Living in the Spirit

July 20, 2021

Scripture Reading:
2 Kings 4:42-44

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people and let them eat.’ But his servant said, ‘How can I set this before a hundred people?’ So he repeated, ‘Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, “They shall eat and have some left.”‘ He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

Does this scripture sound familiar? It immediately reminded me of the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21).  He was a student of the Hebrew scripture. We sometimes forget that God with Us is yesterday, today, and forever.

Regular pictures of hungry and dying children in Yemen appear on news programs. Yesterday I saw the starving children of Syria. There is something very wrong with a world where some countries throw away more food than could feed all the starving people in the world. We can have fierce theological discussions on various topics in the Bible, but there is no question that God wanted all of God’s children to have enough food and that all people are God’s children. Nowhere in any of those stories are there forms to fill out to determine if the people are eligible or requirements that they must work or seek work. In fact, feeding the hungry is the first item on Jesus’s criteria for judging us. (Matthew 25:35)

Prayer: Lord, help us feed the hungry directly and assure that our society addresses the significant systemic challenges to address hunger. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.