Sermons for the Month
Jesus, what can I bring for you to bless?
DATE: August 4th, 2002
SERVICE: 11th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Matthew 14:13-21“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
The focus of today's Gospel lesson is Jesus. However, I want to concentrate first on the disciples, since I can identify with them in this story particularly. Perhaps you can too. Their response to Jesus in today's account is less than inspiring, but fairly typical. They see the loaves and the fish with hungry eyes rather than the eyes of faith. We use our hungry eyes a lot, seeing what isn't rather than what is or could be. I like to think that I'm a realist rather than a pessimist. I'm not sure what Jesus would call me in this regard, so I'll just be thankful that he calls me forgiven. There may be a good reason that the disciples have hungry eyes. Jesus has just been rejected in his hometown where he was unable to do many deeds of power due to their unbelief. Then the news of the violent death of John the Baptist reached them. As today's account begins Jesus is in mourning; remember that John the Baptist was his cousin and their relationship began even while each was in his mother's womb. So, Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. Obviously he wants to be alone. Instead, the crowd figures out where he is going. When he arrives looking for solitude, there are a huge number of people waiting for him. Most of us would have turned the boat around and gone the other way, but not Jesus. It says that he had compassion them. The closer translation from the Greek is, "He was filled with tenderness over them. He then sets aside his own need for solitude and meets the needs of those around him, bringing healing to their lives. The disciples, though, are not filled with such tenderness. From their point of view these people have taken up their time with Jesus - I doubt they had much understanding of his need to be alone. Now they are getting hungry and there is no McDonalds out there in the middle of nowhere. Their solution then is to send the crowd away. As they state these obvious facts to Jesus - it's late, it's deserted, it's a huge crowd, they must get their own food - it is as if they are attempting to get him in touch with reality, to be sensible. In response Jesus says to them, "You (in Greek the you is emphatic) you give them something to eat." At that point their hungry eyes must have popped open. Who? Us? We are supposed to feed these people, Jesus?" Their eyes open wider. "But we have nothing," they say, "well…practically nothing, nothing but these five loaves and two fish." They were realistic. "This is it, this is all we have, so let's pack it up and go find ourselves a market." Ah … that seems more than reasonable to me. But…Jesus didn't budge. He said, "Bring them (the food) here to me." That's the pivotal phrase of the whole story. In the disciples' eyes what they held in their hands is just a snack. As scholar Frederick Bruner writes, the disciples have added five and two and gotten seven, and it is not much. They need to learn to count to eight. They need to include Jesus in their equation. (Frederick Bruner, Matthew: Volume 2, The Churchbook) I'm reminded of a story told by Soapy Williams, the late Governor of Michigan, about his son. The boy was trying to carry a heavy stone, but was having problems. His father saw that the boy was having difficulty and asked, "Son, are you sing all your resources?" "Yes I am!" the boy cried. "No," the Father said, "you are not. You haven't asked me to help you." The disciples are not using all their resources. Jesus, the Son of God, the one who has just healed countless people is standing in front of them, and they forgot to ask him for help. Indeed, it seems that the idea never crossed their minds. So it is that Jesus took those five loaves and two fish, blessed them, and the meager fare multiplied into enough food to feed thousands before the hungry eyes of the disciples. Yet, isn't it interesting that while the hands of Jesus were essential, the disciples also had a vital role to play. Jesus used people to accomplish the miracle. The initial offering of food came from human hands and the distribution also was the task of people. The problem was that those disciples needed to see what was in their hands with the eyes of faith, not the eyes of hunger, because Jesus takes what we offer and transforms it into enough. That's how God works in the church and in the world, even in the midst of our protests that we have nothing to offer in the face of overwhelming need. Our tendency is to call on someone else to address the challenge. In the world we may call on the government - which writer Dick Donovan labeled as the 21st Century Alternate High Power. To quote him, "We Christians have nothing, but Congress has plenty." We want politicians - who many people say they don't trust - to address the world's ills. Or, in the church, we negate our own role in furthering the ministry of Jesus with a variety of no time, no talent, no resources arguments when it often boils down to setting priorities, giving what we can, and trusting God to multiply what we offer. There are so many opportunities here at Faith. I'll give you a few examples - people are being sought to serve on a Youth Ministry Team to keep the youth program strong and to support staff that will work in that area. Leaders are needed for middle school and high school groups on Sunday mornings, as well as Explorer's Club. It would be great to re-energize a Hospitality Team to welcome visitors and assist new members. There also is the Hospitality Zone; can anyone offer refreshments and a smile? Are there any small group leaders out there? How about bell choir or vocal choir participants? Can anyone direct children so that they can sing in worship? Giving is considerably behind the budget, what financial support can be offered? What about the ministries of finance and stewardship, perhaps not the most glamorous but certainly important. The list could go on and on. Please do not assume that someone else is doing it because that may not be true. Folks are waiting to be asked, so I'm asking you, what loaves and fish can you offer to Jesus here at Faith Lutheran Church, and in our community, our world? This (show fish and bread) is what the disciples brought to Jesus. In their hands it appeared to be nothing. But, once they brought it to Jesus the need was met. As a dramatic ending of my sermon I was going to throw these rolls into the congregation, much as things are thrown into crowds at professional sporting events, and then encourage whoever caught them to prayerfully consider what you can bring to Jesus to meet the needs of the church and the world. However, I didn't want to create injury or chaos in the name of the Lord. So, instead, I'm going to place these items on a table in the aisle, and as you come forward to receive Holy Communion today I would like you to take a good look at what fed 5000 people in a deserted place on that day when Jesus just wanted to be alone. Look with the eyes of faith, not hungry eyes, and then ask, "Jesus, what can I bring for you to bless?" and then keep your eyes open, for the result could be amazing. AMEN