Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome to another of our Lectio Divina series as we contemplate the questions that Jesus asked.
As we begin,
As always,
I invite you just to take a moment to take a slow breath in.
And out.
To allow yourself to arrive gently here,
In this space,
In this time.
As today we sit with a question that Jesus asks in the middle of human need,
Exhaustion and apparent insufficiency.
Now in Mark chapter 6.
A great crowd has gathered around Jesus in a deserted place.
The day was growing late,
Thousands of people are hungry,
The disciples begin to panic a little,
And their first instinct is both practical and understandable.
Send the people away.
There's not enough food,
Not enough money,
Not enough resources,
Not enough ability.
The disciples are overwhelmed by the scale of what is lacking,
And this is how we quite often experience life also.
We become deeply aware of insufficiencies.
Not enough time,
Not enough energy.
Not enough certainty,
Not enough healing,
Not enough hope.
Not enough of ourselves.
And have you noticed that scarcity shapes so much of the human heart?
We learn to live anxiously,
Scanning for what's missing.
Focus on deficits.
We measure ourselves by inadequacy and even spiritually.
We can become convinced that we don't have enough to offer God.
But Jesus responds differently.
Before performing any miracle or multiplying anything,
Before resolving the problem,
He asks the disciples a question.
How many loaves do you have?
Now notice.
.
.
What he doesn't ask.
He doesn't ask,
Why don't you have more?
He doesn't shame their limitation.
He doesn't demand perfection.
He's not demanding that they supply abundance,
Instead.
He invites attention towards what is already there,
What's already present.
And this,
My friends,
Is deeply contemplative.
Because one of the great spiritual transformations is learning to notice grace before abundance appears.
To recognize that God often begins.
Not with what's absent,
But what's already there,
What's already been given.
The disciples see impossibility,
But Jesus sees the truth.
Offering.
And let's be honest,
Five loaves and two fish are objectively small in comparison to the need,
But Jesus doesn't dismiss that.
He doesn't dismiss the smallness.
He receives it.
He blesses it,
He breaks it,
And He shares it.
And somehow,
In the hands of Christ,
What seemed insufficient becomes enough.
And so maybe this question isn't just about food,
Maybe it's about trust.
What do you already carry?
That you've overlooked.
What quiet gifts have you dismissed because you think they're too small?
And what if the spiritual life begins?
Not by getting first,
But by paying attention more deeply.
To what's already there.
Sometimes.
We wait to become extraordinary before offering ourselves to God,
But throughout the Gospels.
Jesus continually works with ordinary stuff,
Bread,
Fish,
Water,
Seeds,
Dust,
Silence,
Tables,
Hands,
Even wounds.
The kingdom often unfolds through what appears small and hidden.
And insufficient.
And maybe that includes you.
There's also something important here though about surrender.
The loaves become nourishment only once they're placed into the hands of Jesus.
What we cling to tightly remains limited by fear,
But what we offer becomes available to grace.
Enter the reading of the passage today,
Then listen for the places.
Where scarcity appears in the text,
But also listen for the quiet movement of trust.
And notice what phrase or image stays with you.
And hear Jesus asking you gently,
Friend,
How many loaves do you have?
As we share our reading from Mark chapter 6 verses 34 to 44.
As Jesus went ashore,
He saw a great crowd.
And he had compassion for them.
Because they were like sheep without a shepherd,
And he began to teach them many things.
When it grew late,
His disciples came to him and said,
This is a deserted place and the hour is now very late.
Send them away.
So that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.
But Jesus answered them.
You give them something to eat.
And I said to him,
Are we to go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread?
And give it to them to eat?
And he said,
How many loaves do you have?
Go and see.
When they found out,
They said,
Five and two fish.
Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.
So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven.
And blessed,
And broke the loaves,
And gave them to his disciples to set before the people.
And he divided the two fish among them all.
And all ate and were filled,
And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.
Those who had eaten the loaves numbered 5,
000.
As Jesus went ashore,
He saw a great crowd.
And he had compassion for them.
Because they were like sheep without a shepherd,
And he began to teach them many things.
When it grew late,
His disciples came to him and said,
This is a deserted place and the hour is now very late.
Send them away.
So that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.
But Jesus answered them,
You give them something to eat.
And I said to him,
Are we to go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread?
And give it to them to eat?
And he said,
How many loaves do you have?
Go and see.
When they found out,
They said,
Five and two fish.
Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.
So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties and taking the five loaves and the two fish,
He looked up to heaven.
And blessed,
And broke the loaves,
And gave them to his disciples to set before the people.
And he divided the two fish among them all.
And all ate,
And were filled.
And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces,
And of the fish.
Those who had eaten the loaves,
Numbered 5,
000.
As Jesus went ashore,
He saw a great crowd.
And he had compassion for them.
Because they were like sheep without a shepherd,
And he began to teach them many things.
When it grew late,
His disciples came to him and said,
This is a deserted place and the hour is now very late.
Send them away.
So that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.
But Jesus answered them,
You give them something to eat.
And I said to him,
Are we to go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread?
And give it to them to eat?
And he said,
How many loaves?
Do you have?
Go and see.
When they found out,
They said,
Five?
And two fish.
Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.
So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties and taking the five loaves and the two fish,
He looked up to heaven.
And blessed,
And broke the loaves,
And gave them to his disciples to set before the people.
And he divided the two fish among them all.
And all ate,
And were filled.
And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces,
And of the fish.
Those who had eaten the loaves,
Numbered 5,
000.
Let us pray.
Christ of abundance.
You meet us gently in the places where we feel small and insufficient.
You see the fears we carry about not being enough,
Not capable enough,
Not spiritual enough,
Not strong enough yet.
You continue to ask what we already hold in our hands.
Teach us to notice the gifts we overlook.
Teach us to trust that small things offered in love are never wasted.
In your kingdom.
Take the fragments of our lives,
Our time,
Our attention,
Our wounds,
Our compassion.
Our longing and place them within your blessing.
Where we see scarcity,
Awaken gratitude.
Where we see impossibility,
Awaken trust.
Where we cling tightly in fear,
Teach us surrender.
And may we learn,
Slowly and deeply,
That enoughness is not found in possession,
But in your presence.
And may grace,
Peace,
And love go with us,
Remain with us,
Today and always.
Until next time,
Friends.
Peace.
Be with you.
