The Greater Miracle

In the context of free will, we can choose to do good or to do evil. We can choose to be generous or not to be generous.

Imagine that you're on the slopes of a hill on the north western end of the Sea of Galilee . It is sort of a cone shaped hill like the end zone of a football field. It's a natural formation in the hill.

And you've been listening to this carpenter from Nazareth , Jesus. And he's been talking about the love of God for us and what our response to God should be. He is talking about how we are called to love God with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul, and to love our neighbour as our self. And if you are Jewish, you recognized that from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. And you are enthralled by what you hear.

But you also see a commotion occur. Jesus' followers seem to be concerned about something. And what they seem to be concerned about seems to involve a little boy who brings up a basket of fish and bread. And he gives the basket to Jesus. And Jesus blesses the bread and the fish. (That's all the details we have in scripture about that.) And he gives it away.

Notice two things about that:

The little boy didn't keep any for himself. He gave it all away.
Notice, also, that Jesus didn't keep any for himself. He gave it all away.

Now Jesus was a very wise man. He knew about an ethic of hospitality that existed among the people of that time in which the sharing of food and drink, even with strangers, was what was expected. But he also knew that there was some fudging at times.

They had a very interesting way of fudging. When they went on a journey to listen to Jesus, some of them would have had to walk eight to ten miles. The men would be dressed in a shirt, a coat and a cafia (head dress). Under the coat, they could carry bags on their shoulders in a way that the bags could not be seen. The bags would contain wine and food, pita bread, dates and cheese. And as long as they kept underneath the coat, and nobody knew they had them, and this is how they fudged, they didn't have to give them away, they didn't have to share them with other people.

Dr. Joseph Barkley, a Presbyterian minister and renowned scripture scholar, suggests that when the people saw Jesus take the loaves from the little boy, and the little boy held nothing back, and Jesus breaks it and gives it away, and keeps nothing for himself, that they saw an act of generosity.

And they started to take bread, dates, cheese, dried fish from underneath their coats. And they spread their coats on the ground, and they took their cafias off and they used them as picnic blankets and they had a feast. And when it was all over, they had twelve baskets full.

Now, am I saying that Jesus did not multiply the loaves and fishes? No, I am not saying that. But let me ask you, in the context of free will, in the context of our ability to choose to do good or evil, in the context of our ability to choose whether or not to be generous, which is the greater miracle, multiplication of loaves and fish, or multiplication of generous hearts?

You don't have to answer; I can see it in the faces of many of you. As far as I am concerned, I always go for the greater miracle. And, if you have spent any time at all in this business that we are in, you know what the tougher miracle is.

I now want you to imagine you are at another scene, you are at the foot of the cross, and there you find another basket. It has the bloody crown, the bloody nails and a hammer. And it is three days after you heard that they crucified a man named Jesus from Nazareth . You've asked around and you can't find out what he did wrong. All He seems to have done wrong is to continually ask people to love their God with their whole heart, their whole mind, their whole soul and their whole strength, and to love their neighbours as themselves.

And you realize that Jesus didn't hold anything back. He gave it all. He gave it all.

Now I ask you, as Christians, as followers of Christ, and in the context of free will, to what extent are you willing to be a follower of Christ?

Stewardship as a Way of Life is about the Multiplication of Generous Hearts.

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