Luke 9:3-17

     Jesus has sent out his disciples to do mission and ministry. He instructed them to travel light, to go where they were welcomed and not to stay where they weren’t.
     Was the ministry of the twelve successful? Luke doesn’t say so in specific terms, but it did catch attention. Herod hears about it, and it probably wouldn’t have raised his interest unless something was getting accomplished. Nonetheless, it isn’t the disciples themselves who gain the majority of his consideration. Jesus still stands out as the leader and the most powerful and effective figure. And people are speculating as to his true identity. Could he be Elijah risen from the dead? Or one of the prophets? Or even John the Baptist risen? Herod might have thought that people were speculating that John had someone escaped and were describing it as having raised from the dead, because Herod’s response is simply his assurance that John is dead because he himself had had him executed. So who could it be that was initiating such strange reports? Luke tells us that Herod actually tried to see him. It is tempting to speculate on what might have happened if Herod had actually followed through and met with Jesus.
     Luke’s low-key description of the ministry of the twelve continues when he tells us that the disciples returned and simply told Jesus about what had happened, but the reader doesn’t hear the details. Jesus takes them away to a deserted place, no doubt because he wants to spend time in reflection, prayer and counsel with them. But the need of the people is great and they seek him out.
     Jesus has too much compassion to send the crowd away so he continues speaking of God’s kingdom and healing those in need of it. As the day got late, the disciples came and asked him to send the people away to buy food and stay there. Amazingly, Jesus told them to feed the people. The disciples must have stared in astonishment as they explained that all they had were five loaves and two fish, which wasn’t enough to feed themselves, much less a crowd of people. John is the gospel writer who adds the details that a boy in the crowd was the one who shared his lunch with them.
     But Jesus directed the crowd to sit in orderly groups, blessed the food and sent the disciples out to serve it.
      There have been various explanations for this miracle. One is that everyone had only a taste, but it was sufficient because they were so filled by the presence of Jesus. Others that people had actually brought food and their hearts were opened to share. Or that the food was miraculously multiplied through the power of God. The first two explanations are no less descriptions of miracles as well. The presence of Jesus was, in the first place, a miracle of massive proportions. To open hearts to generosity is also a wondrous event.
     Nor is bread and fish in themselves ordinary things, though they may be viewed that way. From seed to tasty bread, from fish to table, these are gifts of God, so no matter how they came to people that day, Jesus raised thanks over them.
      Again Jesus has linked preaching the truth of God with the practical things that people need for daily life. From the beginning, Jesus called upon his followers to feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned and the lonely, to clothe the naked…to do so, he said, is the same as doing it for him. This was not new theology. In the book of Proverbs it is said that to give to the poor is to lend to the Lord. And the prophets of Israel’s history made it clear that when people are hungry, when they lack justice, when the powerless are not cared for, then God is displeased.
     Christians stand in middle of a delicate balance of truth. We are called to respond to the physical needs of the world around us. Today, we recognize the needs of the world itself and express that in ecological concerns. At the same time, Jesus reminds us not to trust in physical things when it is the spiritual ones that have eternal reality.

How do you balance physical needs and spiritual ones?
How do you define a “miracle”?
How can the Christians of today do ministry in a way that could make the world take notice?