Greet your leaders and all of God’s holy people. The group from Italy greets you. May grace be with all of you. (Hebrews 13:17-25, CEB)

Rely on your leaders, for they are held responsible for you. Pastors and leaders of the church according to this are responsible for those they serve and will be held accountable for the people they shepherded. They need to serve willingly and not out of compulsion. And those who are led should rely on the leaders and lift them up.

We all need support and assistance. Leaders are humans who falter and fail. We need to pray for all and ask God to give them the power and strength to do and be who God made them to be.

Pray for us. Pray for all.

Loving People. Loving God.

come and rest

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. Many people were coming and going, so there was no time to eat. He said to the apostles, “Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.” They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted place. Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from all the cities and arrived before them. When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things. When Jesus and his disciples had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret, anchored the boat, and came ashore. People immediately recognized Jesus and ran around that whole region bringing sick people on their mats to wherever they heard he was. Wherever he went—villages, cities, or farming communities—they would place the sick in the marketplaces and beg him to allow them to touch even the hem of his clothing. Everyone who touched him was healed. (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56, CEB)

Jesus was overwhelmed by the people around him, but he taught them and healed them. Showing compassion.

But through all of this, there still needs to be rest. Jesus told the disciples, “Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.”

We need to take time and rest. Know this is holy.

Show compassion and take time to rest.

Loving People. Loving God.

be quiet

As Jesus came to Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting beside the road begging. When the man heard the crowd passing by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.” The blind man shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy.” Those leading the procession scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy.” Jesus stopped and called for the man to be brought to him. When he was present Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, I want to see.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.” At once he was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they praised God too. (Luke 18:35-43, CEB)

People in power do not like it when things aren’t going the way they want them to.

They need to maintain the process and keep a tight grip on things. And when the boat is rocked in any way they react.

Here we see them telling this man to be quiet because he wants to get Jesus’ attention, and when they shush him, he gets louder. And when he comes to Jesus he tells Jesus he wants to see, and he receives his sight.

Did that cause an issue with the parade? it paused it for a moment, but was it really a disruption? I mean a man who could not see now can see and the procession continued. 15 seconds for a complete difference in a life.

Maybe the distractions are the things we should look for.

How can we completely change a person’s life?

Loving People. Loving God.

unknown

While Paul waited for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to find that the city was flooded with idols. He began to interact with the Jews and Gentile God-worshippers in the synagogue. He also addressed whoever happened to be in the marketplace each day. Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers engaged him in discussion too. Some said, “What an amateur! What’s he trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” (They said this because he was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) They took him into custody and brought him to the council on Mars Hill. “What is this new teaching? Can we learn what you are talking about? You’ve told us some strange things and we want to know what they mean.” (They said this because all Athenians as well as the foreigners who live in Athens used to spend their time doing nothing but talking about or listening to the newest thing.) Paul stood up in the middle of the council on Mars Hill and said, “People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. As I was walking through town and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown God.’ What you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in temples made with human hands. Nor is God served by human hands, as though he needed something, since he is the one who gives life, breath, and everything else. From one person God created every human nation to live on the whole earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. God made the nations so they would seek him, perhaps even reach out to him and find him. In fact, God isn’t far away from any of us. In God we live, move, and exist. As some of your own poets said, ‘We are his offspring.’ “Therefore, as God’s offspring, we have no need to imagine that the divine being is like a gold, silver, or stone image made by human skill and thought. God overlooks ignorance of these things in times past, but now directs everyone everywhere to change their hearts and lives. This is because God has set a day when he intends to judge the world justly by a man he has appointed. God has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:16-31, CEB)

To an unknown God…

There are many around us who claim God is not real or doesn’t exist. That everything fell into place by the big bang or chance. And the way those who believe in God act I can see why people don’t want to see God.

But as Paul says to the people of Athens, God is not unknown or unknowable. God created everything and put into motion the things that made this world and all that is in it. in spite of the followers of God that do not understand science and how things are and default to a book written to tell a story of our creation to a people that did not know what we know. And now must say that that is fact or else everything else in the book can be questioned too. My thought is, let it be questioned. God is big enough for that, and God is bigger than that. A story written for people that have no concept of what we known now should not be stated as fact.

My internship supervisor taught me, that science tells us how the world was created and the Bible tells us who created. They are not at odds with each other. One says who, and one says how.

I believe in God as the creator of everything because there is no way all of this happened by chance. There are too many intricate details that make it to be far beyond chance for me.

So I love the ones who disagree, as God taught me.

Love. It covers the differences.

Loving People. Loving God.