2015    9[th] Sunday afrer Trinity   Spratton 

Last week we heard in our Gospel reading about a couple of miracles.  First, the Feeding of the Five Thousand and second the apparition of Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee.  We considered at Cottesbrooke the part that the disciples played in the feeding, a symbol perhaps of the spiritual nourishment of the word of God being spread, eventually around the world,  by believers.   
This week in our Gospel reading we find Jesus is still by the Sea of Galilee, having moved away from the crowds that flocked to see him.   But they follow him to the other side.  Jesus tells the crowds that  in his view they only came to see him because of the good lunch they had just eaten  -   May be they were hoping for something more to eat or drink  - a sort of Biblical version of the catchphrase " I'm only here for the beer. " 
 If the five barley loaves and two small fishes weren't a sign of God's power, through Jesus, what on earth were they expecting as a second manifestation, one might ask. And indeed why did they still need a sign ?  
And in answer to the question Rabbi what must we do to be doing the works of God, Jesus tells them they  must believe in him whom God has sent, without actually naming himself.   And then touching on Manna  -  linking to our OT reading this morning -  " My father", he says, "gives you the true bread from Heaven."
So what is that bread for us today ?  well, I have some of it in front of me there  -  the word of God was transmitted to us through the Bible.  It's the Bible that links us to God and I thought I would look at the Bible  -  briefly I can assure you  -  with that need for Bible study in mind -  in  a slightly different way, through a pack of playing cards.  

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