Yummy! Soup!
My granddaughter, Amelia, loves to be outside. It doesn’t matter what we do, she just enjoys the outdoors. Recently when I was with her at her house, we decided to pick up rocks from the backyard in an area where the grass simply won’t grow. Little wonder as we unearthed chunks of asphalt and concrete, which from the surface appeared to be smallish, but like an iceberg, were two to three times bigger underground. Her empty kiddie pool was nearby so we began filling the bottom with chunks of rock.
Once she tired of our game, she found her bucket and shovel and climbed into the pool with the rocks, loading her bucket. She would stir and dump them and start again, finally announcing, “Soup! It’s yummy!” in her adorable little voice. My mind ran to the folktale of stone soup. Hungry travelers began with boiling water and rocks, making a pot of soup to share, to which guarded villagers finally added substance from their meager stores, making a soup the entire community enjoyed together. My next thought landed me in the wilderness with Jesus where He was tempted by the enemy.
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.
For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””
Matthew 4:1-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.4.1-4.NLT
Jesus had only just been baptized by John when the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove “and a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”” (Matthew 3:16-17 NLT) Older translations say “in whom I am well-pleased.” Jesus had not officially called his followers or begun His public ministry, yet the Father affirmed Him as Son by a voice from heaven. What did John the Baptist make of it? The apostle John tells us exactly.
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’
I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him.
I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.””
John 1:29-34 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.1.29-34.NLT
The Christ, Messiah, from the Greek and Hebrew, both mean anointed one. The long awaited Savior of Israel foretold by prophets for centuries had finally come. Crowds thronged about Him, curious and skeptical alike. Sometimes they were amazed and other times confounded, but above all, they were clueless.
“About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again.
Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.”
His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?”
Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
“Seven loaves,” they replied.
So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces.
He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd.
A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them.
They ate as much as they wanted.
Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.
There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten.
Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him.
Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.””
Mark 8:1-12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.8.1-12.NLT
Twice Jesus fed a large crowd with a handful of fish and loaves. Twice the significance was lost on His own followers. When He was tempted by the devil, Jesus absolutely could have turned stones into bread. In fact John the Baptist asserted that “God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.” (Matthew 3:9) God had already given every evidence needed and then some for the Jews to believe that Jesus was the One and only Son of the Living God. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem before His crucifixion, His lament ““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me,” (Matthew 23:37 NLT) reveals the heart of God for His chosen nation. Her leaders refused to believe and led her away from the One who came to save her.
“So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake.
But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat.
As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.”
At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread.
Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’
Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” “Twelve,” they said.
“And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said.
“Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them.”
Mark 8:13-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.8.13-15.NLT
Do we?
Jesus is almighty God. He can do anything and everything. He sees and knows all. He reigns supreme in the heavens, and He is coming again, this time in judgement. In the blink of an eye, at a time we cannot know, only anticipate, the heavens will open on Him once again and the battle will be over before it is begun.
“Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there.
Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war.
His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns.
A name was written on him that no one understood except himself.
He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.
The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses.
From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations.
He will rule them with an iron rod.
He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress.
On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all Lords.”
Revelation 19:11-16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.19.11-16.NLT
“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. [Isa. 40:5.]”
John 1:14 AMPC
https://bible.com/bible/8/jhn.1.14.AMPC
“Listen!
It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!
Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken!””
Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT
A Fitting Reply 