A God of Plenty
By Nick Kohlmann
“Where we see a little, God sees a lot.” This line is from a sermon given by the Dean of Grace Church Cathedral during my time serving there that has lingered with me. Isn’t it interesting that the simple truths are often what we remember even from the most eloquent sermons we hear? Now, whenever I read the story of Jesus feeding the 5000, my heart and mind are stirred by this simple truth and the complex wonder that is relationship with the infinite God.
The feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle besides the resurrection that is recorded in all four of our gospels. There is no Christianity without the resurrection, so that one certainly is worth writing down four times. Perhaps the repetition of this miracle demands that we consider its significance a bit more deeply than the cursory glance that many of us remember from childhood Sunday School. As I read Luke’s account of this miracle, along with the story of the widow and her children being saved from 2 Kings, I was reminded of the infinite power of God. There are not many things that Christians across the world can agree on unfortunately, but I hope that God being infinite in God’s very nature might be one of them. This can be juxtaposed with the fact we humans, and all creatures, are finite in our very nature. This is something that I have come to find deeply comforting, as odd as it may seem, because that means two clear things. The first is that I don’t have to figure out this life and solve all the problems of the world on my own. If I could do that, what would be the point of God? On days when I feel the weight of the world’s seemingly infinite problems pressing down upon me, I can surrender into the truly infiniteness of our God and say, “This one is up to you”. The second, is that if we believe that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8) that means that I am wrapped in endless love that washes over me even on the days where I feel there is little to love in me. On the days when I see an inadequate, and sinful man staring back in the mirror, God sees a child worth dying for. What’s more, this God meets me at the altar rail every time I approach it with my brothers and sisters and says come and feast; there is plenty.
