In the last post I made reference to Dr. Walter Brueggemann’s Journey to the Common Good* noting particularly his writing that the “journey from anxious scarcity through miraculous abundance to a neighborly common good has been peculiarly entrusted to the church and its allies.” (32)

In this post we continue to consider Dr. Brueggemann’s eloquent words.  He writes about the feeding of the five thousand as recorded in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 6:30-44) and the feeding of four thousand people as recorded in Mark 8:1-10.  I encourage you to read these sections from the Gospel.  Dr. Brueggemann continues:

He [Jesus] wants them [the disciples] to reflect on his work of abundance.  But they avoided eye contact and make no response.  The disciples are beyond their interpretive capacity, because they do not know what to make of the new abudance caused by Jesus.

Like a good teacher, Jesus retreats to more concrete operational questions:

— How many baskets of bread were left over in chapter 6 when I fed five thousand?

— They are eager with an answer: “Twelve.”

— How many baskets of bread were left over in chapter 8 when I fed four thousand?

— They are eager with an answer:  “Seven!”

The disciples are very good at concrete operational questions.  They know the data, but they have no sense of its significance.  The narrative concludes with one of Jesus’ saddest verdicts:

Do you not yet understand?  Mark 8:21

Do you not understand that the ideology of scarcity has been broken, overwhelmed by the divine gift of abundance?

It is our propensity, in society and in church, to trust the narrative of scarcity.  That is what makes us greedy, and exclusive, and selfish, and coercive.  Even the Eucharist can be made into an occasion of scarcity, as though there were not enough for all.  Such scarcity leads to exclusion at the table, even as scarcity leads to exclusion from economic life.

But the narrative of abundance persists among us.  Those who sign on and depart the system of anxious scarcity become the historymakers of the neighborhood.  These are the ones not exhausted by Sabbath-less production who have enough energy to dream and hope.  From dreams and hopes come such neighborly miracles as good health care, good schools, good housing, good care for the earth, and disarmament.  The dream subverts Pharaoh’s nightmare.  Jesus laid it out, having read the exodus narrative:

“Do not be anxious” – do not trust Pharaoh; “Your heavenly father knows what you need” – then provides abundantly; “Seek the kindgom” – care for the neighborhood, and all will be well.  Matt 6:25-33

The ones who receive the gift have energy beyond themselves for the sake of the world.  And we, if we receive well, may be among those who push beyond ourselves. (34-35)

Are we stuck in the scarcity of operational-only understandings or are beginning to understand the significance of abundance?

*Brueggemann, Walter.  Journey to the Common Good.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2010.