Readings for Sunday, August 2, 2020
Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 15; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
You Give Them Something to Eat:
The Bible study sessions this week focused on the gospel passage from Matthew 14:13-21, which narrates Matthew’s account of the feeding of the five thousand. This is the only miracle story that is found in all four gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15). A similar story of the feeding of the 4000 is found in Matthew 15:32-39 and Mark 8:1-9.
In the Bible study curriculum, Feasting on the Word, Clifton Kirkpatrick writes:
“The story of the feeding of the five thousand is very familiar to most Christians, but its message is always new: (1) that God loves and cares for every person on earth and that the promise of ‘life in fullness’ extends to every creature and to the creation itself; (2) that God calls us to be disciples—to be the means through which God’s work is done in our world today; (3) that God promises us in the Holy Spirit that the power of the love of God can break through even in the most unlikely places when we join together as faithful disciples seeking God’s good intentions for our world.”
Source: Feasting on the Word Curriculum, August 2, 2020, PCUSA
