Bible Study: Proper 12 (B) – 2024

Note: During the 2024 Season after Pentecost, Sermons That Work will use Track 2 readings for sermons and Bible studies. Please consult our archives for many additional Track 1 resources from prior years.

RCL: 2 Kings 4:42-44; Psalm 145:10-19; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21

2 Kings 4:42-44

Standing on its own, this is a bit of a confounding passage of scripture. Who are these people? Where are these places? What message are we to glean? Some background: This selection comes from a series of miraculous doings worked by the prophet Elisha. Empowered by God, he takes a comparatively small amount of bread – the first fruits that normally would be given to God via a temple – and gives it to a huge crowd. Elisha’s servant is dumbfounded – what use is this small gift?

And yet – it is of use. God somehow multiplied the bread, satiating the crowd – and there were leftovers! The lesson is clear: every gift is meaningful to God and can be used to glorify him and raise up the community. And perhaps moreover – God’s generosity is boundless.

• What were your first thoughts upon reading this passage?
• Where have you sensed God’s provision in your life?

Psalm 145:10-19

This psalm continues a theme of the Old Testament reading: God’s generosity. It goes a bit further, too, in that it recommends a response to such generosity, namely, gratitude. This gratitude is not content to be expressed through a hearty, “Thanks, God!” It demands consistent praise, blessing, and (listen up, Episcopalians) sharing our faith.

There is a hymn that people seem to either love or hate – “Earth and All Stars” – which lists things from planets to snowstorms to cellos to wisdom, enjoining all of them to praise God with their very substance. With our lips, with our lives, we must do the same.

• What is your immediate reaction to God’s love? When you feel it most intensely, what do you do?

Ephesians 3:14-21

God’s power to fill us up is, as you’ve no doubt noticed, a theme of today’s scripture. In Ephesians, the focus is not so much on satiating physical hunger but rather on being reoriented and rooted the correct way. Paul prays fervently for the church to understand what is being offered by God – salvation, love, joy, the fullness of God. The world cries out as we seek fullness elsewhere: in buying useless things that gobble up resources and then waste away in landfills, in using other human beings to satisfy whatever fleeting desires we have, in making sure we have our fill before passing a gift on to others. This is not the way things have to be – “God is able to accomplish abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine.”

• How can we begin disengaging from overconsumption and engaging something more faithful?

John 6:1-21

And so, we circle back to feeding a great number of people with limited resources. Jesus harkens back to the Old Testament, when God rained down manna on the people, or when Elisha fed the crowd from 2 Kings. In this way, Jesus makes a statement about who he is and how the people will relate to him: He fulfills our needs abundantly.

This can be a hard season in the church. There are always needs, and for many congregations, they can be stretched to the breaking point. Finances cause struggles, people come and go, longtime faithful members go on to glory. And yet – what a testament the church’s faith in Jesus is. We do find, we will find, that our fears can be overcome and our needs can be miraculously met, simply by calling out in faith our Lord, who bids us over and over, “Do not be afraid.”

• Where in your life can you remove a bit of fear and add a little prayer?
• Do you most often think in terms of abundance or scarcity? Why?

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