“Give them something to eat yourselves.” Mark 6:37, The Jerusalem Bible
Across the U.S.A. the pandemic has robbed people of their jobs. Without an income it is hard to feed your family.
Here’s a frightening statistic from Feeding America, the country’s largest food bank program: “In the United States currently, 1 in 9 people struggle with hunger.”
Jesus wasn’t just speaking to his disciples when he said “Give them something to eat yourselves.” He was talking to you and me too.
What would happen if we all followed Jesus’ instructions to feed the hungry?
That’s what Sara Miles did. The prologue alone of her extraordinary book, Take This Bread, is so compelling I don’t know how anyone could read it without devouring the entire book. She begins by telling how, as a 46-year-old atheist, she “walked into a church, ate a piece of bread,” and “took a sip of wine.” It was her first communion and it changed everything in her life because she took seriously the command to: “Give them something to eat yourselves.” First she started a food pantry. Then she organized pantries all over the huge city she lives in, to “provide hundreds and hundreds of hungry families with free groceries every week.”
While few of us have the drive or the will to do what Sara Miles has done, all of us can find a way to follow our Lord’s instructions to: “Give them something to eat yourselves.” That sounds like the best New Year’s Resolution ever!
How will you implement Jesus’ instructions yourself?
Blessings on your efforts to make and carry out the best New Year’s Resolution ever,
Judy Osgood
January 4, 2020