For the past year, several soul friends and I have been praying the Lord’s prayer daily. This universal practice started when a few friends (disciples) asked Jesus how to pray. And since that day, the scope and depth of the Lord’s Prayer has united believers in both community and individual prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
 Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who has sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.” Luke 11

For several days at the end of the year, the Holy Spirit seemed to highlight the second line of the prayer, so much so that my prayer stopped here:

Your Kingdom Come…

Lord, I asked, “What do you want me to notice? How do I pray for the coming of your kingdom?” As this new year begins, it has become my breath prayer, a deep sigh of letting go, and a mantra of hope. God will bring about his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and in my heart and life in community.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

In that same week in my reading, I was drawn into this story in Luke 9, and the words jumped out that Jesus spoke to the people of the kingdom of God. Read this familiar story with a prayer that Jesus will speak to you:

 “On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.  When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.  Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”

 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”  The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.”

The Jesus MAFA image is a visual interpretation of the story by community members in Cameroon. They explain what spoke to them: Jesus stands in the center inspecting the baskets of leftover food the disciples are bringing to him. All around him are satisfied crowds of people who have just been fed. The miracle of this story rests in Jesus’ taking the resources people shared and breaking (which can be read dividing) them among all in attendance that day. Christians are called to follow Christ in his example—this means sharing what we have with those around us, especially those in need and there is plenty to go around.

Commentator William Barclay explains this further saying there are two ways to honestly look at this miracle. First in the simplicity that Jesus, the Son of God, miraculously fed the people with divine compassion. And the second way is to see that people were hungry and maybe utterly selfish. They might have had something to eat with them, but they did not produce it for themselves in case they had to share it with the other. In the John 6 telling of the story, the disciples laid before the multitude the five loaves and two fish of a generous boy, which could have motivated them to open up their bags and share their resources as well.

And what of Jesus’ telling of the kingdom of God? In this large gathering of people, the words of Jesus and the bread, broken and shared, was more than enough and all were satisfied. Some say the miracle was turning selfish, skeptical folk into generous, kind people. Today, as we live out the kingdom of God on earth, the miracle is that Jesus invites us to generosity and feeds us with the bread of life. The hunger in our souls is satisfied by investing our time and resources to feed those who hunger both in body and in spirit.

This is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

PRACTICES

Read. I invite you to read Luke 9:10-17. Read it once seeking what the Spirit of God draws you to notice. Read it a second time, meditating on what you noticed. And finally read it and respond in prayer or contemplation.

See. You can use the Jesus Mafa image of the story in your meditation. Do this by first looking at the image as a whole. Then slowly notice the details, the individuals, and the colors, paying attention and allowing time for reflection.

Imagine. Enter the story by seeing yourself as one of the crowd, or as a disciple. What do you hear when Jesus speaks? What do you see as people interact with Jesus and with others in the crowd. Imagine being really hungry and tasting the loaves and fish. Smile as you imagine what is was like that “they all ate and were satisfied.”