4 Aug 2025
The Work the Needs Doing
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Numbers 11:4b-15
The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin. The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it.
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors’? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.”
Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
04 August 2025 @ 11:44 pm
Thank you for the reminder that the work is not about us, it’s about the need of God’s people and creation.
05 August 2025 @ 12:12 am
Great preaching, Scott!
#DoItBecauseItNeedsToBeDone
05 August 2025 @ 1:53 am
This wonderful reflection reminds me of a saying I use all the time “Doing the right thing isn’t always easy but it’s always right. And there are so many things that need to be done in our world today. Thank you!
05 August 2025 @ 1:57 am
Thank you all for your kind comments. If we can keep focussed on the needs that God wants us to help with, we can get through a lot of tough times.
07 August 2025 @ 11:27 am
I’m running a couple of days behind this week! I apologize for the late comment.
Father Scott your message reminded me of a phrase I heard years ago on a Sunday morning………”Don’t be afraid of work that has no end.”
God Bless You!
07 August 2025 @ 12:59 pm
Roger, God bless you for coming back for a listen. I like the quote. Very apropos.