Bible in 90, Day 70: Got bread?

Matthew 16-26

image courtesy of holamaria at stock.xchng

An old man took a class that used some tricks to help improve memory function.  He was telling his friend about how amazing the class was when his friend asked the name of the course.  “I forgot!” he responded.  “Well use one of your tricks to remember,” his friend encouraged him.  “Good idea!  Ok, what’s the name of that flower that has thorns, and it’s red, and you buy a dozen of them…”  “A rose?” his friend responded.  “Right!  A rose!  Hey, Rose!” he shouted to his wife, “what was the name of that class I’m taking?”

How terrible we are about remembering things.  The disciples had just seen Jesus feed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, and the 4,000 with a tad more food on hand.  Yet, when they got in the boat in Matthew 16 and Jesus warned them to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, their minds jumped to worrying about having enough bread for their journey.  Jesus had just had a run-in with the Pharisees and had this on His mind.  He uses the teachable moment to warn the disciples about them.  The disciples are obviously out of sync here, and when they hear the word “yeast,” their mind jumps to their lunch bags.

Do we have enough bread?  I didn’t bring the bread, I thought you were bringing the bread!  What did Jesus say?  He must’ve realized we don’t have enough bread with us.  Great!  We’ve got nothing to eat, what are we gonna do?

Jesus is a bit disappointed, and asks them if they remember how He had provided for them and the great crowds with virtually no food on hand.  Can you hear the sarcasm implied here?

You saw me feed the 5,000, right?  And then you saw me feed the 4,000, right?  So, why are you worried about the 13 of us having enough food to eat?  We had plenty to eat from just the leftovers from those two meals.

How quickly we forget God’s provision.  God gets us through a difficult time, and we don’t even think about it when the next difficult time comes.  He restores a broken relationship, but we think the next one can’t be saved.  This is why God calls us to remember, all throughout the Bible.  God’s people constantly recount the stories of the exodus, God’s giving of the Promised Land, and His bringing them back into the land after the Exile.  In the New Testament, we are called especially to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, most vividly in the Lord’s Supper.

Let’s never forget what God has done in our lives.  Let’s be intentional about remembering.  Perhaps we can write down in a journal the faithful acts of God in our lives.  We can use times like Thanksgiving and Christmas, or other special family times to remind each other of God’s provision, grace, and love.  Let’s have the faith that God will be good today, just like He was good yesterday.

originally at Words of Reason