EAT FREELY (35 OF 52)
Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21
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Eat Freely (35 of 52)
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
''Everyone needs to pull their own weight.'' ''If you don't work, you shouldn't eat.'' ''Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.'' ''Your issues are not my problem.'' ''Go find yourself a job!'' ''With a little hard work, anyone can get ahead.'' I grew up hearing those kinds of things. It did not matter that I lived around missionaries and church people. In my environment, the gospel was about the eternal, while issues of daily survival were issues of some other reality to which the most common answer give was, ''I'll pray for you.'' That is, except when it had to do with one's own children or close friends. In those cases, we might reach out a hand to help locating a job or getting a business off the ground. Did we learn any of that from Jesus?
As much as it is true that some of those phrases we used might have originated in Scripture, we did not really deal with the context of said verses. The early church determined that those who sat around without working to await the coming of Jesus in glory should not be recipients of the charity of others who worked while awaiting Christ's return. At the very same time, they were actively embodying the principles of Jubilee and the feeding of all those in need. As Acts tells us, some sold fields in order to meet the needs of others struggling through famine with no recourse to meet their needs. From the best we can tell, that was the only time Yahweh's chosen people actually lived up to the requirements of the Mosaic code to embody generosity, making sure that all had plenty to eat.
Perhaps the missionaries around me in Brazil were struggling to interpret the demands of the gospel in the face of such drastic economic inequalities among which we lived and ministered. We had financial responsibilities a world away in the US, as well as living next door to both exceeding wealth and slums where a hundred families pa ...
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
''Everyone needs to pull their own weight.'' ''If you don't work, you shouldn't eat.'' ''Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.'' ''Your issues are not my problem.'' ''Go find yourself a job!'' ''With a little hard work, anyone can get ahead.'' I grew up hearing those kinds of things. It did not matter that I lived around missionaries and church people. In my environment, the gospel was about the eternal, while issues of daily survival were issues of some other reality to which the most common answer give was, ''I'll pray for you.'' That is, except when it had to do with one's own children or close friends. In those cases, we might reach out a hand to help locating a job or getting a business off the ground. Did we learn any of that from Jesus?
As much as it is true that some of those phrases we used might have originated in Scripture, we did not really deal with the context of said verses. The early church determined that those who sat around without working to await the coming of Jesus in glory should not be recipients of the charity of others who worked while awaiting Christ's return. At the very same time, they were actively embodying the principles of Jubilee and the feeding of all those in need. As Acts tells us, some sold fields in order to meet the needs of others struggling through famine with no recourse to meet their needs. From the best we can tell, that was the only time Yahweh's chosen people actually lived up to the requirements of the Mosaic code to embody generosity, making sure that all had plenty to eat.
Perhaps the missionaries around me in Brazil were struggling to interpret the demands of the gospel in the face of such drastic economic inequalities among which we lived and ministered. We had financial responsibilities a world away in the US, as well as living next door to both exceeding wealth and slums where a hundred families pa ...
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