International Food Aid: Gifts of the Helpers

Read Luke 5:17-20. This Gospel story offers a vivid image of group members working together to help their friend. God calls us into such community.

Genesis makes it clear from the beginning of creation that God intends for us to have helpers. God says of Adam, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). The biblical story continues as a description of the relationship between God and the people of God. It is a community, not an individual, who is called to the Promised Land. And God blesses community.

In Matthew, Jesus promises the disciples, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there amI in the midst of them.” In the community described in our passage, a collection of people combined their resources and skills to get the paralytic man to the place where he could receive what he needed.

Consider the many gifts people in the story likely offered: resources such as a ladder and tools to get through the roof, creativity, strength to carry the man, and even the willingness of the homeowner to have a hole put in the roof.

After the group achieved its goal, Jesus recognized their faith, not simply the faith of the paralytic. And so it is with our nations. When we in the United States and other countries combine our resources, we can help people around the world who do not have enough food.

Molly Marsh is managing editor at Bread for the World.

Photo caption: Martha Togdbba of Kpaytno, Liberia, grows vegetables, including tomatoes and chili peppers. She irrigates her small farm with water from a nearby stream that she walks back and forth to with a watering can. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World.

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