Sermons for the Month

Filling Up Our Empty Spaces
DATE: July 31st, 2005
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

When I hear the story told in today's Gospel lesson I find myself being distracted by imagining a crowd of at least 10,000 people. (Remember, it says that 5000 men ate, besides women and children.)

I know it's not the point of the text, but I think about being a Blossom on July 3, and how the hillside was carpeted with people practically sitting shoulder to shoulder. Is that what Jesus and the disciples saw when they looked out at the crowd that had followed Jesus? Face after expectant face, looking at them, seeking for a word of hope and healing.

And, I know it's not the point, but how much food - even if it was just fish and bread - would it have taken to feed that mass of humanity?

Perhaps that detail distracts me because I so dislike food preparation. On one of the hottest days of the summer, when I was visiting my friends in Toledo, I gladly (and I stress gladly) volunteered to lug around lengths of hose watering the outside plants. Doing so allowed me to avoid being involved in food preparation in the air conditioned house - not that they would have expected or even wanted me to help - but I felt I should be doing something useful.

Anyway, it seems that I'm not the only one who has gotten caught up in this detail of all those people and all that food. I came across a sermon this week in which the preacher actually contacted them 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord and asked the staff to tell him how much food it would take to feed 10,000 soldiers one meal.

Would you believe that if the cook was going to provide fish, rice and bread for that many people, 1800 pounds of fish filets and 2100 pounds of rice and bread would be needed? That is nearly two tons of food for one meal, and that does not include the water needed to cook the rice. (1)

Can you even fathom that? Now, as I said earlier, I know it's not the point, but the sheer magnitude of the miracle may explain why it is the only miracle account that appears in all four Gospel lessons.

So, you might be asking, if the size of the miracle is an interesting detail to contemplate, but is not the point, then what is? I think "the point" becomes evident when we take two phrases from the story and put them together. The first phrase is from verse 14 where it says that when Jesus went ashore and saw the great crowd he had compassion on them. Keep the phrase, "had compassion on them", in mind.

Remember too what was happening in Jesus' life at this moment. He has been in his hometown, Nazareth, where he was rejected by people who had known him his entire life and is unable to do deeds of power because of their unbelief. Then, the disciples of his cousin John the Baptist came with the news that John was killed by Herod in a particularly senseless and gruesome way.

No doubt Jesus is saddened that the one to whom he had a connection even before he was born, the one who announced his coming, has died. The text is quite clear; Jesus withdraws to a deserted place. We gather he needs to be alone with his grief. But he cannot get away from the needy crowd who follow him on foot. He gets out of the boat, expecting to be alone, and sees instead thousands of people who want him to do something for them.

Most of us would have turned around and gotten back in the boat, probably with a few choice words. But not Jesus, he has compassion for them. This tells us a great deal about Jesus and is the first half of the point of the story. Now, let's skip over to verse 20 and we will find the second half of the point in the words, "and all ate and were filled." Jesus not only shares the crowd's pain, he feeds them.

But more is implied here than having a full belly. The Greek word that is translated "full" has the nuance of being completely satisfied. (2) I think that means more than being physically full.

So, if you put those two phrases together - he had compassion on them and all ate and were filled - the point of the miracle is that out of love and compassion for all of humanity, which is represented by this massive crowd, Jesus sacrificed his own needs, indeed sacrificed himself so that we are completely satisfied.

As you try to sort out what that means think about the very tangible feeling you have after eating just enough, but not too much, of your favorite foods. Then, transfer that satisfied feeling to the spiritual realm. Just as those thousands of people were physically filled that day, through Jesus we can be spiritually full.

To me that means that the empty places inside of us no longer make us uncomfortable, but are filled with grace, mercy, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit. In today's first lesson the prophet Isaiah asks an interesting question, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" In other words, why do you use your resources and exert energy attempting to fill up those empty places inside with something or someone other than Jesus Christ?

It's a futile effort! We will never feel satisfied and we will find ourselves continually focusing on ourselves, on the unfairness of life and on filling the empty, hurting places within with that which quickly seeps out, often leaving a bigger hole. But, if we are spiritually full, in spite of external circumstances, we will be able to go on and even share the compassion of Jesus with the world.

Well then, the next logical question is, "How do I fill up spiritually?" It's not that complicated. We are already filled with the Holy Spirit who gives us the gift of faith; that's the first hurdle to jump. Beyond that, let's learn from the crowd in today's Gospel lesson. What did they do?

They sought Jesus out, anxious to see him. They opened themselves to his healing touch. They sat and received the food he had blessed.

We too can seek him out in worship and in prayer. We too can open our hearts and minds to the many ways he touches our lives - often through other people. We too can take the time to sit and be fed through the Word and by the Sacraments.

In other words, if we show up and are willing, we will be filled. And, once satisfied, we will be able to address the empty spaces in the lives of those around us.

Consider this … there was an elderly woman who struggled with the empty spaces within after he husband's death. She did not want to go on. She was spiritually hungry.

But then a Christian friend who also had struggled with emptiness, but now was full enough to have something to offer, began to visit. She taught the woman how to knit. Before long she was knitting up a storm. Thousands of dollars worth items she made were sold at the Christmas Fair at the nursing home where she lived. She began to teach knitting to children and was so loved that she often visited their homes. She was spiritually full.

However, in her early 90's, she developed dementia. She could still knit, and a basket overflowing with yarn was always by her side. But she could remember nothing and spoke only one sentence.

Over and over again, with a smile on her face, she would nod toward the yarn at her feet and say, "God is in my basket." (3) You see, she was still spiritually full.

AMEN

(1) SermonWriter materials for Proper 13 (July 31), Richard Donovan, pg. 10, www.sermonwriter.com
(2) Same as above, pg. 5.
(3) Gray, Alice, Stories for a Faithful Heart, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters, OR, 2000, pgs. 192-194.

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