Tag Archives: Mark

9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Mark 1:9-15

What follows is the text of a sermon I preached on 26th February 2012 at Southwater Community Methodist Church, West Sussex.

Have you ever been told by someone that they love you?  Isn’t it a wonderful, magical experience.  There’s something really affirming about hearing from another human being that they love you.  We all crave love, whether it’s the love of a partner, or a parent, or a friend or a child.  Life without love can seem bleak.  If we feel as if no one loves us, we can feel disconnected from the world.  Love gives us the assurance that we are good people, that we are not alone, and that we have value in the eyes of our friends and family.

Have you ever told someone that you love them?  It sounds like the easiest thing to do, and we’re all aware of the impact our words can have on someone.  Sadly, saying “I love you” is something that many people struggle with.  Men, in particular, often struggle to say those three words, perhaps because they perceive feelings as something very feminine, perhaps because they were rarely told by their fathers that they loved them.  I think women, in general terms, are much better at declaring their love, whether it is to their parents, to their children, or to their friends.

Whether or not you’ve ever told someone you love them, whether or not you’ve ever been told by someone that they love you, there is an incredible verse in our reading today in which God declares his love for his son, saying “you are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

This verse is incredibly powerful, and we’ll spend some time this morning reflecting on this verse and the significance it has for us today.

That, in fact, is our first point; God is not just pleased with Jesus, he is pleased with us too.

In our Gospel reading this morning, Mark introduces us for the first time to Jesus.  In verse nine we see Jesus coming from that most unlikely of places, Nazareth in Galilee, to be baptised by John the Baptist.  His baptism represents the start of his earthly ministry.  Just us for Christians baptism represents a commitment to loving and serving God, for Jesus baptism signifies that he is beginning the journey that will ultimately lead him to the cross.

Jesus’ baptism also represents his equipping for the role he has in front of him.  Mark describes how as Jesus was coming out of the water, he saw heaven being torn upon and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  It is interesting that the Spirit should take the form of a dove, a bird which symbolises peace.  Jesus was not going to be some militaristic leader.  Jesus will conquer, he will save, he will lead his people to freedom, but not in the manner which was commonly understood.  Jesus was the servant king who conquered not through violence but through love.  It was his love for God and for all God’s people that meant that he defeated death and brought hope to all who believe, across time and space.

Jesus’ baptism also represented a moment of approval.  As the dove descended, Mark tells us that a voice came from heaven, proclaiming “you are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  Here we see God’s unconditional love flowing out of heaven towards his son Jesus.  At this point Jesus has not started his ministry.  He was yet to preach, to heal, to drive out demons, and to teach.  He has yet to conduct miracles.  He certainly has not gone to the cross by this stage.  Jesus had probably lived a relatively normal life in Nazareth with his family, perhaps working with Joseph, his adopted father, in his carpentry workshop, maybe alongside his brothers.  Yet despite this, God still proclaims his love for his son.  He still tells him that he loves him.  This is true unconditional love; love for love’s sake, love for who Jesus is rather than what he has done.

It is this verse that really stands out for me, for two reasons.  It shows the love that God has for us, but it also gives us a model as to how we should love.

Verse eleven shows the love that God has for us, and the kind of love that this is.

If we are baptised, believing Christians who seek to follow God, then God regards us as his children, as his sons and daughters.  This proclamation from heaven is directed not just as Jesus, but also at us.

God says to us, “you are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

And just as God loves Jesus for who he is, not for what he has done, he loves us for who we are.  He unconditionally proclaims his love for us.  He does not love us for what we have done.  He loves us for who we are.  He knows everything about us, the good stuff and the bad stuff, and yet he still loves us.  Even when we disobey him or turn from him, he still loves us.  There is nothing that we can do that will separate us from the love that God has for us.

What’s more, he is well pleased with us.  When we serve him effectively, follow his commands faithfully, and display his love always, he is pleased with us.  But even when we let him down, when we neglect and reject him, when we disobey him and dishonour him, he is still well pleased with us.  Why?  Because his love for us is unconditional.  It is not dependent on anything we do or say, anything we refrain from doing.  He loves us because of who we are.

This should be a cause for celebration for all of us, that the creator God knows and loves us all, regardless of what we do or do not do.  For the many who have not experienced the unconditional love of a parent, though, this is particular cause for celebration.

Perhaps you did not have the love of an earthly father.  Perhaps you grew up without knowing your father.  Maybe your father was distant and seemed unloving.  These are particular challenges for our society.  Yet through all these challenges we can be assured that we have a father in heaven who is desperate to shower unconditional love on us.  We do not need to earn his love or seek to please him.  He already loves us.

Verse eleven also provides us with a model of how we should love.

If God loves us unconditionally, we too should love unconditionally, and, perhaps more importantly, not be afraid or worried to show our love, or tell people that we love them.

If we allow our friends and families to think that we only love them because of their accomplishments, then we devalue that love and could end up harming those that we love.  This is conditional love, not unconditional love.  It’s also worth remembering that accomplishments, positions of prestige and honour are not always permanent.

Claire, my wife, is a doctor.  I am very proud of her success in her chosen career, but if I allowed her to think, even subconsciously, that I only loved her because she was a successful doctor, then this could be very damaging for our relationship.  Claire might worry about what might happen to our relationship if she was made redundant.  Would I still love her?  What if she decided to take a career change, and decided to become, say, a biology teacher.  Would I still love her?

The answer to these questions is, of course I would.  But if she felt that I would love her less because of her change in position, my love is not truly unconditional.  If Claire felt that she had to continue in her career because it was the basis for my love for her, she could well end up getting hurt.

The same is true for our children.

I realise I speak with no experience of parenting myself here, so if you are a parent, feel free to tell me I’m completely wrong at the end of the service if you wish, but if parents allow their children to think that their love for them is based solely on their achievements, then our children could potentially be harmed by their perception that our love for them is conditional.

If we place too much emphasis on a child’s success at school, how will our child feel if they fail an important exam?

Or if our child is accomplished on the sports field, will they feel that our love for them will be diminished if they lose a game?

Or if we seem too excited by the prospect that our child may become a successful lawyer, or brain surgeon, will they feel that our love for them will be lessened if they decide that they want to be a hairdresser?

We put all kinds of pressure on each other in our society today.  It is a tremendous risk that others think we love them only for what they do, their accomplishments, and not for who they are.

We need to reflect on the love that God displays to Jesus in this passage – true, unconditional love based on who Jesus is, not what he has done.

God is not afraid to declare his love for his son, and neither should we be afraid to declare our love – to our children, to our families, to our friends.

God is delighted to be able to tell his son that he is well pleased with him, even before Jesus began his ministry.  We should take the time to display our pleasure in our family and friends, just for who they are, no matter what they have or have not done.

Remember that statement in verse eleven as Jesus is baptised.

“You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Draw comfort from these words in the days and weeks ahead.

The second point I want to consider today is Jesus’ stay in the desert, particularly pertinent to us today, on the first Sunday in Lent.

No sooner does God proclaim his love for Jesus enters the desert for forty days and nights.

Interestingly, if we look at verse twelve, it is the Holy Spirit that sent Jesus into the desert, the same Holy Spirit that descended on him like a dove when he was baptised.

I’m sure there are many of us here today who feel that we have spent time in the desert.  Probably most of us have had times in our life when we’ve felt alone and neglected.  I know I have.  It may be difficult to comprehend as we go through the difficult patches in our lives, but it may well be that just as the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert, God has sent us into the dark valleys of our lives.  Jesus left the desert stronger, with a renewed sense of his mission and a heightened love for his father, due to the reliance he had to have on him.  The same is true for us; God does not send us into the desert to destroy us, but to build us up, to draw us to him, and to improve our lives when we leave the desert.

The truth is, of course, that whilst there will be moments in our lives when we feel stuck in a particularly dry, bleak desert, our entire lives are being lived in the desert, the spiritual desert of twenty-first century Britain.

Every day it seems that Britain becomes a drier desert, with the nourishing, living water of Jesus being scorched all around us.  People are laughed at for their beliefs.  Some find themselves facing difficulties at work because they choose to wear a cross.  Prayers are banned in council meetings.  There’s much talk of militant secularism sweeping our land.

We find ourselves in a spiritual desert just as Jesus found himself in a physical desert.

Just as the Holy Spirit sent him into the desert, we too are sent by God into this desert.

We are not alone, however.  Through all the devil’s temptations, during the danger Jesus felt from wild animals, God’s angels were with him.  Mark records how they “attended” him which suggests that not only were they with him, but they supported him and cared for him through his trials.

As they were with him, so too they are with us.  We may not recognise them as angels, but I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation in which we’ve needed support or help, and it has been given.

We may find ourselves in a spiritual wilderness.  We may find ourselves at different points in our lives feeling as if we are in a personal wilderness.  Throughout it all, though, God never forgets us.  What we should not forget as we confront difficulties in our own life is that remarkable statement from God in verse eleven, “you are my child whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Also worth remembering is the remarkable truth of the good news that Jesus came to bring all people, and it is this that we will look at in our third point today.

We’ve already seen that this passage comes right at the very start of Jesus’ministry, which started after John the Baptist was put in prison.  The very first words that Mark records Jesus saying, at the start of his ministry, are, “the time has come, the Kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!”

Some people think that the call to repentance, to turn from our sins, is bad news.  Some would have you believe that it is the “bad” things that make life enjoyable, and that living a Christian life is a dull business.  Yet Jesus calls on people to repent and believe the good news.

One writer has summarised the good news that Jesus brings into six key points:

It is good news of truth, because in Jesus we can see what God is like.

It is good news of hope.  Jesus brings hope where there seems to be none.

It is the good news of peace because the sin that wars within us has been conquered by Christ.

It is the good news of God’s promise, because he is a God who is ready to give more than we are to ask.

It is good news of immortality, because we are on the way to life rather than death.

It is good news of salvation, the power to live victoriously and to conquer sin.

Never let anyone tell you that the Christian life is somehow lacking, because being a Christian means having life to the full as we look forward to eternity in heaven with our God.

Never let anyone tell you that Christianity is something other than a force for good, because there is nothing at the root of our faith other than goodness.  Anyone who sees anything other than God’s goodness is not seeing authentic Christianity, but a warped version of it, distorted by those who claim to believe.

Jesus does, however, make a demand on our lives, and we see this here in his first statement.

He calls on Christians to repent.

Jesus calls on us not just to say sorry for the wrong things that we do but to turn away from wrong doing, to turn our backs on sinfulness.  At times this may be difficult.  Sometimes it may seem almost impossible.  But the promise of goodness that lies before us if we truly repent far outweighs anything that sin may offer us.

As we strive to truly repent we need to hold on to that amazing statement:

“You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

We may struggle.  At times we may fail.  Regardless, God still loves us unconditionally.

Jesus also calls on us to believe.

This demand is simple, yet at the same time difficult.

At its most simple, we are asked to believe that Jesus is who he says he is, and that the claims he makes are true.

Yet in a society that in which secularism and atheism seem to be getting stronger by the day, in which Christians are portrayed as fantasists who cling on to fairy tales, in which religions are blamed for all the wrongs in the world, it can be hard to cling on to our faith and to believe there is anything other than what we see before us, let alone that there is a God who loves us so much he sent his son to die for us.

Throughout it all, though, hold on to that statement from God:

“You are my child whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

So as I draw to a close this morning, let’s just reflect on the three points in this morning’s Gospel reading.

God loves us and is well pleased with us, not because of what we’ve done but because of who we are.  He loves us unconditionally.  Let’s accept that love and try to model it ourselves, loving the people in our lives unconditionally.

We live in a spiritual desert, and there will be times when that desert seems particularly bleak.  But God has sent us into the desert, not to harm us but to build us up.  He is always with us, and will protect us in the desert.

Finally, do not forget that incredible message from Jesus.  We are called to repent, and to turn away from our sin?  Why?  Because the kingdom of God is near.  We need to trust in Jesus, trust in the statements that he made and the actions he undertook, trust that there is a loving God who sent Jesus to die for us, and trust that we can have hope in a future far better than anything we’re currently experiencing.

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30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Mark 6:30-44

What follows is the text of a sermon I preached on 6th November 2011 at Southwater Community Methodist Church in West Sussex, for a Compassion Sunday service.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression to get out of bed on the wrong side. Sometimes, if we seem in a particularly bad mood during the course of the day, someone might ask us if we got out of bed on the wrong side.

Apparently this expression dates back as far as Roman times, when the left of anything was felt to be unlucky. For Romans, getting out of bed on the left hand side resulted in a foul temperament for the rest of the day.

My problem with this expression is one of perspective. Is the left hand side of the bed on my left when I’m lying on my back, or when I’m lying on my front? Depending on my position in the bed, the left side, or wrong side, alters.

I don’t actually hold to this ancient superstition. For me, what is most likely to effect someone’s temperament during the day is their first interaction with the wider world. If your first interaction is with someone who is unpleasant towards you, that, potentially, could leave you in a bad mood for the rest of the day. If your first interaction is a pleasant affair, with someone who responds to you in a loving, compassionate way, then you are far more likely to begin your day at least, in a cheery, happy fashion.

It’s amazing how such a small thing, a short interaction at the beginning of the day, can have such an enormous impact. Not only can the nature of that interaction set your mood for the rest of the day, but it can also impact on others around you because of the way that you, in turn, relate to them.

If someone shows you love at the beginning of the day, your attitude is likely to be loving and compassionate.

If someone shows you indifference, your attitude is likely to be more negative throughout the day. This brings us to our first point this morning.

In our reading today, we saw two totally different and contrasting attitudes towards the crowd of five thousand. Jesus shows compassion towards this vast throng, whilst the disciples see them as an inconvenience, an intrusion into their afternoon off.

In this well known passage, Jesus and his disciples have been busy teaching. By the point we encounter them, they are tired and hungry, and want a break. Jesus suggests that they go away to a quiet place to rest for a while. They headed off in a boat to find a spot where they could rest and relax, but crowds of people ran ahead. By the time the disciples’ boat had landed, there was already a large crowd of people waiting for them.

Now, if I was in this position, I think I would push the boat back into the lake and sail to somewhere quieter. Jesus takes a rather more charitable approach, however. Mark tells us that on seeing the crowd, Jesus “had compassion on them.” To him, the crowd were like “sheep without a shepherd.” He saw them as people who were wandering directionless, without a leader, unable to find nourishment or protection. He responds to their need by teaching them “many things.” He recognises that their primary need is to hear the Word of God, believing that this is the source of the direction that they lack.

The noticeable difference in attitude between Jesus and his disciples comes a little later, after Jesus has been teaching the crowd for sometime. The disciples suggest that, since it is getting late and people are getting hungry, Jesus should send the crowd away to find food. It is getting late, and they themselves are hungry. They have gathered in a remote place with no chance of finding food locally, so they think the best course to take is for Jesus to send them away so that they can fend for themselves.

It is clear that whilst the disciples are concerned that people by this time will be getting hungry, they personally do no feel any responsibility for the crowd. They are largely indifferent to their plight. They certainly do not believe that it is up to them to feed them. Tell them to go, they tell Jesus. Their attitude towards the people who have been listening to Jesus is “they’re not our problem.”

I have no doubt that if I was amongst the disciples, I would have felt much the same. The disciples were no doubt tired and hungry after a busy day, and the challenge of feeding five thousand people is something that they cannot even begin to contemplate. It’s not surprising that they feel no personal responsibility for the people. Why should they have to feed them?

I’m sure that we often follow the example of the disciples. We must all have seen hungry people and decided that they are not our problem. I’m sure we’ve all seen people in London with a cup and a “Homeless and Hungry” sign and walked past them without giving much consideration to their plight. They’re not our concern, we tell ourselves. Let someone else deal with that particular problem. We have enough stresses of our own to worry about someone else’s situation.

Sometimes as Christians, we might be moved to pray for the plight of others. We might ask God to intervene in a situation, but even then we are often reluctant to take practical action ourselves. When we see pictures of starving people in the Third World on television or in newspapers, we often pray to God and ask him to feed them. We see sick people and ask God to ease their suffering. We see victims of natural disasters and pray to God to support them.

When we respond in this way to what we see, we are responding in the same way as the disciples in today’s passage. These poor people in far away countries are not our concern. Someone else will deal with this issue. We’re tired and hungry, we’ve got enough on our plates without worrying about people thousands of miles away.

As I read about this miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand, though, I can hear God responding to our pleas in the same way as Jesus responds to his disciples here. Jesus’ attitude is very different to that of the disciples, and often far removed from the attitude that we take.

When Jesus sees the plight of the hungry crowd, out in a desolate spot, he displays not indifference, but compassion. He does not turn the crowd away as the disciples urge him to do. He does not release them to find something for themselves to eat. Just as he has provided for their spiritual needs by teaching them, he is now determined to provide for their physical needs. These people are his concern. They have sought him out, followed him, and listened to him teach. He responds to the crowd not with the detachment of the disciples, but with great compassion.

As is often the case, though, Jesus shocks his disciples with his response. He doesn’t agree with them that the crowd should be sent away. He doesn’t even respond immediately with one of his miracles.  Instead, he turns the issue straight back round to the disciples.

They say to him, send the people away.

He says to them, YOU give them something to eat.

He presents his disciples with a seemingly impossible task. They were flabbergasted by his instruction. How could they possibly be expected to give this huge crowd something to eat? The suggestion would have seemed preposterous. Yet the instruction is clear; YOU give them something to eat.

I have no doubt that God is saying the same to us as we see images of starving people, or people affected by disaster. We might pray to God, and ask him to do something, but as I read through today’s passage, I can hear saying back to us, YOU do something. I can hear him saying to us:

YOU feed the poor.

YOU ease the suffering of the sick.

YOU support victims of natural disasters.

This is certainly not to say that God does not care about people in need; he loves his whole creation, and that includes each and every person who walks upon the earth. He calls on us, though, to build his kingdom here on earth, to serve him, and, of course, to demonstrate his love to all people. We are often the tool by which God works out his plans for the world. He uses us, his people, to be the difference in the world.

That’s what Jesus asks his disciples to do here. He turns to his disciples and says to them “YOU give them something to eat.”  He turns it back on them.  If they want to see the kingdom of God come, if they truly want to follow Jesus, then they need to begin taking responsibility. They need to have the attitude of Christ in all things.

Here, Jesus’ attitude is clear; we must do something about these people. They are our responsibility. It is up to us to look after them. He wants his disciples to adopt this attitude too, which is why he says to them, YOU give them something to eat.

When we cry out to God for help for those who are less fortunate than we are, he turns it back to us and says, “you do it.”  He wants us to adopt his attitude and to have the same heart that he has for the people. He wants us take the initiative, to put our money where our mouth is and to take action.

I wonder how often when we cry out for God to help those in need we stop to think, what would he have me do? Do we share his attitude? Do we have the same heart for his people that he has? Do we combine pray with action?

There are two distinct attitudes in this passage; the “not our problem” attitude of the disciples, and the compassion of Christ. I wonder which is closer to our own attitude?

Our second point today is concerned with the miraculous way in which Jesus turns something small into something amazing. Jesus takes just five loaves of bread and two fish and somehow satisfies the hunger of five thousand people.

As we have seen, whilst the disciples are keen to turn the crowd away, Jesus shows great compassion and wants to provide for their physical needs as well as their spiritual needs. He does so, however, by shocking the disciples yet again.

When Jesus tells the disciples, “YOU give them something to eat,” they must have thought that he had gone mad. How could we possible feed this many people, they would have thought. There’s no where to get food from, and even if there was, it would cost far too much money to buy enough for five thousand people, far more money than they had.

Yet Jesus’ response to their disbelief is to ask them, “how many loaves do you have?” This must have seemed an absurd question to the disciples; there’s no way they could have had the quantity of food necessary to feed this large crowd. Jesus expects them nevertheless to do what he says and to trust him for the outcome, so they duly investigate how much food they have between them.

Jesus expects his disciples to do what he asks, and to trust him for the outcome, so they duly check how much food they have, and report back that they have five loaves and two fish.

No doubt they believed that what they had was completely inadequate. Five loaves of bread and two small fish was barely enough to feed the twelve disciples, let alone to provide enough food for five thousand hungry people.

No doubt you have also felt that way. I know I have when confronted with the needs of the world. Living in the UK, I may be rich compared to much of the world’s population, but when I see millions starving in Africa on the news, my paltry income seems totally inconsequential. Even if I gave every penny I have, I often think, that would hardly scratch the surface of the problem of hunger. How can I, as an individual, do anything about the millions of people starving in the world?  The millions who are staring poverty in the face?  The millions who have a very bleak future in front of them?  Even if I wanted to do something, I simply do not have enough cash to have any real impact on the situation. I’m sure you’ve felt the same. Like me, you’ve probably watched something like Comic Relief on television and given a tenner because you feel you ought, although you’re not convinced it will really do any good at all. Consequently, we fail to do anything. We leave it up to governments or the super rich to take action. They, after all, have the resources to do something. We do not.

In today’s passage, however, we see how Jesus can work miracles with even the smallest amount. The five loaves and two fish may have seemed inconsequential to the disciples, but in Jesus’ hands that small offering became enough to feed five thousand people. What’s more, they didn’t just have a crumb each, but ate until they were satisfied.  Amazingly, even after feeding five thousand people, there was enough left over to fill twelve baskets. Jesus simply gave thanks to God for his provision and instructed his disciples to distribute the food to the crowd.

Jesus shows us that no matter how great the need, if we offer what we have to God and invite him to use it for his glory, then there are no limits to what our paltry gifts can achieve. Jesus fed five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. That’s a meal for maybe a couple of people that fed a whole crowd. Think of all that we have been given and the impact that just a small portion of this could have if we asked God to bless what we have and offered it to him for his work. Just as something as insignificant as that first interaction we have at the beginning of the day can have a huge impact on us, and through us the world, just a small offering can have a massive effect on the world.

Today we’re thinking about the charity Compassion. This wonderful organisation are a testament to what just a little can do. It costs just £21 a month to sponsor a child through Compassion. That’s the price of a Sky TV subscription, or seven coffees from Starbucks. £21 is £16 less than the average UK mobile phone bill. In Britain today, £21 is not much more than the five loaves and two fish that the disciples managed to muster in today’s passage.

In the hands of Compassion, that £21 can change the life of a child in the developing world. Just as Jesus was concerned to meet the spiritual and physical needs of the crowd that followed him, child sponsorship helps to meet the spiritual and physical needs of a needy child. A sponsored child is supported, educated, fed, introduced to the gospel and prepared for adult life in a way that would otherwise be impossible. That young person, by virtue of their sponsorship, will influence others and potentially will alter the lives of their family and friends, their neighbours, and possibly their whole town or even their country. That’s an awful lot of impact for just £21 a month.

So often we pray to God and ask for him to change the world, yet more often than not we are the answer to our own prayers. We must strive to avoid the pessimism of the disciples, look at what we have got, and use that to bring about the change we pray for. We might feel that what we have is inadequate to have any impact on the world, but in today’s reading it is clear that that is not the attitude to have. We should strive instead to emulate Christ and embrace his attitude, using what we have to bring about change.

If you’re already sponsoring a child, well done. If you’re not, however, why not take the opportunity to do so today. You’d be amazed at the impact that £21 can have!

In conclusion, think back to that first interaction of the day. If someone shows you compassion, you are set up right for the day ahead. If you’re treated with indifference, it can wrong foot you for the rest of the day.

Compassion works with people, not at the beginning of their day, but at the beginning of their lives. If we embrace the attitude of Christ, accepting that the needy of the world are our concern, if we offer what we have to God through Compassion, these children will be set up right for the rest of their lives. The impact you can have on a child’s life is immeasurable, and can have an impact much more significant than you could even contemplate.

If we offer even a small amount to further the work of Christ’s work here on earth, he can transform it into something remarkable.

So let’s reflect today and in the week ahead on our attitude towards the needy of the world. Do we have a heart for the poor, as Christ has a heart for the hungry in today’s passage? Or, like the disciples, do we think of the needy as not our problem?

As the disciples offered up what little they had to Christ, do we offer up what we have, or do we hold back thinking that what we have is inadequate and unable to make a real difference?

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