Luke 9

Luk 9:14
For they were about five thousand men.
He said to his disciples,
"Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each."
Luk 9:15
They did so, and made them all sit down.
Luk 9:16
He took the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to the sky,
he blessed them, and broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.
Luk 9:17
They ate, and were all filled.
They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces
that were left over.

Reading these verses reminded me
of a bible teacher I used to listen to,
who often reminded us of his belief that
absolutely everything in the bible was there for a reason.
That every little fact and comment had some meaning
if we could only discern it.

The reason I am reminded of this
was his comment that he was unable to find any meaning
in these numbers;
5000 men, 5 loaves, 2 fish and 12 baskets,
and in his attempt to correlate these numbers
with the other account of feeding in Mark8 and Matthew15
with 4000 men, 7 loaves, a few fish and 7 baskets.

It suddenly occured to me what the most probable significance is!

It is that this account is to be taken at face value,
an honest account of what happened on those days.
If there is anything designed into the specific numbers,
maybe they are expressed in this way
so we would NEVER find a pattern in them.

Maybe the reason for having numbers like these
is so they "don't add up" to anything logical!
Maybe its so we WON'T be distracted
from the true meaning,
to PREVENT us from finding anything
that will cause us to lose our focus.

-=-=-

Something else in this chapter
got me thinking in a strange way,
and will sound kind of crazy in a bible study.
So here is a warning to just skip the rest of this
and move on over to Luke 10!

ok, I warned ya...

I've just finished a college course on particle physics,
and my concept of this physical world has been forever altered.
One of the "most proven" concepts in all of science
is the atomic theory,
that everything is composed of atoms.
Atoms are always in motion, they jiggle
(except maybe at the extreme coldest end of
the temperature scale, absolute zero?)
and as more energy is added they jiggle more.
And if you add even MORE energy they try to "balance out"
by emitting photons,
which are little clumps of light.

That's how a flashlight works,
the battery pushes energy through a little filament of atoms
inside the bulb,
and they deal with it by emitting streams of photons
and a lot of heat.

so what?

Well,
I think its interesting that scientists are trying to calculate
what the universe was like at the very beginning of creation.
The most current theory says that at a certain point in time,
EVERY atom had so much energy
that ALL of them were emitting photons!

Can you imagine what that would be like?

no.

We are used to seeing light as "coming from somewhere",
as having a source.
What if every atom
of everything in the universe
were its own little light source?
What if even the air itself,
the oxygen that you breathe
was full of light?

We really can't imagine such a brilliant display,
but doesn't it fit nicely with this bible verse:

Gen 1:3
God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

And when these atoms had "balanced out"
this extra energy
and things started stabilizing,
doesn't that fit nicely with this bible verse:

Gen 1:4
God saw the light, and saw that it was good.
God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

cool. (literally)

Ok, so why so I seem to be getting so far off track here?

It is because of this verse right here:

Luk 9:29
While he was praying, the appearance of his face changed,
and his clothes turned dazzling white.

His face changed?
and his clothes turned dazzling white?

Could it be that the power of God
is more than just a spiritual thing?
Could it have physical properties and consequences?
My first reaction was "No, you're reaching too far".
get real.

But hey, isn't healing and raising dead kind of physical?
I'm sure many would consider this dazzling white scene
as kind of a visionary thing,
but I'm seriously considering the possibility
that energy from God could actually excite your little atoms,
at least SOME of them.

And taking this just one little step furthur (and then I'll stop!)

What would it be like if just SOME of your atoms
were under the influence of real and great power?
Our eyes can only detect huge clumps of photons
hitting our retinas at about the same time,
but what if it was only a few?
Wouldn't it be a barely detectable glow?
Some change in a person's face
that we can hardly perceive
but we know it on some level?

Could that be what the halos in the old paintings are all about?

Haven't you heard about people just glowing in the spirit?

Maybe there is some truth to that.