We are the Miracle!
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United Church, Aurora, CO 8/3/2014
Based on Matthew
14:13-21
AS
we come to this communion table this morning, this morning’s scripture reminds us
of the importance of food to our physical bodies, and more importantly, when we
share it with others, how it feeds us spiritual. Coming together to eat is one of the most
basic of ways in how we open ourselves, bringing down the walls which we use to
protect ourselves from others and begin to build relationship. It is at the table where we share what has
occurred that day, it is where we listen and learn, it is a basic bonding event.
It is easy to become
distracted when we look at the miracle of Jesus taking just a few loaves of
bread and a couple of fish by focusing on how can this have physically
happened? The true miracle and meaning
of the feeding of the five thousand is not in how the two fish and some loaves
of bread multiplied to feed so many.
There is, I believe, a deeper meaning in this story that is far more
important to us than, “how did Jesus do
this?
In
the movie, Aladdin, there is an old man imprisoned telling Aladdin that, “Not
everything is as it appears.” Reality is
fluid? No two people sitting in this
room, experiencing this morning’s worship, singing the same songs, listening to
what I say, hears or integrates what they experience in the same exact
way. There may be general consensus as
to what went on in worship this morning, but each of you will not leave here
having exactly the same perception, the same reality of what went on.
Take the glass with
water that is filled to the middle. To
some people the glass may be half filled; for others it may be half empty. Ink blots on a card are always interpreted
differently by everyone who looks at them.
I am reminded of a service many
years ago in Washington State, where in my reflection I presented statistics
that showed only about 4% of families in this country would be considered “normal.” At the end of worship, one person remarked
that she was glad that her family was a part of that 4%. Her reality of her family and my reality of
her family did not match up.
Today’s
lessen isn’t really about how the bread and fish were able to multiply enough
to feed everyone who was hunger, but rather it is a story dealing with
perceptions. When Andrew and Peter were
asking Jesus to send the people away, to go back into town, so that they may
eat, Jesus gives them the opportunity to feed the crowd. In the eyes of the disciples, they did not
have enough resources in which to feed such a massive crowd. Jesus asks them, “What do you have?” After
they looked around, they discovered they only had a few loaves of bread and a
couple of fish, hardly enough to feed such a large crowd of children, women,
and men.
To
the disciples, their glass was half empty.
To Jesus, it was a start. Think
about the number of people who have placed their faith in the actions and
teachings of Jesus over the past two thousand years. Jesus started out with only a few followers,
and they told their friends about Jesus and his teachings, and eventually there
were twelve disciples. A small core of
men for such a great undertaking of spreading the “Good News” that Jesus was
teaching. When he looked at the twelve
disciples do you think he saw this core group as not being enough to accomplish
such an important mission? Or do you
think he saw them as, “it’s a beginning”?
The
heart of Jesus’ ministry and his teaching is what we call today, “social
justice”. Jesus saw the injustice of
those who had more than “enough” to live on, and how they gave very little
concern to those who were poor, des-enfranchised, needing health care, needing adequate
housing, needing food to eat, those suffering with mental-illness, those who
are victims of racism and sexism. They
were the same topics we struggle with in today’s world.
Today’s
sermon is an opportunity for us to look at the abundance that we have, and
examine our perception of what we have been given by God, and about our
attitudes toward Social Justice issues.
As a nation we are slowly working our way out of one of the worst financial
collapses since the Great Depression. Financial
resources have been dramatically cut back, especially in social care programs,
donations to non-profit organizations, and tithing in faith communities. Too many, our glass of water is half empty
and as a result, we are frozen from moving forward with vital programs that can
help others, saying, “We do not have what
is needed to do this or do that.”
I bring this up to
point out an observation about how we as a society and as individuals react and
handle prosperity and depression. During
the Great Depression, when practically nobody had any money, to speak of, there
was a willingness to help out our neighbor, or the stranger who was in more
need than yourself. I often hear stories
from people who were children during the Great Depression speak of how their parents
would help with a meal to those men who rode the rails, they were called
“Hobo’s” in those days, as they came to their houses hoping for a meal. As it turns out, those houses that provided a
meal were marked by the hobo’s as a house to come to for food. In my naiveté, I assumed that any home during
those years would provide some sort of handout to those in need, but over and
over again, I would hear that was not the case.
What was true were those families that seemed to always have an extra
sandwich available for a stranger, often had less than their neighbors who
didn’t share with the stranger. Their
actions were of those who see the glass half full.
Yet today we live
in untold wealth, compared to the 1930’s, yet we keep our houses locked, we are
hesitant to speak to strangers, and we give less to charities and to our
churches, per capita. The point that I
am bringing out is, as a nation who is in a position to share from our
abundance to those who need, we are actually giving less. We call it “trickle down economics.” Why do you think that is? I believe it comes from a perception of
scarcity, “If I give too much, I may not
have enough for myself.”
We speak of God’s
economy in the church, about the abundance of God’s love. We speak about extravagant hospitality, yet how
much do we give back to God? How guilty
are we of being just like the disciples who said, “We don’t have enough to feed them?”
Do we not say, “We need more money
to do a program, we need more members to survive, we need more help, we need
more, God. We don’t have enough; it is
up to you God to do something about this”, as we stand around wringing our
hands, worrying, and doing little.
Wrong, wrong,
wrong! When the disciples asked Jesus to
act, he said, “No, you do something about
it.” “You figure it out and do
something about it.” The late President
John F. Kennedy said it this way, “Ask
not what your country can do for you, but rather, ask what you can do for your
country.” The church needs to ask
less about how God is going to help us, and start asking more of God, “What do you want us to do?”
At the beginning of this story, the
disciples perceived their reality as not having “enough”, enough food for
certain, but they didn’t perceive a reality of themselves as having enough
power to do something special in their own lives. Jesus in another setting says to the
disciples, “You have seen me do many
great things, but I tell you, you will do more wondrous things than I.” In order for this to happen, we have to
realize the potential within ourselves. Once
the disciples started to look around, working with what they had, they realized
that they had more than what they needed.
Too often the
gathered faith community see’s the glass as half empty, asking their pastors, “Want are you doing about growing the
church? What type of programs are you
designing? How are you going to help us?” Is it
because the faith community is apathetic, or even lazy? Or is it more fundamental than that? Could it be that too many of us, see ourselves
as the disciples saw themselves, as not having enough to get the job done? The question for today is, “How do you see yourself; Half full or half
empty, or maybe just containing a couple of Teaspoons in your glass?”
Are we going to be true to the call of Jesus
and trust in the extravagance of God to provide enough for what we see needing
to be done? Are we just “two fish and some loaves of bread”, or
are “we the start?” I think if Jesus were here this morning, He
would see us as “the start”, He would
see us as the miracle! Amen
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