17th Sunday of Ordinary Time - July 24, 2021

I am sure that most of you have heard that many biblical scholars have shared that this feeding of the 5 thousand, may well have been less to do with some magical multiplication of loaves and fish ,and more to do with Jesus getting those who had come to hear his message to share what they had with one another.
In the ancient Mediterranean world, one never traveled without provisions for the journey…bread and dried fish were some of the most common and most utilized as they were easily packed, long enduring and rich in sustenance.
For us as modern 21^st Century Christians, most of us never think of packing food for a days journey….we just stop at the next fast food joint or quick shoppe…
So how do we apply this lesson to our lives?
It is or at least it really can be a struggle…
Because we live in a world that is ravaged by distrust….and often governed by fear….
How does the Christian today recognize Christ today?
Maybe that is one of the greatest challenges we face….to discover the Christ that is present
I believe sometimes we look for big miracles, and radical expressions….
But maybe Christ is showing up and we are too busy looking for big to see the ever present Christ in the small….
Like I saw Christ in the corrections officer who found themselves participating in a payitforward experience at a McDonalds….and who trusted that they were going to be able to afford to keep it going even though they were strapped…and sure enough the car behind them had only ordered an Iced Coffee…
I saw Christ in the person today on the freeway who graciously moved over to an empty lane when I had to merge instead of staying in place and causing me and a number of others to have to squeeze into the merge lane.
I saw Christ in the text message from a friend who just said….checking in to see how you are doing, knowing that today was a tough day.
I saw Christ in a nurse who went out of her way to make sure that an inmate could have a chance to say his final goodbye to his mom virtually on a computer when the hospital she was in didn’t have the capacity and she went and got her own ipad to make it happen.
I saw Christ in the mom who had worked all day long, came home to a house without power yesterday in the midst of the heat, and who packed up the kids…trapesed over to her parents house so that the kids didn’t suffer in the extreme heat.
I saw Christ in the simple thank you note that came in the mail.
You see my friends I think we have an opportunity to see Christ working miracles in our world, if only we take the time to find them, or maybe more correctly, we take the time to see them.
I wonder what miracles we might see this week…I know one thing for sure….they are everywhere!