Transformation comes to us in many different ways. Entire behaviors can be changed for the better. A vexing physical ailment can behealed. For me, I’ve undergone a transformation of knowledge in my head tobelief in my heart. This happened to me while I was with a team of awesome people in Malawi a couple of weeks ago.
One of the most profound articles I have read is by a world class Old Testament author named Walter Brueggemann. The article is entitled “A Liturgy of Abundance and the Myth of Scarcity.” In it, Brueggemann traces through the narrative of Scripture showing how when God created everything good, he created everything in abundance. The abundance of God’s creation is exemplified in the ability of God’s creation to pro-create; two become one and bear children, flowers and plants pollinate, birds of the air nest and fish ofthe sea spawn. God created this space for us to fill it up. There will always be enough of what God has deemed “very good.”
Brueggemann then points out a crisis that occurs in Genesis 47. Prior to this point in the narrative, the blessing of God in creation is evident in all the work of God’s people. When the threat of famine hits the land, the powers that be react in fear, and hoard all available goods. They operate under the myth of scarcity—that there will never be enough, so they must take everything.
The beauty of the Scriptures is that the reveal the world for what it is. This story captures what has happened because of sin.The world has operated under the myth of scarcity’s dominion. It has pervaded our economies. It drives fear. It has made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Before going to Malawi, I understood the theological assertion that God has created in abundance. I’ve studied it. I took specific courses in Seminary on Theology of Creation. Opening to the front page of the BBC, CNN, the Huffington Post, and Fox News all share the same story regardless of political stance: our world operates under the myth of scarcity. I knew it. It was obvious. I’ve always been able to recognize the conflict between the two.
If there has been anyone who has suffered under the myth of scarcity, it is the rural poor in Malawi. Shortly before my trip, my good friend Bryan recommended a book to me, “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind.” This is a story about a boy William who grew up very poor in a rural area in Northern Malawi near the town of Kasungu (We actually passed through Kasungu on our way to Mzimba, where the Area Development Projects are). I was so glad I read this story before going because it gave tremendous insight into rural life in Malawi: how the rainy season lasts from December to February, how the staple crop of Malawi is maize, and from maize they make their staple food nsima.
He also was able to share how horrible things were during a famine that took place right after the turn of the century. The rains never came that December that year. Malawi had a great government program set up incase this would ever happen where each year farmers would sell their surplus to the agency and it would be kept should a famine come to sell back to the famers. However, corruption in the government led officials to sell off the surplus for personal gain to surrounding countries. The price of maize thus skyrocketed, leaving the rural poor much poorer than they had been before.
William recalls the pains of starvation. He tells of how he raced to Kasungu and was nearly trampled when the maize became available. He remembers each day only having a pinch of nsima.
This is what happens when people believe that there isn't enough so they have to take it all. They have to hoard the goods. They have to sell off the extra so that they make the profit. This is not the world that God has created.
We who are fortunate to have everything we need are constantly tempted to fall into this myth of scarcity. But it wasn’t until I stood on the red dirt in Malawi, staring up at a huge basket overflowing with maize that I believed in my heart that our God has created in abundance. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I had to look it up later, but this is the verse that comes to mind thinking about seeing the full storehouses:
The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. (Deuteronomy 28:12).
When I saw the baskets full of maize, I swear I was staring at the storehouses of heaven.
These people who most likely have suffered starvation notonly have food, but also now have food to sustain them. The farmers, their families, the orphans they watch after, and their entire villages have created avenues for lasting income and storehouses that will last for them through famines. They are loaned livestock and whatever offspring is produced they pass on to the next village. It’s a generosity you only see in the Kingdom of God.
I am so thankful for the partnership between World Vision and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. They together have brought good news to these people by way of connecting the church to lasting food security projects. Organizations like these work towards the abundance that God has infused into this creation and away from the scarcity the brokenness of our sin has perpetuated.
We need to be reminded often of the truth of God’s abundance. Over and over again we need to undergo a transformation of simple knowledge in our head to belief in our heart.
I read this morning from Mark 8:14-21, which provides asummary of Jesus trying to get this message through the dense heads of his disciples:
14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and thatof Herod.” 16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” 17 Aware oftheir discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. 20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” 21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
The yeasts of the Pharisees and of Herod sell off the surplus when famine comes. Our hearts are hardened as Pharaoh’s was when our lifestyles enslave others. We forget that God has delivered us out of the lifeof slavery and into the life of freedom. The abundance of God’s creation is always enough for his people—twelve baskets are left after the feeding of the 5,000 representing the wholeness of the twelve tribes of Israel. Seven baskets are left over after Jesus feeds 4,000. This represents God’s provision for all of creation. Jesus reveals to us the heart of God the creator through the sacrament of breaking bread and sharing it. God has given us enough to sustain this world. Will we choose to understand?
