More than Enough
Isaiah 55: 1-5; Matthew 14: 13-21
FPC; 8-3-08
A crisis is at hand! What do you do when
mealtime is rapidly approaching and you are with over 5,000 people who have
nothing to eat?
Out of compassion and concern for these
thousands of people, the disciples turn to Jesus who has a good track record in
crisis intervention; he has caused storms to cease; he has given sight to the
blind; he has raised the dead. They
come to Jesus recognizing Jesus’ extraordinary power to help.
“This is a deserted place, Jesus”
“It is getting late and the people have nothing to eat.
“Do something.”
The disciples know what Jesus can do and what
they cannot do. They understand
that they are role players and that Jesus is the one with authority.
They rightly defer to him.
“Do something, Jesus.”
But, Jesus says, “You do something.”
“You give them something to eat.”
“But all we have are five loaves of bread and two fish, what are they
among so many people?” It is the
response of practical minded disciples.
In face of the multitudes that have such tremendous need,
the practical minded church might very easily offer a similar reply.
All
we have are five loaves and two fish.
What are they among so many people?”
We have 2 cents a meal to offer, but what are they in face of the world’s
hunger? We make our One Great Hour
of Sharing contribution but what impact can it possibly have in the many poverty
ravaged lands of the world? Yet,
Jesus’ words keep echoing: “You give them something to eat!”
I
wonder if the disciples at this point surmised that Jesus’ grief was causing him
to speak irrationally. His cousin
John the Baptist had just died a most gruesome death at the hands of Herod.
The role of Herodias, the head on the platter-the obscenity of it all!
Jesus was trying to get away from all of that and ended up in this
deserted place. Finally, some time to grieve, meditate and renew hope.
But the crowds of people just couldn’t stay away.
Parents had children dying of disease.
Children had parents needing to be healed.
More knowledgeable and efficient than any GPS system, those people knew
the route to that place where Jesus was.
Like paparazzi, they were relentless.
Soon, that place was no longer a deserted place.[1]
The disciples must have thought the grief and the stress had finally gotten to
Jesus. “You give them
something to eat.” How irrational!
In
their compassion, the disciples wanted to help, but they lacked the necessary
supplies. And there were no McDonalds and no Wednesday night cooking teams in
sight. It was hardly worth
mentioning. But they did mention it
“All we have is five loaves and two fish.”
That is not enough, is it?
It’s best to be honest with Jesus, to let Jesus know that feeding so many
is beyond our capability.
But when our capability yields to Jesus’ capability,
our weakness to his power, what is hardly enough becomes more than enough,
wondrously, miraculously, mysteriously.
The disciples do as they are told.
They bring what they have to Jesus.
Jesus blesses all of it. All five
thousand men present, and the women and children who were not part of the
official tally, but who had empty stomachs, too, were satisfyingly filled with
food.
Then,
in what might be considered a light comic touch, there were twelve baskets of
food left over, twelve paper plates with aluminum foil draped over them, just to
demonstrate that Jesus could pull off the miracle.
I am
struck by the miraculous power of Jesus to avert a crisis, to provide physical
nourishment to people who didn’t stand a human chance of having a meal that day.
Equally striking and impressive, though, are the disciples.
They compassionately identify the need of this massive collection of
people. They trust and defer to
Jesus and his authority to help.
They distribute the food. They
gather up the leftovers. They do
what Jesus tells them to do. The disciples may be role players but the role they
play is crucial.
This is a
story about Jesus’ miraculous feeding of over 5,000 people. But, perhaps the
more important story-line is found between the letters, a wondrous plot that
centers on God’s grace given to people in need.
It’s really a story about God’s grace delivered to people of this world
who have a world of needs.
Guess who has
the joyful responsibility of dispensing God’s grace to people of this world who
have a world of needs?
“But, Lord,
all I have is five loaves and two fish.
All I have in my pockets is a few measly coins.
All of I have is this fledgling interest in working in the nursery on
Sunday mornings. I do enjoy rocking
little babies. All we have are five
loaves and two fish." “Bring me
what you have”, Jesus says.
They
did. The disciples didn’t keep it to themselves.
They didn’t say to themselves: “Well, we want supper tonight and if we
bring Jesus the only food we have what are we going to eat?
If we surrender our resources to Jesus, how are we going to be
sustained?” There is no indication
that the disciples hesitated or doubted that bringing the five loaves and two
fish to Jesus was anything but the right thing to do.
That is what they did!
And
that is what we are called to do: to be obedient, to trust Jesus with our
resources and to play the crucial role of dispensing God’s grace into the world.
With our resources in God’s hands and with God’s grace being delivered
into the world through the church, lives will be transformed.
God’s gifts of mercy and love will become more than enough to heal gaping
wounds of bitterness, more than enough to fill hopeless people with hope and
lifeless people with life.
The
table has been set. The meal has
been prepared. There is more than
enough drink and bread. Come and
partake of this bountiful feast of grace; for it is more than enough to nourish
and strengthen us for service in Christ’s name!
Amen.
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come.
You, who are hungry, come.
You who despair come. You who are
in need of a Savior, come.
Be nourished. Be
fed. Be forgiven.
Be glad.
Come. And become
for the world the dispensers of Jesus’ never-ending feast of grace.