Reverend Ref +

SERMON
11 PENTECOST
PROPER 13A

This is one of the few miracles with which I have trouble. Walking on water? Sure. Changing water into wine? Why not? Healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and causing the lame to walk? Without a doubt. But feeding more than 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish? That is hard to grasp. Especially when you consider that Matthew says, "Besides women and children." So I'm guessing that there were maybe 9000 people at this little event.

Maybe it's because the story never actually says that Jesus multiplied the bread and fish. Maybe it's the fact that Matthew is writing about ten years after the destruction of the temple and this story was written to possibly give credence and precedence for the Eucharist. Maybe it's the old line that says, "Nobody went anywhere without a little bit of food with them." And maybe you have those same doubts, so let's look deeper than just the written story.

Towards the end of the day, the disciples tell Jesus to send the crowd away so they can buy themselves food. This is really the easy way out, isn't it? People have congregated around Jesus and when it gets to the point where the disciples might have to do more than stand by and watch Jesus heal people -- oops, time to get rid of them.

But Jesus says a couple of things. First he says that there is no need to make them go away. He is recognizing that these people have come to him for a reason. They were sick, they were broken and they were lost. They were just like alot of us. We don't need to send them away, we just need to accept them as they are and help them through whatever is troubling them at the moment.

Second, he tells the disciple to give them something to eat. Jesus knows what the disciples have and he knows what they are capable of. This story makes it clear that the disciples are the Church and the Church is charged with giving to others what we have received from Jesus. It's our job to provide food for the poeple, both physical and spiritual.

The disciples hear this and they immediately think about how little they have. Only five loaves of bread and two fish. They can't possibly feed all these people with that. They are operating from a theology of scarcity, and I've talked about that before. Rather than coming up with new solutions to address current challenges, they (and we) come up with old reasons why it can't be done based on existing resources.

We need to stop focusing on the little we have. We need to stop saying, "There's not enough . . . whatever." We need to start dreaming about what can be accomplished when we work with and through Christ. I don't care if you dream big or dream small, just dream.

When we do that though, we need to remember who is at the center of those dreams and who is at the center of our theology of abundance. If we are doing it for ego, or self-gratification, or positive PR, then we are doomed to fail.

But if we remember that Christ works through us, with what we have, then we will succeed. Part of that is understanding that we work with what we've got. And part of that is remembering to give thanks for what we've got. Take what you have, give thanks for what you have, and use what you have.

My wife and I are members of the diocesan Commission on Mission Planning. Our job is to go to parishes at their invitation to help them figure out where they are going. This story fits right into that commission. What do you have and what can you do with it?

We are not all blessed with gazillions of dollars. Not all of our parishes are blessed with a large endowment fund. Not all of our parishes are blessed with a boatload of members who can support a boatlaod of programs. But all of our parishes, including us, are blessed with something.

We are blessed with dedicated people. We are blessed with women who can put together a funeral reception at the drop of a hat. We are blessed with people who are willing to do something different (like allow the vicar to put a labyrinth in the yard). My family and I have been blessed by you, the people who called us here.

I think the story of the feeding of the 5000 is less about a miraculous event and more about making us realize that it's not quantity, but quality. Look around this place. What do you see? If all you see is limited resources that can't possibly be enough, then you might as well get up out of your pews and go home now. But if you see God working through what we have, then expect to see miraculous results.