communal miracles
Imagine what it would be like to live in a community without hierarchy, or to attempt to complete a project with no one person on top, in charge.
John 6:14-15
When the people saw that [Jesus] had done a miraculous sign, they began to say, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world!” Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him their king, so he withdrew again to the mountain by himself
Jesus has just fed thousands with five loaves and two fish…and now they want to make him their king.
But Jesus resists; in fact, he flees! He doesn’t want to lord over them; that’s not why he took care of them. He fed them as one of them — as a fellow impoverished Jew subjugated by Rome.
He embodies the idea that “We keep us safe,” that aid doesn’t come from the top down, but from oppressed folk helping each other.
And indeed, this was his most communal miracle: Jesus doesn’t wave his hand over the loaves and fish to multiply them in an instant, all by himself; instead, everyone has a hand in the miracle, passing the food around and finding it never runs out under their collective touch.
This is the Kin-dom Jesus desires — where interdependence, communal miracles are how each need is met.
Imagine what it would be like to live in a community without hierarchy, or to attempt to complete a project with no one person on top, in charge. What challenges do you imagine arising? What benefits might come from such a model?