“1530AFC072415 – Simple Abundance
Read it online here, please.
2 Kings 4:42-44 – 42 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.” 43 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.’” 44 He set it before them; they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
Aloha pumehana, ʻŌmea! Today is a beautiful day for learning! You may not have seen this passage before, but I’m pretty sure you can guess what it prefigures in Jesus’ ministry. I mentioned last week that this coming Sunday the liturgy focuses on Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. The Epistle will be from Ephesians and contains the hymn-like passage in Ephesians 4:4-6 – 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
The Apostle Paul frequently uses this concept of “oneness” in his teaching. Another passage we often hear is in 1 Corinthians 10:17 – 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. The bread to which Paul refers, of course, is The Bread of Life (see John 6:35). Bread and grains to make bread were fundamental in the diet of ancient peoples. If you look at Deuteronomy 8:8, you can see a list of some of the major crops: Barley, wheat, grapes, figs, olives, honey, and pomegranates. Barley was usually the first crop that was harvested. It was planted in mid-autumn and harvested in early spring around mid-April. It was milled into flour and baked in stone or earthenware ovens; it was often unleavened bread, but could also be baked using leavening. In today’s passage, Elisha is presented with fresh-baked barley bread and also “fresh ears of grain.” I like barley. I usually encounter it in soups and stews, but I don’t recall ever eating bread made from barley. It looks a little like wheat before harvest, but once the husk is removed you can see a big difference.
In this passage from 2 Kings, we are told “A man came from Baal-shalishah.” This location
L: Barley R: Wheat
is east of the coastal city of Joppa and a little north of the city of Lydda (Lod or Lud in Hebrew). It is in the very fertile plain called the Plain of Sharon, and historically was the place where the crops ripened well before crops in surrounding locations. It was a place of blessing because of this. The name, Baal-shalishah, is a compound word. Baal means Lord or Master, and Shalishah refers to the number three. It is variously translated as “the god that presides over three,” or “the third idol.” Its exact location is currently unknown. We also do not know the name of the man who brought the loaves and fresh grain. We only know that Elisha told that man to set the bread before a hundred people, and that they would all have their fill with some left over. We see the same sort of miracle in Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospel of John. We read in John 6:13 – 13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. Here again, we do not know the size of the baskets but only that there was a superabundance of food which left no doubt that a miracle had been performed.
God created the plants to feed all the animals, including the humans, and in this miracle, God made the food from plant (barley loaves) and animal (fish) more than sufficient for thousands. We are told it was “about 5,000 men,” so if you figure there were also women and children, the number goes up accordingly. When God feeds us, his generosity is always greater than our needs. When he makes a promise, it is always kept and always exceeds our expectations. It is often said that God’s generosity cannot be outdone; he is indeed El Shaddai – God Almighty. His intent is always to shower us with blessings. It is, therefore, a good thing for us to return to him our blessings.
Recently a friend asked why I inverted GOD BLESS AMERICA to AMERICA BLESS GOD. I believe America must work harder at thanking and pleasing God. In this formulation BLESS means (especially in Christian usage) to proclaim that God is Holy. When we “bless God” we praise him, we exalt him, we honor, glorify, and reverence him. We acknowledge his majesty and magnificence. “To Bless” also has the meaning of “to make happy.” In Psalm 103 the Psalmist says, “Bless the LORD o my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name.” in the Gloria we pray, “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, …” God has blessed America, but I feel strongly that America has not done well in returning that blessing lately. It is going to catch up with us one day. “There are no inconsequential acts.” The numerous “decisions” made by our Judiciary over the past five decades which are contradictory to God’s plan for his creation have contributed to the weakening of our country. The crimes of leaders in business and government have contributed to the moral decay that we see played out in the news every evening. I am aware that some of you will take offense at my saying that America is slipping into international disgrace. So be it.
I, myself, can be accused of helping that regression by not speaking up, standing up, and bearing up against the pervasive evil that is a tsunami of pain and sorrow around the world. Nonetheless, I still want to, and will, bless God – praise and exalt him forever – for the myriad blessings he has bestowed on this country and its citizens, including me and my family and friends. As with the man from Baal-Shalishah and the feeding of the thousands, there is a superabundance of GOOD things – spiritual, temporal, and material – for which I am constantly grateful. I cannot fathom why God has heaped up such blessing in my life; it makes no sense to be so blessed. Yet I know that it is he who does this. It is he who clearly enjoys blessing all of creation. It is he alone who can do that without ever depleting his own resources. He shows this to us in these miracles of providing the most basic items of sustenance in extraordinary ways. He does that same thing with his Grace. It is always sufficient and then some (See 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”)
It is my hope, then, that this present weakness which I see growing in our great nation will be the basket into which God’s people gather up the superabundance of his Grace like the people in Elisha’s time and like the people in Jesus’ time, and share that Grace with everyone who rejects Jesus as the Christ of God. We have that Grace to share. In these Bible passages it does not say what was done with the fragments that were left. For me, it is unimaginable that they were thrown away or left unused. What I can imagine is how many more were fed when the surplus was shared. That is yet another way to bless God. He asks us to give a tithe of the firstfruits of our labor. He also expects us to make an offering of the surplus of his blessings. We become one with him who alone is One by sharing that One with one another. That is simply Simple Abundance. Blesséd be God forever!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved!
Psalm 126:3 –
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
“1530AFC072415 – Simple Abundance
Read it online here, please.
2 Kings 4:42-44 – 42 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.” 43 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.’” 44 He set it before them; they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
Aloha pumehana, ʻŌmea! Today is a beautiful day for learning! You may not have seen this passage before, but I’m pretty sure you can guess what it prefigures in Jesus’ ministry. I mentioned last week that this coming Sunday the liturgy focuses on Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. The Epistle will be from Ephesians and contains the hymn-like passage in Ephesians 4:4-6 – 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
The Apostle Paul frequently uses this concept of “oneness” in his teaching. Another passage we often hear is in 1 Corinthians 10:17 – 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. The bread to which Paul refers, of course, is The Bread of Life (see John 6:35). Bread and grains to make bread were fundamental in the diet of ancient peoples. If you look at Deuteronomy 8:8, you can see a list of some of the major crops: Barley, wheat, grapes, figs, olives, honey, and pomegranates. Barley was usually the first crop that was harvested. It was planted in mid-autumn and harvested in early spring around mid-April. It was milled into flour and baked in stone or earthenware ovens; it was often unleavened bread, but could also be baked using leavening. In today’s passage, Elisha is presented with fresh-baked barley bread and also “fresh ears of grain.” I like barley. I usually encounter it in soups and stews, but I don’t recall ever eating bread made from barley. It looks a little like wheat before harvest, but once the husk is removed you can see a big difference.
In this passage from 2 Kings, we are told “A man came from Baal-shalishah.” This location
L: Barley R: Wheat
is east of the coastal city of Joppa and a little north of the city of Lydda (Lod or Lud in Hebrew). It is in the very fertile plain called the Plain of Sharon, and historically was the place where the crops ripened well before crops in surrounding locations. It was a place of blessing because of this. The name, Baal-shalishah, is a compound word. Baal means Lord or Master, and Shalishah refers to the number three. It is variously translated as “the god that presides over three,” or “the third idol.” Its exact location is currently unknown. We also do not know the name of the man who brought the loaves and fresh grain. We only know that Elisha told that man to set the bread before a hundred people, and that they would all have their fill with some left over. We see the same sort of miracle in Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospel of John. We read in John 6:13 – 13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. Here again, we do not know the size of the baskets but only that there was a superabundance of food which left no doubt that a miracle had been performed.
God created the plants to feed all the animals, including the humans, and in this miracle, God made the food from plant (barley loaves) and animal (fish) more than sufficient for thousands. We are told it was “about 5,000 men,” so if you figure there were also women and children, the number goes up accordingly. When God feeds us, his generosity is always greater than our needs. When he makes a promise, it is always kept and always exceeds our expectations. It is often said that God’s generosity cannot be outdone; he is indeed El Shaddai – God Almighty. His intent is always to shower us with blessings. It is, therefore, a good thing for us to return to him our blessings.
Recently a friend asked why I inverted GOD BLESS AMERICA to AMERICA BLESS GOD. I believe America must work harder at thanking and pleasing God. In this formulation BLESS means (especially in Christian usage) to proclaim that God is Holy. When we “bless God” we praise him, we exalt him, we honor, glorify, and reverence him. We acknowledge his majesty and magnificence. “To Bless” also has the meaning of “to make happy.” In Psalm 103 the Psalmist says, “Bless the LORD o my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name.” in the Gloria we pray, “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, …” God has blessed America, but I feel strongly that America has not done well in returning that blessing lately. It is going to catch up with us one day. “There are no inconsequential acts.” The numerous “decisions” made by our Judiciary over the past five decades which are contradictory to God’s plan for his creation have contributed to the weakening of our country. The crimes of leaders in business and government have contributed to the moral decay that we see played out in the news every evening. I am aware that some of you will take offense at my saying that America is slipping into international disgrace. So be it.
I, myself, can be accused of helping that regression by not speaking up, standing up, and bearing up against the pervasive evil that is a tsunami of pain and sorrow around the world. Nonetheless, I still want to, and will, bless God – praise and exalt him forever – for the myriad blessings he has bestowed on this country and its citizens, including me and my family and friends. As with the man from Baal-Shalishah and the feeding of the thousands, there is a superabundance of GOOD things – spiritual, temporal, and material – for which I am constantly grateful. I cannot fathom why God has heaped up such blessing in my life; it makes no sense to be so blessed. Yet I know that it is he who does this. It is he who clearly enjoys blessing all of creation. It is he alone who can do that without ever depleting his own resources. He shows this to us in these miracles of providing the most basic items of sustenance in extraordinary ways. He does that same thing with his Grace. It is always sufficient and then some (See 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”)
It is my hope, then, that this present weakness which I see growing in our great nation will be the basket into which God’s people gather up the superabundance of his Grace like the people in Elisha’s time and like the people in Jesus’ time, and share that Grace with everyone who rejects Jesus as the Christ of God. We have that Grace to share. In these Bible passages it does not say what was done with the fragments that were left. For me, it is unimaginable that they were thrown away or left unused. What I can imagine is how many more were fed when the surplus was shared. That is yet another way to bless God. He asks us to give a tithe of the firstfruits of our labor. He also expects us to make an offering of the surplus of his blessings. We become one with him who alone is One by sharing that One with one another. That is simply Simple Abundance. Blesséd be God forever!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved!
Psalm 126:3 –
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
