“Crazy Jesus Math”
Mustard grew wild in the ditches around our farm. We would pull it when its bright yellow blooms made it easy to identify but before it could produce its 1,200 seeds and take over the adjacent fields Jesus tells the disciples they couldn’t release a child from the grip of a demon because they had so little faith. They didn’t need a lot – a mustard seed’s worth (about one to two millimeters) – would have done nicely, he tells them. I was this many years old when Robin pointed out that what I knew about the mustard plant from my childhood is actually the point of this story – one seed of faith is enough to produce 1,200 more. It is enough.
You’re probably familiar with the stories – in all four Gospels – of Jesus feeding a multitude of people with just a few loaves of bread and some fish. The disciples wanted to send the crowd away to find their lunch (“I got nuttin’, Jesus”, I can imagine them saying). But a child – as they do – had a better idea and offered Jesus the lunch their mother had packed. I can imagine Jesus looking at what the child brought and saying “Looks about right to me. Let’s get these people fed.” So Jesus blessed the bread and fish, the disciples distributed it, the people ate, and there were leftovers– lots of leftovers! That’s some crazy Jesus math.
Jesus feeding the crowd is often interpreted as a supernatural miracle. I’ve also heard it told as an opening to generosity – that there may have been plenty of people who had brought sack lunches with them but held them back so as not to eat in front of others or be pressed into sharing with those who hadn’t come prepared. That when Jesus blessed the child’s offering from what their mother had packed for their family, people were moved to generosity, to bring out what their wives and mothers had packed, and there was, indeed, more than enough. Generosity is its own miracle.
How about when Jesus told Simon – tired after an unsuccessful night on Lake Gennesaret* – to cast his nets again (this time on the other side of the boat)? I have to wonder if Simon was thinking “Too late, too tired, gotta go.” He’d just heard Jesus teaching the crowds, gave in to the instruction, and brought in a large haul. Out of time, out of energy, but still – and always - enough when you do math like Jesus does.
So let’s practice some crazy Jesus math, Berry and IP/Big Shoulders style at For the Love of Pi(e): A Tasty Benefit for the Irving Park Community Food Pantry from 6:30 – 8:00pm on March 14 at the Albany Park Ministry Center. The Irving Park Community Food Pantry (IPCFP) started as a grass roots effort of Irving Park UMC member Leila Duncan in the 1970s.
IPCFP It exists today because people remain committed to the miracle of generosity of time, money, and spirit. For more on how crazy Jesus math works, food pantry style, check out Feeding America’s article to see how even small cash donations go further than drop offs of canned goods at food banks like IPCFP.
*The Sea of Galilee. Gennesaret takes its name from a rich, fertile valley
