i just picked up Peter Rollins book, ‘The Orthodox Heretic and other impossible tales’ today, am three stories in and already want to sit and type all three of them out.

but that’s probably illegal or something and so i’ll just share the one for now as an encouragement to get hold of this book and have your mind blown away a little bit.

and in fact it is the one story i heard him tell before, live at the Wild Goose festival, two years ago…

‘Jesus and the Five Thousand [A first world translation]

Jesus withdrew privately by boat to a solitary place, but the crowds continued to follow Him. Evening was now approaching and the people, many of whom had traveled a great distance , were growing hungry.

Seeing this, Jesus sent His disciples out to gather food, but all they could find were five loaves of bread and two fishes. Then Jesus asked that they go out again and gather p the provisions that the crowds had brought to sustain them in their travels. Once this was accomplished, a vast mountain of fish and bread stood before Jesus. Upon seeing this He directed the people to sit down on the grass.

Standing before the food and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks to God and broke the bread. Then He passed the food among the twelve disciples. Jesus and His friends ate like kings in full view of the starving people. But what was truly amazing, what was miraculous about this meal, was that when they had finished the massive banquet there was not even enough crumbs left to fill a starving person’s hand.’

rollinsCommentary: The initial shock of this story relates to the way that it inscribes selfish and inhumane actions onto Christ Himself by twisting the story we all know of Jesus feeding the multitude. While it would seem perfectly acceptable to attack governments, corporations, and individuals for failing to distribute goods appropriately and turning away from the poorest among us who suffer as a direct result of our greed, it would seem inappropriate to read such inhumanity into the actions of Christ Himself. If anything, Christ was one  who demonstrated a life of joyful simplicity, radical healing, and unimaginable love. Christ challenges us to look outward, and thus He should not be the One whom we condemn.

Yet in the Bible we read that those who follow Christ are nothing less than the manifestation of His body in the world today (Colossians 1.24, 1 Corinthians 12.27, and Ephesians 5.30]. The presence of Christ in the world is said to be directly encountered in the presence of those who gather together in His name. In very concrete terms, people learn of Christ through those who claim to live out the way of Christ. However, if Christ is proclaimed in the life of His followers, if the body of believers is thought to manifest  the body of Christ in the world, then we must stop, draw breath, and ask ourselves whether the above tale reflects how Christ is presented in the world today, at least in the minds of those who witness the lifestyle of Christians in the West.’

So yes, that is just one story out of three i have read so far, each one as equally powerful… you should seriously check it out.