A Poem a Sunday

Proper 12B/Ordinary 17B/Pentecost 10
July 29, 2018

St. John 6:1-21 - NRSV

Feeding the Five Thousand

6 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.[a] 2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages[b] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they[c] sat down, about five thousand in all. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Jesus Walks on the Water

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,[d] they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I;[e] do not be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Footnotes:

1. John 6:1 Gk of Galilee of Tiberias
2. John 6:7 Gk Two hundred denarii; the denarius was the usual day’s wage for a laborer
3. John 6:10 Gk the men
4. John 6:19 Gk about twenty-five or thirty stadia
5. John 6:20 Gk I am

  

A Poem a Sunday

Pentecost 10 -B

Enough is Enough

You’ve won the global lottery

and that is enough to set you free

to see and feed the hungry.

You never hunger and if you make

$30,000 or more annually

you are in the top 5% globally.

And yet you cry of scarcity

and require drug test

and work for those in poverty.

While privileged white businessmen

garnish lower tax rates from 38% to 21%

and open the flood gates to shareholders.

And Congress spends more on bombs

than health care and education

yet we claim to be a compassionate nation.

Enough:

You privileged white ones;

selling out the poor

so you can have your guns;

miss-quoting Scripture

in the DOJ

very soon God’s judgment

will come your way.

Enough loaves and fish

to feed us all when we

share God’s blessings

the cry of hunger

will be ended

when those in power

are upended.

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