Week 20 - The Gospel Of Bread Found

“We are not doing right. This is a day of good news but we are keeping silent… let us go and tell the king’s household.” (2 Kings 7:9, NASB)

Perched on the roof of a two-storey building at the corner of a busy traffic junction are two large bill-boards. You would have thought that the space would command a premium fee for advertisements. To my surprise (and delight!), they display a Christian message. On the left panel is written “John 3:16. ‘You tell ‘em Johnny, you tell the world.’” The text for the right panel is “John 14:6. ‘You tell ‘em Johnny, you tell the world.’”

It seems to me that the message is targeted at Christians since only the Bible references are given. This busy junction with banks, shops, offices and cafes ensures that many motorists and pedestrians would have noted the message. Any Christian would quickly recognise the message to be a call to evangelise — to tell others of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In the Bible, there is a story about how when Samaria was under siege and the people starving, four lepers brought the good news of a deserted enemy camp filled with food aplenty. You can read the whole narrative in 2 Kings 7:3-11 . This is a narrative of radical reversal that moves from famine to abundant food. The war, and through the siege, produces a food shortage in Samaria. The story of the four lepers illustrates vividly the importance of sharing the good news.

While helping themselves to the drink and food, they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent… let us go and tell the king’s household” (2 Kings 7:9 , NASB).

This story is a good illustration of the need to share with others what we have discovered, especially regarding the good news of Jesus Christ. How can we keep silent when others have not heard of the good news that Jesus came to save us from our sins? We need to go and tell them — our friends and loved ones who have not yet put their trust in Him. I praise God for the many Carmelites who have even gone further afield, to Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, India and China to bring medical aid and the gospel to those who have not known Him.

DT Niles (1908-70), a well-known Christian scholar and writer has famously said that the practice of Christian evangelism is “like a beggar who has found bread telling other beggars where there is bread.” We need not explain the whole doctrine of salvation or the Trinity to the non-believers at the first encounter. This can come later. Our responsibility is to direct them to Jesus, the Bread of Life.

Without knowing, many are facing spiritual starvation. We have the Bread of Life. May God help us to tell ‘em, to tell the world.