"In the Hands of God" 2014

Isaiah 55:1-6            John 6:2-14

 

Isaiah 55:1-6

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;

 

John 6:2-14

A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

 

A skeptic concluded, that if the pieces were cut small enough,

            1000 people could each get a piece from a single loaf of bread,

                            and that from 5 loaves there would be enough

                                    to give a tiny bit to each person in a crowd of 5000…

 

              … so it really wasn’t that

                        Jesus miraculously provided an abundance of bread to eat,

                              but that each person was satisfied with just a tiny bit,

                                           and used really tiny baskets to gather all the crumbs…

            … which serves to explain away the miraculous

                        of the feeding of the 5000 with a little boy’s lunch.

 

Or there are a number of Bible commentators who suggest

            that when the young boy offered to share his meager lunch,

                    it shamed others in the crowd into also sharing theirs;

 

--- and as turned out,

            lots of folks had a fish sandwich with them that day,

                            and so even after everyone had eaten their fill,

                               there were still 12 baskets of scraps to be gathered…

            … which is another way to explain the  à

                        miraculous feeding of the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

 

I don’t know exactly how Jesus did it, for I wasn’t there that day.

            And while it may be interesting to speculate

               on various natural explanations of the miraculous,

                                         those speculations might become a distraction   

                                                that can lead us away from the point of the story.

 

The point is not the how it was done or  a scientific explanation,

     but the spiritual truth that  God, the Author intended to convey,

                        which is to inform, encourage and strengthen  our faith.

 

        The human writers of the gospels chose from

                far more stories,  miracles and events than they included ---

-- selecting those that would be most helpful and meaningful

            to the people of their own Christian communities

                        as they struggled   for faith and hope   amid persecution.

 

This story of the miraculous feeding of the 5000

            must have been very important to those early Christians.

                          It  is the only miracle story other than the resurrection

                                    that is included by all four of the gospel writers.

 

            As John tells that story about the Good News of Jesus,

                        this is the second miracle of his earthly ministry.

The first was the miracle at Cana

            where Jesus turned water into an abundance of fine wine;

 

              and in this story, a boy’s meager lunch

                 becomes an abundance of bread, enough to feed a huge crowd…

… so together, the wine & bread suggest the sacrament of Communion,

            which is a sign   revealing the grace and abundant mercy of God.

 

    John also tells the story to show the stark contrast between a

            perspective  focused on this world   or one focused on the Lord.

The situation is set up in vs. 5-6,

            When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

 

In John, Jesus is fully in charge and in control, and the test

            is about revealing the nature and strength of Philip’s faith.

The test is, how will Philip and the disciples

            respond to a challenging and difficult situation,

                        and how will faith    be a part of how they see things?

 

Philip answers by making a few quick calculations, vs. 7,

            Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."

            … therefore, we do not have resources sufficient for the task.

 

So then his brother Andrew takes a shot at the test question, vs. 9

            There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?

            … therefore, we do not have resources sufficient for the task.

 

Philip's answer was  focused on the immensity of the crowd,

                 on the great difficulty and size of the task,

                        and that it was far beyond anything they could manage.

 

Andrew's focus was on how meager their resources were,

                that the young boy's little lunch wouldn't go very far

                        and the little they had wouldn't make a difference anyway.

 

Now Philip was quite right in his initial assessment ---

            6 months wages really would not buy enough food for that crowd.

Andrew was also right in his assessment ---

            those 5 tiny barley loaves and 2 small fish would not

                        make much difference for such a huge and hungry crowd.

*  The point is to see beyond limitations through the eyes of faith.

 

When we read this story,

            if we imagine a loaf of bread like what we might by in a store,

                        we will miss an important detail of this story.

            Barley was grown mostly as a feed for animals,

                        and only the poorest of the poor used it for making bread.

 

The boy’s lunch was really an insignificant nothing

            toward alleviating the hunger of such a great crowd,

                        yet offered to Jesus,  it becomes a part of God’s work.

 

Through this miracle story,

            Jesus is teaching us that ultimately life is about

                the goodness, truth, promises, blessings and purpose of God,

            far more than

                 the size of our problems, or the challenges we face in life,

                        our own efforts, or the amount of resources we accumulate.

 

Though sometimes we forget, doubt or choose to ignore,

            the truth is, God has promised to provide all that is needed

                        to accomplish well  whatever it is that God wants us to do.

 

*  So in this miracle story or living parable,    Jesus uses à

                        the situation and the young boy to teach and demonstrate

                                    that truth   about God’s power, purpose and promises.

 

The critical issue is not about the size or hunger of the crowd.

            It didn’t matter how little money they had to buy food,

                 or that the boy's lunch was too small to make any difference.

The deciding factor was God’s grace and provision,   by which à

             everyone was fed to their full satisfaction in abundance,

                        even gathering another 12 baskets of food in excess.

 

As Christians,

            sometimes we too feel overwhelmed by the problems around us,

                        we struggle with disappointment, with challenges,

                               and can feel overwhelmed or hopeless in our situation.

 

            And quite accurately, realistically and rightly we recognize

                        that we cannot solve  or resolve all the world's problems,

                                    and we do not have all the wisdom or resources we need,

                but by God's grace & good purpose, that is not the final word.

 

Though we can't do it all,

   and sometimes our efforts can seem ridiculously inconsequential,

              yet that does not mean that we cannot do something,

                  or that the little we can do does not make a real difference.

 

From the young boy who freely offered Jesus his small lunch,

            we learn that even the smallest of contributions are

                         significant   from a life that is surrendered to the Lord.

 

Though it seemed that

    the problem too bit and the boy had nothing much to offer,

                yet as it turns out, what he gave to Jesus   became

                        the building material that Christ blessed into a miracle…

 

… the seemingly insignificant became an abundance in excess.

 

The message of this story is about what can happen

            when we place ourselves, our lives in the hands of God to use

                        and put to work   whatever we have and are willing to offer.

 

We see the size of the need, focus on the resources we are lacking,

            and let our fear of scarcity do our calculations, which thenà

                        overwhelms, governs and limits our faith and trust in God;

* making us

            afraid to step out in faith and use even the little we have.

 

During WWII, when sugar was scare and had to be rationed,

            a man at a lunch counter demanded more sugar for his coffee;

                                    to which the waitress replied,

                                                            "Just stir what you've already got."

 

“Just stir what you've already got.”

            Our call is to be faithful with what which we’ve already got,

                              trusting in the Lord’s promised provision of abundance,

                                     all that is needed to accomplish God's purpose.

 

In the Bible, important truths are often repeated.

            In the Gospels, Jesus reminds us four separate times,

    "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."

 

Our call is to not focus on the size or difficulty of the task,

            and not to focus on limitations or the things we do not have;

     but rather, let us fully embrace what the Lord gives us to do,

            grateful for resources and opportunities as God provides.

 

The text challenges us both as individuals and as a church,

            do we really live   believing that God does provide as promised

                        all that we need to do the ministry that God wants done? …

 

    … or by our calculations are we restricting and limiting,

             or supposing our contributions   too insignificant to matter?

 

When Mother Teresa first told her bishop and other church leaders,

            about her dream of building an orphanage in downtown Calcutta,

                        they tried to dissuade her from such an impossible task,

                              by pointing out

                                    that she had only raised 3 cents toward the project.

 

            But she was persistent and insistent saying,

                        "But with God and three pennies, I can build anything."

 

Jesus fed a hungry crowd of 5000 all that they wanted to eat

            with just a boy’s lunch of few small barley loaves and fish,

                        when they were   willingly offered  for the Lord to use.

 

To us as we approach the Lord’s Table today,

            as God’s own people, called and baptized into His body,

                        as recipients of God’s gracious love and Holy Spirit,

                                    dare to ask what is God doing, right now, through me?,

 

      and is my focus more on problems and resources,

            or on what God can accomplish in me, with me and through me?

 

What more could the Lord possibly do right here at 1^st Presbyterian,

            if we each

                        trusted, gave and committed our all  into the hands of God?