When God Shows Up For You

Acts 5:34-42
John 6:1-15

“fellow children of Israel, be careful about what you are to do to these men”-Gamaliel( Acts 5:34-35)

In today’s first reading, we conclude the trial of Peter and his companions before the Jewish supreme court. Peter and the others have been helped by Gamaliel – a rabbi and former teacher of Paul – using the age-old dictum “Let us wait and see’. “If what they are about is of human origin it will fail. If it is from God then you don’t want to “find yourselves fighting against God”.  In other words, if they are frauds then their preaching will come to nothing. The other elders listen to him and instruct Peter and company to be flogged having been warned not to preach again. However, it has no effect as the apostles are happy to suffer humiliation for the sake of Christ and it encourages them to preach all the more earnestly. It is very hard in our culture to wait and see talk less of preaching and bearing witness to the truth. Our culture is about speed and immediate results. To what degree do we rush trying to push and force life? Is God saying to us “Wait and see.” Trust me knowing that I love you and care for you.

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus had sought retreat from the crowds, due to their heightened messianic expectations, but instead, they gathered about Him, and now He performed this miracle which further added fuel to the flames of their hopes for Messiah. In the gospel, there is a boy with five barley loaves and two fishes.  He suddenly finds himself among thousands of hungry people.  He was called into service and he gave all that he had the barley loaves and fish.  Like the young boy, we are called into service to care for and feed those who are very hungry. How have we responded to the call? Saying to ourselves “I don’t have any gifts to give”.   “What I do have is meager and insufficient so I won’t respond”.

Whenever you challenge yourself to help someone in need, assist to feed the hungry, and give drink to the poor, when you offer your time and energy to help a forgotten, troubled one facing the harsh reality of hitting the bottom rock in his or her life, when you assist those going through rough times in their lives; marriage, career and dealing with their relationship, while expecting nothing in return, you are like the one who provided the five loaves and two fish in the Gospel today. Jesus Christ will perform yet another miracle through your sacrifices and make the recipients of your love and generosity satisfied again.

In all, Jesus Christ is showing us what can happen to us if we allow our actions to be guided by love and a generous heart. It means, therefore, that if we acknowledge our poverty and our dependency on God, then He will fill us with His riches. God will always be there for us and He will give us more than enough graces and favors that we need. Are you willing to “give” more to God and what are these challenges? May God fill us with gratitude and a compassionate heart so that we may freely share with others what He has given to us. Amen.

Fr Joseph Osho