Tuesday after Epiphany
Today’s scriptural passages are so rich for reflection that it’s a bit difficult to narrow it down to a few paragraphs. My thoughts for today will revolve around the term empowerment. Empowerment is a common term, applied in a multitude of contexts. However, I’d like to focus on how these scriptures speak to our empowerment as disciples and the Body of Christ.
The first reading, from the Gospel of John, offers a powerful lesson on love. To know God is to know love. Yet, this love is not only a one-to-one relationship (although, it certainly is that). This love is also a love expressed to each other. To know God’s love is to love each other. It is interesting that knowing God’s is not simply receiving love. Knowing God is giving love, because God gave Christ in love. Precisely because God is love and gave his Son from love, we know God when we give. We are empowered by God’s love to love each other. It is through giving, that we know.
The second reading, from the Gospel of Mark, offers lesson on recognizing how we are empowered by love. Of course, this is the miraculous account of Christ feeding the 5000 with loaves and fishes. The disciples approached Jesus with the issue of the hungry amongst them. They wanted to disperse the crowd to fill their bellies. It is interesting that Jesus did not automatically ask for loaves and fishes. Instead, Jesus said, “Give them some food yourselves.” The disciples incredulously inferred that they did not have enough money to feed everyone. It was only then that Jesus called for the loaves from the multitude. It was then that Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
It strikes me that Jesus had already empowered his disciples to feed the multitude. They simply did not understand how to give. Their focus was on their own insufficiency rather than how they had been empowered beyond their individual limitations. While they were certainly concerned for the crowd, Christ showed them the abundance that only love can produce.
Ultimately, we are empowered by God’s love. We are empowered to love each other. We are empowered to give to each other. We are empowered to overcome our insufficiency with the love that is God.
Today let us ponder in our hearts how we know God by giving love.
- Adam Sheridan