11 March 2010
Psalm 83; Gen. 46:1-7,28-34; 1 Cor. 9:1-15; Mark 6:30-46

The verses omitted are a list of the children of the children of Jacob. Before he leaves the land of promise, Jacob offers sacrifices to God, presumably in thanksgiving for the life of Joseph. As he does so, he receives a word from the Lord concerning leaving the land and going down to Egypt. He is assured that this is the Lord’s will and that they will return to the land, the promise is sure, this leaving does not compromise it and the Lord will be with them in Egypt. No promise is made on the date of the return and we can wonder if Jacob thought it meant that he would return in a few years or not. The reunion with his favorite son is emotional, Joseph wept on his neck “a good while.” Joseph, perhaps remembering the story of Lot and his accommodation to Sodom, moving from outside the city to become a prominent citizen who sat in the gate, decides that the best place for them to settle is apart from the Egyptians and so they are told that their occupation is shepherd because shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians. Over 400 years later their descendants will continue to live outside of Egypt in Goshen.

Jesus’ desire is to go away with the disciples to debrief their recent mission and the crowds recognize them and follow. In spite of having his own plans, Jesus has compassion on these seekers and spends time teaching them. As great as the disciples faith may have been on their return, they weren’t prepared for what was to come. Jesus tells them to feed the multitude and they have no faith for such a thing, thinking of money only. Jesus provides all that is needed for the feast. The feedings are some of the most remarkable miracles Jesus does, provision of abundance out of scarcity. The fact that He blessed so many with so little sets the feeding apart from individual healing works. At the end of the work Jesus goes away to pray by Himself rather than re-joining the disciples immediately. We need to make time after we have been used by God to be re-filled by setting aside time alone for prayer, just as Jesus has attempted to do with the disciples here.

Paul says that the Corinthians have not treated him with the proper respect and deference he is due as the one who first shared the Gospel with them. It would seem that they are paying others to do what he has done for nothing and in that arrangement have forgotten him as their father in Christ. He is no mercenary and simply because he has not made claims he has every right to make is no reason to discount him or his message. Paul is not asserting supremacy here or is not jealous of others, he is asserting that he has a rightful place among this church that is not compromised by the fact he doesn’t receive pay for his work, the pay to which he is entitled but chooses not to accept. It was here that Paul had first determined to go exclusively to the Gentiles in his ministry and it bore fruit in this place over the 18 months of his ministry there.

O God, do not keep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!