"Scarcity and Abundance"

People swirled around Jesus wherever he went—tax collectors, the blind, those with incurable diseases, a father whose beloved daughter had died. Right along with the poor and the desperate were the Pharisees and Scribes. They observed Jesus and his disciples, ready to catch them in any infraction of the Law such as plucking grain from the fields to eat or healing on the Sabbath. When Jesus cast out demons, the Pharisees said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” The Pharisees could not see the goodness of God in the healing and so attributed Jesus’ power to the prince of demons.

As Jesus moved with the crowds, he also taught them through parables.

The Kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed or a little leaven hidden in three measures of flour. God can do great things from that which seems insignificant. Be faithful and watch God work. The kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field or one beautiful pearl of great value. Sell everything you have to obtain this treasure. The Kingdom of God is worth it all.

Then Jesus heard that John the Baptizer had been beheaded by Herod,

Jesus went away in a boat to a lonely place, but the crowd followed him even across the lake. They were so hungry to hear Jesus—to hear his parables about how different God’s Kingdom was from Caesar’s kingdom, to hear how God can make abundance out of scarcity.

These peasant were starving for hope and good news. So, Jesus taught once again until the sun began to go down. Then the crowd was hungry for literal food, and there was not much around. The disciples just report the obvious facts—there is no food; time to send ‘em home.

When Jesus tells the disciples to fix the problem, they are overwhelmed—5 loaves, 2 fish, 5,000 men, plus women and children?

How often we hear the evening news and like the disciples feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem—fires, floods, gas prices, water shortages, crop failures. And then there are those who rise to the challenge.

I have a friend named Mary who is an ob-gyn and taught for years in this field at Emory. Since her retirement, she has gone to Africa several times each year for a couple of months at a time. She goes to a village to teach healthcare. On her first trip, there was no running water in the village. She got the villagers to put gutters on the roof to catch rain water in barrels. She organized others as orderlies and assistants to administer the clinic. She treated people herself and gave classes to teach others how to do it. She seems undaunted by the magnitude of the task and simply does what she can.

Sarah Miles, who lives in San Francisco, wandered into St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church one Sunday. She was definitely not a church-goer, but when she began to take communion, it became a literal experience for her. She understood that she needed the Bread of Life, and so did a lot of street people. Eventually, she began to organize a food pantry run from the sanctuary of the church. Of course, there was opposition from parishioners who did not want the sanctuary filled with street people during the week. But Sarah kept working, recruiting volunteers from the parish, training some of the street people to set up and clean up. Here is another person who seems undaunted by the magnitude of hunger in San Francisco and has done what she can.

The other night on the news, I heard that in the last year, Americans have cut way back on their oil consumption. People are doing what they can to conserve gas—buying fuel efficient cars, making fewer trips, taking public transportation, carpooling, riding bikes. Perhaps we could be dismissive of these small, individual efforts, but collectively, they have made an impact. Mustard seeds or a little leaven.

It is ironic that here in Atlanta, people have been conserving so much water that the city is going to raise the water rates to collect enough revenue to keep the water company going. That’s a Catch-22, but it does show our collective will to conserve water.

In many strange ways, in the midst of scarcity, we also find abundance.

Yes, there is real scarcity—not as much corn or oil or water—and it is very frightening and causes terrible hardship for some people. Yet in our personal lives, we often find that we can do without or cut back and still keep the things that matter most to us.

In the words of the 18th Century Shaker song, “When true simplicity is gained to bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed, to turn, turn will be our delight till by turning, turning we come round right.” We are doing a little bowing and bending to the new realities, to new simplicities, and we aren’t ashamed to do it.

Americans at this moment in our history are yearning for a better future for ourselves, for our children, for the poor and suffering , for the Earth itself. In this election season, politicians of all stripes are promising change. But, we know there is no superman, no wonder woman, no magic wand that will change things over night.

As Christians, we are called into the future through hope and faith.

If changes are to be made in our personal lives, our nation and for the whole human community, then we must make these changes. We must trust that One greater than ourselves is working through us and with us to bring about abundance out of scarcity. We all have areas of our lives where we have abundance. We have gifts to give--time, compassion, knowledge to share. We can live from our personal abundance, the resources of our own hearts, minds and bodies.

When Jesus took the loaves and fish, he lifted his eyes to heaven and then he blessed the food, broke it and gave it to 5,000 people.

These are the same gestures he used at the last supper on the night before he died. He took the bread and he blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples. Out of scarcity, Jesus created a feast for 5,000 people, and out of the finite hours left in his own life, Jesus created a banquet that feeds people to this day.

Jesus calls us to find simple abundance in the midst of scarcity.

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