God’s word in the eighth Sunday from Matthew’s gospel is very characteristic. Two sentences that literally describe the work in the missionary countries in Africa and a miracle of the multiplication of the loaves of bread that starkly demonstrates that this missionary work is God’s work. The disciples respond to the Lord’s command, “Then let them eat…” We do not have enough food to feed so many people. There is not enough food for enough people. It is obvious that human logic, “arithmetic,” limits, while God’s logic removes the limitations and makes the five loaves and two fish enough for more than five thousand people, and there is enough for more than five thousand people. In this passage there are two points worthy of attention, which give us the meaning and show us which are human and which are divine, and that church work, and in this case missionary work, is work that is not carried out by human standards alone. The disciples give that which is minimal and insignificant for the great magnitude of the need (five loaves and two fish), but which is necessary for God to take it and bless it and make it super-sufficient.
In fact, this is what happens in the work of the Mission: these few and insignificant things in the work of the Orthodox Church in the Mission, God makes them abundant and they cover a multitude of needs.
Also, it is characteristic that after God multiplies the little food, He does not distribute it to the people Himself, but gives it back to the disciples and they in turn give it back to the hungry people. Jesus thus declares to us that the cooperation of God and man is a necessary condition for the realization of this work called the “miracle of mission”.
The lessons learned are: First, the Apostles must have had these few things, which are absolutely necessary for the miracle to take place. Secondly, God reveals that the work of the Church, and in this case of the Mission, is a divine work done with human hands. Dear members of the Orthodox Foreign Missionary Brotherhood and our fellow travellers in this work,
we who have been entrusted to minister in Africa gladly give all these little things: a little diligence, a little stamina, a little knowledge, a little spirituality, a little patience, a little diligence, a little diligence, a little skill, a little of everything. And God gives it back to us in abundance and super-abundance, so that we may minister to his people.
With your love and support for the Sudan Mission, these few and human.
† Nubian Narcissus
