Sermon

Sunday, August 10, 2008

The feeding of the 5,000

On my day off last Thursday, I took Nicholas to the Brandon mall. After a couple of laps around the mall, we stopped at the indoor kids’ play area so he could run around. I sat close by on one of the benches both to watch him and make sure he was okay and also to enjoy him laughing and enjoying himself. I’ve heard from so many people that they grow up so fast, so I make sure I savor these moments and enjoy them. The experience was a little eye-opening—first of all I was the only male sitting there. Secondly, I was the only parent sitting at the play area who was not talking on a cell phone. And third, it was interesting seeing the behavior of the other children who were there. Just about all of them ran around wildly, sometimes running in a group even if they didn’t know each other. Sociologists would probably call that a tribal mentality. And at other times, they would individually lay claim to one of the toys in the play area. One kid sat in this big plastic car that is bolted to the ground. And another kid came and pushed him out of the way and said, “This is mine.” While none of them are really old enough to play together, some of them were more courteous than others. And others climbed, jumped and ran with reckless abandon, oblivious to the other twenty children sharing this small area who had the potential to be run into or landed upon and hurt. Nicholas held his own. And as the proud father, my mind raced between thoughts of “Good job, son, way to hang in there with kids that are a lot bigger than you” and thoughts of “Nicholas, this is life, get used to it.” Some people are generous, others selfish; some are caring and others are reckless; some give and some hoard what they have; some are open and some are territorial. All in all, our outing on Thursday provided a nice time for Nicholas and a sociological reflection for me. And a lot of smiles for me as well.

In this morning’s Gospel lesson, we have another sociology lesson of sorts, combined with a powerful theological message. Over five thousand people sat on a hillside listening to Jesus teaching. Perhaps some came out of curiosity; some eager to learn. It is clear that two thousand years ago, one didn’t drive a car twenty minutes, spend an hour in church and then drive home stopping at Burger King on the way. And there wasn’t a stadium with concession stands to accommodate the 5,000 people. Thousands of people walked, some probably for hours, so they could hear Jesus speak to them. Imagine how quiet they would have had to be—there were no microphones or speakers in those days. They would have had to sit quietly and patiently—if even a few of them were moving or whispering, it would have made it impossible to hear the Lord.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus went out among the multitudes and was moved with compassion for them and healed those who were sick. And in the very next verse, we encounter the disciples without the same kind of compassion. They tell the Lord, “This is a deserted placed and the hour is late, send the people away to buy food.” Perhaps this was an appropriate response. I mean, who would suggest feeding thousands of people without any notice? We serve thousands at our Greek festival but there are dozens of people involved and the preparation lasts a couple of months. Then the Lord jolts the disciples with “They need not go away, you give them something to eat.” And here is where the miracle of the story takes place. Between the 12 of them, the disciples had five loaves and two fish, hardly enough even to feed 12 hungry disciples, let alone the multitudes on the hillside. Jesus asked the disciples to bring the five loaves and two fish. And they brought them and they offered them to Him. And He blessed them and five loaves of bread and two fish fed five thousand men, not counting the women and children, and twelve baskets of leftovers were collected. Everyone ate their fill and still there were leftovers.

When asked, “What do you have for the people to eat?” the disciples could have answered, “Nothing,” and hid the little bit of food that they had, keeping it for themselves. Or they could have given a portion of what they had and kept the rest. Or they could have laughed at the Lord and said, “Are you kidding me, what can you possibly do with the little we have?” But instead, they offered to Him everything, all the bread and all the fish they had. And the Lord made a miracle. He took something small and He multiplied it into something great.

We all remember from our middle school math class that zero times anything is still zero. You cannot multiply nothing. But take something small and multiply it and it becomes something greater. And so one lesson of this story is that when we offer to God what we have, God makes it greater. And when we offer all that we have, when we offer what we have without holding back, God can make something extraordinary, God can make a miracle, the same way He made 5 loaves or bread and two fish feed thousands upon thousands of people. Imagine if the disciples had said among themselves, “If we offer the Lord our bread and fish, we risk going hungry ourselves. Let’s go to the side quietly and eat our fill, and then tell Him, we don’t have anything. That way we can eat AND be truthful.” Imagine that! That’s kind of how society does it’s giving today—we take care of our necessities and spend or hide our extras and then say, “We’re poor, we have nothing to share.” And we give God the leftovers, or we live a life that insures there is nothing left over to give.

Another lesson is that if we offer something to God, even something we think is small and insignificant, but if we offer it sincerely and honestly, God can make something great from that. So to the person who thinks they have no gifts or talents, this is where you are wrong. Everyone has a gift, everyone has some talent, everyone has something to offer the world. I don’t spend my days preaching on a hillside, nor do I interact with thousands of people on a daily basis. But I do meet a lot of people individually, in hospitals, in my office, in confession, on the phone, and I know that there are a lot of gifted and talented people. Some gifts are unique and other extraordinary. And some are shared freely and others are hidden because people are afraid or not sure of how to share them. I also know from my ministry that there are plenty of hungry people out there—people who are spiritually lost and hunger for God; people who are lonely and hunger for conversation; people who are scared and hunger for some comfort; people who are in grief and hunger for some relief; people who have lost their way and hunger to find it; there are people in church this morning who probably don’t know many or maybe even any other people, and who hunger to meet someone in this community, so that they feel some social connection. And so I pose the same question the Lord asked His disciples—what do we have here with which to feed them? Say a kind word to the person next to you on the way out, ask them their name, pray for them this week, and see how God can multiply that into something great. Come to church for Paraklesis either Monday or Wednesday and don’t just give your list of names for me to pray for, come and you pray for them as well. Sit in the pews and pray for people, and see how God can multiply that into something great. Three people called me on Friday to schedule confession this week—this is wonderful, as most people only schedule confession during Lent—there is nothing that says you can’t come for confession in August or September—come before God and offer Him a pledge to make a new start, and see how God can multiply that into a great blessing upon your life. How about praying fervently for a few minutes a day and seeing how God multiplies that in your life?

There are people who will say “I have no time or money is tight, I cannot give.” Yes, everyone could use more time and more money, but how about time to say hello to someone, or to call someone you haven’t talked to in a while—we all have time to do that. How about writing a letter, or even easier, an email, thanking someone for being important in your life—see how God can multiply that. Money is tight, the economy is a difficult one right now, costs are up, and revenues are down, but it hasn’t stopped the American public from setting an all time record for money spent on the latest Hollywood blockbuster. We’ll still spend $4 on a cup of coffee and Starbucks and the tabloids in the stores are still selling. The Buccaneers have sold out their season tickets, yet again, and just about everyone I know has upgraded some type of technology in the past year—the flat screen TV, or the I-pod, I-tunes, I-phone, or the latest I-gadget. Why then does the church still struggle to meet its stewardship goal? Why is repair of the iconography still a dream and not a reality? Because by and large, we hold back and make sure we are okay, and then we offer from the leftovers. All of us can offer some time to greet someone after church today. All of us can offer some prayer, for ourselves and those next to us. And all of us can offer resources, so that our church can continue to reach out to those who are spiritually hungry, those who are lost, or lonely or scared or sick or in grief. One thing I’ve learned in my years as a priest is that there is no one who doesn’t have some issue in their lives which the church can help with. There is no one who has never made a mistake and needs to repent. There is no one who has it all together all the time and has no room for improvement. And there is no one who can’t be a help in some way to help make the church community and their little corner of the world better for all the people in it.

Can you imagine what it will be like at the Second Coming for a person to explain to God how they had time for fishing, golf, sports and socializing but never made time to go to church or to pray? Can you imagine what it will be like at the Second Coming for a person to explain to God how they had money to spend on a boat, a $4 cup of coffee each day, a trip to Greece each summer, but only offered a token amount for a pledge to the church? I guess it would be something like if when Jesus asked His disciples, “What do we have to offer the people” they said “nothing.” The story would have ended right there, no miracle. Go to God for judgment having offered reluctantly or having offered the leftovers in your life, and the story is likely to end right there. Offer what you have, whatever that may be, offer it joyfully and sacrificially and you’ll see the miracle of God’s heavenly kingdom. And the best of part of the story is that you don’t even have to wait to the end of life to see the rewards of God’s miracles when we offer of ourselves wholly and completely. You can see those rewards in this life—offer something to God with joy and without reservation and you’ll see Him multiply those things almost immediately. You can experience His miracles in the here and now.

When I was at the mall the other day, watching my child play around the other children, I realized how similar they all are—small, uncoordinated, tribal in their mentality. But then I also realized how different they are—some are tall, others short, some are shy, others outgoing, some are coordinated and others have a ways to go. But the most important thing I realized was the potential in each of them, and that success for them will not be made or failed on the playground, but with how each offers and uses the gifts he or she has as they get older. Will they stay “tribal” or learn to be leaders? Will they stay territorial or learn to share? At the end of the day will it be all about “I know what’s mine,” or “I know how to share what I have with others and trust God to bless and multiply it”?

And as I reflect on the Gospel reading of this morning, the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, I realize how much this story relates to our church in 2008. It takes an effort to be involved in this community, like it must have taken an effort for people to go out to see Jesus 2,000 years ago. Like the hungry multitudes on the hillside, each of us has some need, none of us is perfect. And like the disciples, each of us has something to offer. For them it was five loaves and two fish—all of us can offer a friendly greeting; all of us can pray, all of us can offer empathy and compassion to someone else; all of us can offer some resources to the church. Some of us can offer lots of time and some of us can offer more money. But know these three truths—First, God will evaluate us based on how much we offer and how much we hold back and this evaluation will help determine where we go for eternity. So when you are giving, don’t ask yourself only “how much am I giving,” but “how much am I holding back?” Secondly, zero times anything is still zero—without offering something, there is nothing to multiply. And finally, when we offer what we have from the heart, God blesses and multiplies and makes miracles with that thing. That is truth. And it takes faith to believe and to live that truth. Amen.