Entering Into Our Calling — A Lesson from the Gospel of John
A few months ago I read a book called ‘The Call’ by author Os Guinness, where at one point the author defined ‘calling’ as “the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service.” This is an interesting definition, and I think I might find Steven Pressfield (of ‘The War of Art’, which I’ve written about in relation to calling) nodding his head in agreement with this sentiment.
Last night my home church and I looked at ‘the feeding of the five thousand’, a passage in the Gospel of John that’s the third of seven signs which Jesus is recorded as performing, and I saw this concept of calling echoed quite clearly. Each time that I read a passage of scripture (especially one as ‘famous’ as a miracle), I’m struck by how much I thought I knew it, and how little I truly did.
It begins like this:
Then one day Jesus went to the Lake of Tiberias, which is also known as the Lake of Galilee. And a massive crowd of people followed him everywhere. They were attracted by his miracles and the healings they watched him perform. Jesus went up the slope of a hill and sat down with his disciples. Now it was approaching the time of the Jewish celebration of Passover, and there were many pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem in the crowd.
As Jesus sat down, he looked out and saw the massive crowd of people scrambling up the hill, for they wanted to be near him. So he turned to Philip and said, “Where will we buy enough food to feed all these people?” Now Jesus already knew what he was about to do, but he said this to stretch Philip’s faith.
Philip answered, “Well, I suppose if we were to give everyone only a snack, it would cost thousands of dollars to buy enough food!”
As I considered that short dialogue, I appreciated the fact that Jesus where they can find a supply of food, and Philip responds with an answer about how they’ll pay for it. It feels very human to be respond to a question not with a real answer but with an admission of a subconscious worry. We are always thinking about ourselves, and our fears slip out more often than we realize.
Instead of responding, Jesus simply continues on and an opportunity comes from Andrew:
But just then, Andrew, Peter’s brother, spoke up and said, “ Look! Here’s a young persond with five barley loaves and two small fish … but how far would that go with this huge crowd?”
“Have everyone sit down,” Jesus said to his disciples. So on the vast grassy slope, more than five thousand hungry people sat down. Jesus then took the barley loaves and the fish and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people. Miraculously, the food multiplied, with everyone eating as much as they wanted!
I appreciate that, regardless of their questions of fears, the disciples are still able to enter in to this miracle which they have no ability to comprehend—and indeed, the miracle only occurs, so to speak, after the disciples are given the food to distribute.
What does that say for us? To me, it reminds me of the difference between an inner doubt and an external one. We have the ability to question what we’re called to do, but enter in anyway. Or we can allow that questioning to stop us in our tracks.
Jesus disciples’ are charged in this scenario to follow regardless of their insecurity. Surely it’s a difficult task to enter into a crowd of thousands of hungry people with only a small bit of bread and perhaps an even smaller portion of fish. Yet they did it, and the miraculous happened.
What happens when we enter in to what we’re called to? Don’t let doubt stop you from finding out.
