5 minute Bible

Here's there come rain or shine, with his little tin coffee cup held in the one hand and in the other his blind man's cane. He nods and gives a little closed-eye smile when you drop coins in his cup, as I did after taking this shot. (Photo and caption by soylentgreen23, altered)

Notice the opening – beginnings are often important – and in this case that importance is highlighted when the theme is repeated, that’s another clue – we repeat things that matter!

The man born blind is a great character, do enjoy listening to him “naively” running rings round the clever religious scholars :) So, it’s all about spotting who Jesus is, and the evidence is what he does – handsome is as handsome does! Or better about spotting what God is doing and the appropriate response is worship and trust.

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”

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Original photo by ?Mike (modified)

As it does in Luke, Matthew’s account the feeding of the 5,000 follows after Herod speculating that Jesus is John come back to life, but Matthew used this opportunity to tell the gruesome story of John’s death. Luke moved quickly from John’s death, to tell of the disciples’ successful mission, whereas Matthew tell us that when Jesus heard of John’s death he “withdrew to a deserted place”. Into this low point where we seem focused on the powerful political opposition that miracle comes as nice reminder that Jesus is God’s Messiah.

Perhaps it is this sombre context that caused Matthew to remember another miracle at this point, Jesus walks calmly up to the disciples, who are in a boat in a storm, and strolling across the water tells them not to be afraid! This provides us with clues/reminders that Jesus is not merely a human messiah/king, but indeed God incarnate. The elements are his servants, and like Yahweh in the Old Testament he tells his people they need not fear: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” (Mat 14:27) remember Abraham (Gen 15:1); Moses at the burning bush, Joshua and many others…

Then there’s the lovely detail of the enthusiastic Peter, first wanting a go, then remembering the storm, and finally saying “Lord, save me!” and as we’ll see the close of the story (remember endings are important and often signal, as beginnings also do often, what a story was about) stresses that Jesus is “son of God”.

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I hope this doesn't mean there are no miracles left... ! by JOPHIELsmiles

The miracle stories in the Gospels (like the ones in the OT) are stories with the wow factor that’s part of all miracle stories – think of the ones we hear on the infomercials on TV ;)

They called this reading “Feeding the Five Thousand” but it comes in a context.  Luke (like the other gospels (except Thomas which the early Christians excluded from the Bible) does not tell an unconnected series of “stories about Jesus” rather he tells us “The Story of Jesus”.

The context in which this miracle is told to us shows us that this miracle is part of a process showing us Jesus bringing to life aspects of what the OT tells us to hope for when the Messiah comes. But then Jesus tells us that he’s a different sort of Messiah, not a glorious but a suffering one. Before God puts the cap on it all showing that this suffering Messiah is indeed glorious!

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Everyone loves a good miracle story, the Infomercials are full of them, buy this exercise machine use it just 10 minutes a day and be instantly sexually attractive, sleep on our special magnets and your pain will go away and you’ll feel 30 years younger. Infomercial miracles sell things: it worked for me, you buy one! I’ll have what she’s having ;) But despite the temptation for Christians to use them in the same way, in the gospels it’s a bit different! We still love a good miracle, but their purpose is not to sell something – rather to show us something…

And then there’s the question of when miracles fail to happen… (cf. Luke 4:20-28)

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Lost apple photo by jaqian

This is a chapter of parables. Remember parabole (Greek) or mashal (Hebrew) means a comparison, so ask ourselves what’s the point of comparison here? One clue is to look at the numbers (no, I’ll not be getting into numerology ;) Another, Jesus gives us himself. And a third comes from noticing where the climax of the story comes. Out of these clues we’ll find that the Prodigal Son is not about the prodigal son, or even primarily about his forgiving father…

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