The incessant rain confined me to be indoor, sitting at the front parlour of our cottage, which gives me a direct view of the feeding table in our garden. One Bulbul arrived for its feed, while two others were waiting perched on the nutmeg tree beside it. One of them came to feed when the earlier Bulbul had left after its feeding.
It was while watching this turn taking exercise between Bulbuls, the thought of Jesus of Nazareth, initiating the process to feed a large gathering of people came to me.
The book of gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Bible records this event with some details :
'And when Jesus went ashore, He saw great multitude, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and He began to teach them many things ' (Mark 6: 34).
Jesus taught them because He was moved within with love, consideration and mindfulness.
Jesus knew that His teaching needed to be supplemented with responding to their hunger. When His disciples recommended that they be sent away (v36), Jesus turned to them saying, 'You give something to eat' (37).
This is the call to all the followers of Jesus of Nazareth even today.
We live at a time when, even the relief ship with food for the people in Gaza has been blocked in the high sea, by the Israeli army, from proceeding to deliver the essentials to people stranded in Gaza.
And yet, it resounds in my heart, 'You give them something to eat'! The voice from the disciples of Jesus was 'send them away' !
This is the paradox. Jesus became their shepherd by teaching them about the God of love. But the disciples of Jesus did not feel moved that people were hungry and they were in a desolate place. The disciples heard about God of love from Jesus, but could not feel the love for people and their needs.
I felt admonished as I read this passage.
There is a distance between the heart that feels and the needs of people around.
Yesterday when I went to the vegetable market for purchases, a farmer was trying to sell his produce of vegetables. There was so much of vegetables unsold in the shop, due to people not coming to buy in the incessant rain, that the shop keeper declined to buy them. The farmer asked for three kilograms of rice for the immediate need of the family. The shop keeper offered it at no charge. The farmer promised to come back to pay.
I thought that the shop keeper felt for the farmer.
I came back thinking about this. That is when this passage of the contrasting responses of Jesus and His disciples came back to me one more time today.
Jesus was moved with compassion while the disciples were preoccupied with their convenience.
I want to stay dwelling on these two contrasting experiences- compassionate action or convenient avoidance!
These two responses define the way we live!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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