I came back from Minneapolis to be with you
today. Got in early this morning. Minneapolis is a wonderful city full of
Lutherans. I was sent there to become an
official mission developer, a church planter, called to start new ministries,
new communities, new adventures with Jesus. I went because I was invited. I came back to share my morning with you,
because communion with you matters to me. It is my soul's delight.
Life with Jesus is an adventure. The gospel story we
heard is a story that lives in my heart and bones. This is why I serve, why Peter's Porch exists
at all, and why faith matters.
Everything we need to know about Jesus and church can be found here. It starts with "after having heard
this" which begs the question "heard what"? It reads like we walked in on a conversation
or story that began without us, doesn't it?
And seeing that what they heard compelled them to retreat from their
primary mission field, you might ask why are they taking a hiatus? I’m a few
hours from my first vacation of 2014 myself. We all need a break from the
mission field. Turns out they heard that John the baptist was dead, executed in
prison by political rival Herod Antipas because John was an outspoken public
figure who spoke unwelcome truth to threatened power. His death stirred in them a need to
retreat. Was it grief or fear that sent
them off? Or were they just exhausted from the ministry?
Feeding of 5,000 is not a miracle to demonstrate
God's power at work in Jesus. They had already seen that in his healing
work. No doubt Jesus had power. This was about something else. I think it’s
about having enough.
At the end of the day, the disciples are weary. They want to send the needy away, direct them
to fend for themselves. After John’s public ministry ended in death, maybe they
wanted a private life. Resources are
scarce. They are living a subsistence lifestyle with Jesus. There is simply not enough. What they have is not enough. Do you know
what it’s like to not have enough of what someone else needs? It can be frustrating and painful to have
unfulfillable demands upon you, to be unable to provide. Sometimes, at the end of a long day, I want
to send the needy away too. We do a lot
of ministry here, feed a lot of people.
It is unceasing. Given their
weariness and ours, how would you feel about Jesus unreasonable request, about
the hungry crowd? They were in a
difficult situation until Jesus acts. He
turns scarce resources into abundance to share.
He does so through prayer, offering the bread and fish to God. What he does is trust God and surrender. But he does it precisely so that two things
happen: the hungry are fed and the
disciples are participants in grace---free, unearned gift. They get to share what they did not have. Jesus directed them to give them something to
eat and Jesus made it possible for them to do so. The writer tells us that they did so until
all were satisfied. Everyone had enough. And
then there were leftovers--Jesus makes it possible for this to be repeated
again. Serving with Jesus is never a one-
time event. It’s a way of life. God does the work of making what is needed,
the church's calling is to make it available and accessible for the hungry
crowds.
The crowds came because they needed God. They were hungry, sick, tired, sick and
tired, weary, afraid. They needed relief
and hope. They needed God or Jesus to do
what they could not do, to do an impossible thing. They came because they needed to encounter a
God who loved them and they needed that encounter to be real, tangible,
embodied in a person or a community that demonstrated genuine love with acts of
compassionate mercy.
Some of us come because we are hungry. We are hungry for food. Physical nourishment.
Some of us discover that we are hungry for something else too---healing,
community, compassion---we are unsatisfied, we don't have enough. Enough of
whatever it takes to live a good, whole, healthy, peaceful, joyful life on
earth with others. We may not be subsisting like they were. But we are hungry too. A friend of mine said that the fastest
growing demographic in the US are people who have never experienced the gift of
genuine community. They do not
belong. And people want to belong. Maybe
you have felt like an outsider or a misfit or not good enough. I meet people every
day who tell me they are alone in their circumstances and they need help. I
have felt alone, that no one cared, had my back, held me. Maybe you have
too.
Some of us wonder if God can or will provide. We see scarce resources and excessive
need. We feel inadequate, small, and
powerless. We wonder if there is enough.
I don't have enough______.
Fill in the sentence. Or howI've had just about enough
of______. Or I'm not ________enough.Its
about vulnerability and insecurity. Will
we have enough? Am I enough?
The story teaches that there is enough. God does provide. We have been recipients of food since before
we were born because we are enough. We are worthy because God made us so. We continue to receive. The center of this
gathered community is a table with bread and cup because God comes to us and
for us there. Our task is to receive and
to give and to take up the leftovers and to never stop doing it until all know
the love and grace of God. That is called communion. Living in healthy
relationship with God, self, and others. May you encounter the grace of God in
the sharing of bread at this table today and may you share the leftovers with
those who did not come yet. Amen
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