Mad Padre: Daily Devotional for Wednesday, 19 August, 2020

Prayers for Wednesday, 19 August, 2020 (Proper 20, Trinity10)

Invitatory

O God, make speed to save us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.

The Lord is our refuge and our strength: O come, let us worship.

Hebrew Scriptures

Judges 18.16-31

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=464831207

Psalm

Psalm 128

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,

who walks in his ways.

You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands;

you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots

around your table.

Thus shall the man be blessed

who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you from Zion.

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life.

May you see your children’s children.

Peace be upon Israel!

Epistle

Acts 8.14-25

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=464831381

Gospel

John 6.1-15

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Commentary (Father Michael)

As these devotions have been following Matthew until recently, along with the Common Lectionary for our worship on Wednesdays and Sundays, we can feel overly familiar with today’s reading from John: “Oh, hear’s another feeding miracle”. We’ve had Matthew’s account of the feeding of the Five Thousand, and then again of the Four Thousand, in our lections recently. Or, we might say, “Here’a another variant of the feeding story”, if we think that the six accounts of the feeding of crowds in the four gospels are different tellings of one incident that captivated the four evangelists. If this is our reaction, it would be helpful if we can suspend our feeling of “nothing to see here” and actually look at the details of the text.

N.T. Wright notes that John dates this event as being near Passover. This key detail gives perspective to the miracle of the feeding of the crowd, because it reminds us of how the Jewish people were fed by manna, bread from heaven, as they travelled through the wilderness during their escape from heaven (Ex 16). The connection with the Exodus story helps us understand Jesus’ identity as the Messiah or Saviour, which is a slow-rolling reveal throughout John’s gospel. In chapter six, after this miracle, Jesus will speak of himself as the bread from heaven, further pointing us to towards his identity.

For us as believers who get and accept these points, what can we take away from this simple story (other than the detail about Jesus giving thanks and distributing the food, which may make us hunger even more for the eucharist in this pandemic fasting time)? Wright also notes a lovely detail in today’s reading about how Andrew doesn’t know what to do anymore than Philip or the rest of the disciples, but does have the presence of mind to bring the boy with the merger food to Jesus’ attention. The story thus reminds us that bringing things to Jesus, in faith that “something new and creative may happen”, is always a good starting point in our faith lives.

Questions

Do you struggle with bible stories being over-familiar? What can you bring to Jesus’ attention today? What other questions come to mind in today’s passages?

Intercession

Let us pray in faith to God our Father, to his Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit, saying, “Lord, hear and have mercy.”

For the Church of the living God throughout the world, let us ask the riches of his grace. Today we pray in the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer for the clergy and people of these Dioceses and for their bishops: Oklahoma (The Episcopal Church) The Rt Revd Edward Konieczny, and Bunbury (Australia) The Rt Revd Dr Ian Coutts.

In our Diocesan cycle, we pray for the clergy and people of St. Michael and All Angels, Toronto.