When Love Holds the Scale

When Love Holds the Scale

A Reflection

Look what happens to the scale when love holds it. It stops working. – – Kabir

It is our daily bread that we eat, not my own. We share our bread. Thus we are firmly bound to one another not only in the Spirit but in our whole physical being. The one bread that is given to our fellowship links us together in a firm covenant. Now none dares go hungry as long as another has bread… – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The story of Jesus feeding the multitudes is one of the most popular stories in the New Testament. It was already popular and widely known among early Christians, as evidenced by the fact that it is the only miracle story of Jesus that’s recounted in all four gospels. The stories vary to some degree, of course, but one difference strikes me as significant. Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree in calling the feeding a miracle, while John calls it a sign. In fact, John never uses the word miracle in his gospel, but always semeia, which is the Greek word for sign.

What is the difference between a miracle and a sign? This is one of the questions this unique wording raises for me. What difference does it make for the meaning of the story, not only in the New Testament, but in our day as well? What difference will it make this week as we make our way through our daily routines?

What does the story mean? This is the first and most significant question we can seek to answer. But I don’t want to get caught up in questions like, just how many people did Jesus feed? or, why were there twelve baskets left over? Such questions may seem important; but they’re not. Think about it. What difference does it make… to God?

If the good news is to be trusted, God’s giving knows no boundaries or limits; thus, when God begins to give it doesn’t matter how many people are on the receiving end, or what their needs are. They will be met… period; full stop. God doesn’t give grudgingly, measuring carefully every gift. This is what Kabir meant, I think, in writing that when love holds the scale they don’t work. There simply are no limits to God’s gracious giving.

What this story doesn’t mean might be the better place to start. If you ever watch religious programming on television or listen to it on radio, you know there are preachers out there who preach a gospel of “prosperity.” It’s based on the simple notion that if you will give God what you have, God will give back …in spades. You will become rich- oh yes, rich- as a blessing from God because of your investment in divine things.

However one might try to shore up such theology in scripture or tradition, this story at least is not about a gospel about prosperity. This story is not about a divine quid quo pro between God and a single young man who gave to receive. God doesn’t care about bounty or prosperity. God cares about what we do with prosperity. When I hear preachers of prosperity brag about their badges of faith- fancy cars and large homes- I suspect that God doesn’t have this sort of thing in mind in sharing the bounty of the world with us.

This is not a story about God the hedge fund manager, investment banker, or stockbroker; this is a story about a God who reigns in the hearts and minds of God’s children; a God whose giving knows no limit, a God who doesn’t care about prosperity, but about what we do with prosperity. This, I think, begins to get to the meaning of this story for us; this sign to use John’s language.

Do you find this curious at all? Most of us would not hesitate to call such a feat a miracle. Feeding some five thousand people from five loaves of bread and two fish! But John is absolutely convinced that this is not a miracle, this is a sign. John means that the feeding occurred so that we could come to understand something about Jesus. This feeding took place so that it could point beyond itself and help us learn something of who Jesus is and how Jesus can be meaningful in our lives.

This story- Jesus feeding the multitudes- is paired with Jesus telling the same multitude, his disciples, the scribes and Pharisees, or anyone else who would listen that he is the bread from heaven. Later in John’s story Jesus is pursued by some of the same people who ate to their hearts content, and Jesus said to them, you are not here because you saw a sign- because you gleaned an insight into who I am- but because you’re hungry again!

See this story for what it is, Jesus says in so many words. I am the bread from heaven. Eat the loaves and fish and you will hunger again; partake of the bread from heaven that I share, and life will be nurtured and nourished in abundance, and you will never again be hungry. This is a story about sharing, and sharing always begins with God.

In fact, we have no chance of understanding this story unless we first understand that all sharing begins with God. And God shares first and foremost the bread from heaven; the Christ who is the very revelation of God that brings meaning and wholeness into our lives. Indeed, partake of this bread and you will never be hungry again.

This is a story about sharing; God sharing with us; sharing from an overabundance of goodness without limit or boundary. And because of God’s sharing; we too can share. That’s what this story is about; life under the reign of God; life in what we call the kingdom of God that is all about sharing; about being there with and for each other and sharing what we have with each other. And if we will share, there is always enough.

This leads to my second question. What did they do with the twelve baskets that were left over? You see, John leaves this hanging. Jesus left it hanging, and it becomes our decision. God shares and where God is concerned scales don’t matter; God doesn’t ask questions about worthiness or qualification; God simply shares. But if there is any indication that we are to model our lives on God, it is in these twelve baskets of food. We’re blessed- you know we’re blessed- we have blessing and bounty and to spare. We have our own twelve baskets, and this story asks us, what will you do with your twelve baskets?

I can’t think about this story- I can’t think about the need to share- without thinking about the children in our world; not children who are simply hungry, but children who are dying of starvation because the world with its twelve baskets of leftover food simply doesn’t share.

How many children you ask? You would be astounded. Among some six billion denizens of planet earth in our day; six million children die of starvation each year. Every day- think of it, on this beautiful day – sixteen thousand children will die of hunger or hunger related causes. If that is not enough- and this is the one that tears my heart in two- every five seconds, a child dies of hunger…      a child just died…      a child just died…      a child just died.

The thing that is most frustrating about the issue of hunger is that we have the means to feed all the children of the world. I know that all of us are so very concerned- and downright scared- about the conflict that continues to escalate in the Middle East and threatens to spread far beyond; I know that we are all terribly concerned about terrorism and the potential for terrorist acts even in our homes.

But I must tell you, friends, I honestly believe that the best thing we can do to combat terrorism is to end hunger in our world. Let’s stop creating new generations of terrorists who become so because they are born into situations without hope, without help, and without a future with any light at all. Is it any wonder that generations grow up in fear and anger that finally boils over?

We can do something about this situation. We can do something about hunger in our world. We can stand with Jesus. We can take the blessings that God has shared with us, collect them into twelve baskets, and share them with our world.

I am so pleased that we are involved with ministries that make groceries available to all who come in need. I am so very pleased that we are involved with the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which not only gives shelter to families, but helps them get the training and find the opportunities to get back on their feet. I am so very glad that we are supportive of the Week of Compassion, which is the Disciples’ Emergency Relief Fund. In cooperation with organizations like the Church World Service, we do reach out and impact situations from Indonesia, Darfur in Sudan; to wherever there are needs and opportunity. And we are right to support these causes and should support them even more.

This, then, is the question we must answer today; what will we do with our twelve baskets left over from God’s gift to us? But before we answer, let’s remind ourselves that when love holds the scales of sharing and concern, they don’t work. Let’s throw away the scales, let’s collect our twelve baskets left over from God’s bountiful goodness, and let’s share them with a world in need.