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Out Our Way: The Gospel According to Goliath: 'We gotta try'

Mark 8:1-10

Out our way, folks are expected to do the best they can with what they have rather than complain about what they don't have. A couple of years back my saddle pard, Charlie, and I were trying move a few hundred head - or so it seemed - down from their summer pasture to their winter grounds. The problem was, they didn't want to go. The grass was getting short from all the grazing, but the water in the reservoir was still high, and these pairs were reluctant to leave the water hole.

Charlie and I rode down to the watering hole and began herding the pairs toward the lower pasture, which was all well and good in the open area. However, the gate to the new pasture was a few miles away and there were some small hills that had to be crossed. Naturally there was a defined cattle trail to take us up and over the hill, but what I didn't know was that there were about five trails on the other side leading back to the reservoir we had just left.

We drove them up and over the hill, and when we got to the top we discovered the lead cows had all taken the other trails right back to where we had rounded them up. There were only two of us, five or six trails, and a lot of determined cows and calves that wanted no part of leaving the pasture. It was an impossible job, but Charlie insisted, "We gotta try."

In the story of the loaves and fishes, the disciples are challenged by Jesus to try. There are some 4,000 people with nothing to eat and Jesus tells the disciples they must be fed.  "How can we possibly do that?" they ask. "Make the effort and see," is the reply. So they take their seven loaves of bread and few fish and begin to share with the crowd, and suddenly more loaves and fish begin to appear. While most see this as a supernatural miracle, some commentators have wondered if the miracle was in the transformation of hearts. If perhaps some folks actually did have food they were hoarding, but the example of Jesus' generosity touched them so that they shared what they had as well. In any case, a miracle took place, the hungry were fed, and it all began because Jesus told the disciples to "try" and see what happened.

In one of my commentaries, mention is made of a Jewish custom that is part of the celebration of Purim. Purim is the celebraion of the deliverance of the Jews as told in the Book of Esther. As you may recall, beautiful Queen Esther risked her life, daring to try to save her people. In commemoration of her courage and willingness to make the attempt depite all odds, every year the Jewish people recall Esther's courage and daring with a feast on the 14th of March; part of that celebration is to show generosity by seeking out and giving to someone poorer than oneself. What a marvelous custom!

What difference does it make to feed one hungry person, give shelter to one single parent and her kids for the night, or to donate school supplies to one child whose family cannot provide them? Well it matters to that one person who doesn't go hungry today, to that one hurting family that has a safe and clean room for tonight, to that one student who can go to class with the same tools for learning as everyone else.

And here's the really neat part:  God can and does use that one little gesture of generosity and duplicates it time and time again. How many people get a good meal at the soup kitchen or the food bank because someone once decided to feed a stranger ... and others joined in? How many families get that needed help with shelter, clothing and other important thngs because one person decided to make a difference with a gift to the Salvation Army, and others got the idea and did the same? How many kids this year went to school with all the needed supplies because someone - somewhere - decided to invest in one child's education, and inspired others to make the miracle happen for other kids?

I am sorry to say that on that day, though Charlie and I did our best to get those cows moved to the good pasture, it wasn't enough. But of course, if you know Charlie, you know that that's no excuse. Later that week he went out and grabbed four or five more riders, went back and got the job done. Maybe we couldn't do the job alone, but that was no reason to give up. Charlie went out and asked for help ... and got it.

Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened, ask and you will receive. But nothing will happen if you don't give it a try.

--

John Bruington is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Havre. Articles, sermons and chldren's stories can be found on the Church web: www. havrepres.org.

 

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