Contemplating The Loss Of Gizmo 09/08/19

Chenango Valley State Park, Chenango Forks, New York

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ~ Deuteronomy 18:18

Back in church this morning! We were able to visit the First Baptist Church of Port Crane. It was a very friendly congregation (especially the ‘egg man’ and the ‘hugger’), as they introduced themselves to us, but fairly small with roughly 90 in attendance, however since their sanctuary was also small, it looked like a mostly packed house. 😊 Something we didn’t care for? They have two big screen TVs that had constant rolling announcements right up until the Pastor began his message. We found that very distracting. Some things we liked? They have a “scripture of the month” that they recite every Sunday. This month’s was John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. Fitting, since they’re getting ready to begin a series on the book of John. 😊 And their prayer requests listed in the bulletin are categorized. For example – “Military”, “Children”, “Cancer”, etc. Once the Pastor began his introduction to the message, we think we know why. He seems to like categorizing/organization. That’s going to be his approach to John. While our Pastor Mike runs straight through all the verses, this Pastor will be covering a different ‘category’ each week – like when Jesus calls Himself I AM, His seven signs, His word pictures, etc.

And I must say. Today’s ‘Welcome’ gift was far and away the best, most useful, and most unusual gift we’ve ever received during our travels! Before the service started, a guy came up and handed me a carton as he said, “Could you use some eggs?” Well, what would you say? Of course I said “Yes.” As I reached out and took what he was offering, even though I knew there were a dozen currently sitting in our refrigerator. He told us he’s been handing out a dozen eggs to someone every Sunday morning for the past 16 years! “They call me the Egg Man”, he said as he walked away with a smile on his face. (and probably a song in his heart 😊) And since they’re fresh, they didn’t need refrigeration, so we were good. However, Blaine did check once we returned home. You can keep fresh eggs unrefrigerated, but they age faster. Seven days for every day they’re left out.

And since we skipped church last week (let’s be honest and call it what it was . . . ) and listened to Pastor Mike on Tuesday, and then heard an introduction this Sunday, I’m just going to try to paraphrase Pastor Mike’s lesson today from John 6 – Jesus feeds the five thousand.

Pastor Mike is so good about pointing out things that you most likely would never notice on your own. He tells us all the time to forget about the chapter and verse numbers and the headings and just read, but that’s really hard to do. At least for me. I’m more of a category person, like the pastor today. 😊 Even when I was teaching chronologically through the Old Testament, I never looked at something as a whole. Just verse by verse, heading by heading.

We ended Chapter five two weeks ago with Jesus reminding the Pharisees about how Moses wrote about Jesus, and if they believed Moses, they would believe Him. I remember thinking at the time, “When did Moses write about Jesus?” The only connection I ever made was the plague of snakes as punishment for the Israelites’ sins and how Moses fashioned a pole with a bronze snake on it and everyone who looked at it was saved. I knew that it pointed to Jesus and His crucifixion – even though I’ve always thought it a little odd that the people were saved by looking at a graven image of a critter because that was supposed to be a sin . . . .

Anyway, I digress. This weeks’ lesson showed us how Jesus fulfilled the signs given to Moses. The miraculous feeding (manna vs fish and bread) and power over water (the parting of the Red Sea and water from the rock vs walking on water).

Did you realize that feeding the 5,000 is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels? Out of 35 miracles listed in my NIV Bible? Just shows how selective John was, and also makes you wonder why these are the ones John wants us to focus on. They must have special significance.

Pastor Mike shared with us that John carefully chose only seven of Jesus’ miracles to share. He also said that these seven weren’t so much miracles as signs. Proof of Who He is. We’ve covered five so far –

1. Changing water to wine in Chapter 2 – demonstrating a change from the Old to the New Covenant

2. Healing the official’s son in Chapter 4 – demonstrating His Word is enough

3. Healing the crippled man in Chapter 5 – demonstrating His love for all

4. Feeding the 5,000 in Chapter 6 – demonstrating His power of provision

5. Walking on water in Chapter 6 – demonstrating His power over water (the elements)

Do you know the story of the feeding of the 5,000? Just in case, let me give you a preview and offer some details you may not know or remember.

One day, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee, and a great crowd of people chased after Him because they’d seen his healing miracles. Most of them wouldn’t have followed Him 8 miles across the Sea. Instead, most would’ve run around the edge, half of which would’ve been 15 miles – give or take a few miles. Still, it was a good little hike!

When Jesus stepped onto dry land, He took His disciples and went up on a mountainside, where he could see the crowd approaching – about 20,000 men women and children! (we know that because scripture tells us there were 5,000 men (who would’ve had wives and children with them).

John also mentions that it was the time of the Jewish Passover; a reminder to the Jews of God’s saving provision for them, the sacrificial lamb, as well as a reminder that Moses told the people The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The LORD said to me (Moses): “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ~ Deuteronomy 18:15-18. Flash back to what Jesus said in John 5:19 – “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. And then there’s John 12:49 – For I did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it.

So Jesus sees this great hungry crowd approaching and singles His disciple, Philip out; asking him where they’re going to get bread to feed the throng. Philip is aghast. There’s no naturally possible way. None. But even though Philip was convinced in the beginning that Jesus was the Messiah (see John 1:45), he doesn’t yet really understand what that means. The extent of what God in Man can do. At least Andrew (another disciple) has gone out and found something, but he doesn’t think they (or Jesus) can do much with five tiny barley loaves (the cheapest available) and two small fish (most likely sardine-type). In other words, a young boy who had the foresight to bring his lunch along (think of a young Blaine when you read this 😊). And my question is, was the boy willing to give up his lunch? Surely he must have been. Maybe he was the one with all the faith in Jesus!

So Jesus tells the disciples to get everyone to sit (and they did, in groups of 50s and 100s according to Mark 6), Jesus gave thanks for the bread and fish and had the disciples begin handing it out, telling the people to take as much as they wanted. In the end, not only was everyone filled, the disciples collected 12 basketfuls of leftover bread!

After witnessing the signs that Jesus did, the people began to say “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” But their heads and their hearts were convinced He was a military savior. They were still waiting for a King to come and take over (punish and hopefully annihilate) the Roman government (and anyone else who wasn’t Jewish) and make Israel a great nation again. They weren’t really looking for a King of their hearts.

And so Jesus left them, withdrawing to a mountainside to be alone for the rest of the day.

That evening, the disciples got into their boat and set sail for Capernaum without Jesus. I’m not sure why they left Him. Did they get tired of waiting? It was getting dark and sailing at night wasn’t a good idea. Did Jesus give them instructions to leave if He didn’t return by a certain time? I don’t know. But the point is, they left without Him.

They were about halfway in their crossing when a strong wind came up and the water turned rough, and they saw Jesus walking on the water towards them and they were terrified. Based on what Jesus said to them (It is I; don’t be afraid.) They must’ve thought they were seeing some kind of apparition. But with His words, they became willing to take Him aboard and they continued to the Capernaum shore.

The crowd of people stayed the night, and in the morning when they discovered Jesus and his disciples were gone, they hopped into some other boats that had docked where they were, and set off to find Jesus again. And they did. But that’s a story for another day.

So what are we to learn from this? How does it apply to us?

How many signs do you need to believe? What signs are you looking for that have not already been given? I’m not just talking about the Words of Scripture, I’m talking about things and thoughts in your own life that point you toward the Messiah. At what point do you look beyond the miracles and the daily provision in your life to the Source? At what point do you come to the conclusion that Jesus is exactly Who He claims to be?

At what point do you decide to make Him truly King of your heart?

We took a long walk today on a series of trails within the Park. They’re not particularly exciting trails, just walks in the woods really, but it was exercise and fresh air.

We’d no sooner begun than a group of three older adults stopped us and asked us to be on the lookout for a dog that had run off. “He’s brown with a fluffy tail . . . Kinda chihuahua-type . . . . His name’s Gizmo . . . . If he lets you, pick him up . . . . He won’t bite you or nothin’ . . . . He has a collar with a phone number you can call . . . . We’re up here in a cabin . . . Some other people who just came out of the woods said they saw him in there about an hour ago . . . ”

“Sure! We’ll look for him.” As we think to ourselves, All dogs MUST be on a leash at ALL times. So say the Park rules. But they’ve probably already beleaguered that point, so there’s no point mentioning it to them.

And all during our walk, we’d intermittently call out his name and whistle for him, as we contemplated any number of things that could happen to a small dog lost in the woods.

Maybe he went to the family birthday bbq we saw going on when we arrived and is having a grand time

Maybe those people who said they’d seen him had him tucked away and took him home with them

Maybe he got snatched up by a hawk

Or a bear

Maybe he’s heading back to his real home and it’ll turn out to be like one of those incredible journey stories

Maybe he’s escaping an abusive situation

Maybe his collar got caught on a stick

They better check him for ticks when he comes home

He’s probably back home sitting on the porch wondering where they are

And whatever else we came up with but I can’t remember now, which is too bad because some of them made us laugh out loud