“Feeding the 5000”

A sermon by Lay Preacher, Ginnie Glassman

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost: Year B

07/28/2024

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

One of the reasons I wanted to preach today is that my Dad, who passed away almost four years ago, would have turned 100 this past Thursday. He and I spent many hours talking about the Bible and what various passages meant to us. I wanted to honor him today and thank him for the precious gift of faith that he gave me.

When I was growing up, my dad would take our family to visit my grandparents in New York City every other weekend. My dad’s mother would always make lots of food. After the meal, my grandfather would look around the table and say “Lena, you no make enougha food. We gotta no leftovas.” My grandfather believed to properly feed people, you had to have more food than they could eat. Having struggled through the Great Depression, he found security and hospitality in making sure there was plenty of food – and leftovers! More than enough!

Today’s readings remind me of my Dad and my Grandpa with their generosity.

Elisha is the Old Testament prophet anointed by the prophet Elijah, his teacher. They are both known as “men of God” and there are many miracles attributed to them. Our reading today tells of one such miracle. Elisha is given twenty barley loaves and a sack of grain. He tells his servants to “Give it to the people and let them eat.” His servants question how this will be enough for the 100 hungry prophets. But Elisha responds “Give it to them to eat, because the Lord says that they will eat and still have some left over.” And so it came to pass that there was more than enough!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes up the mountain, still looking for a place where he and his disciples can rest and talk together. However, he looks up and sees a large crowd of people following him. They have seen the “signs” that Jesus was performing and hoped to see more healings and miracles. Jesus asks Philip “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip answers that even “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” Meanwhile, Andrew finds a young boy who has five barley loaves and two fish. “But what are they among so many people?” Jesus had everyone sit down on the grass. Then he said a prayer of thanksgiving before beginning to distribute the bread and fish among the people. After everyone has eaten their fill, the disciples gathered together twelve baskets of fragments that were left. More than enough!

My grandfather was not quite old enough to have witnessed either of these events but I am sure he would have been moved by them as he was a man of faith and trust in God. He too believed in sharing what he had.

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around miracles. I keep looking for explanations or natural events to help me make sense of them. The logical part of me wants to “see behind the curtain” to know how it is done. Maybe the people gathered there had food with them but not enough to share with large crowds? When the boy offers his barley loaves and fish, and Jesus gives thanks for them, then maybe the others bring out their food and share it? Like the story of Stone Soup? But this had to start somewhere with people believing they could share and that there would be enough. My thinking goes round and round and comes back to no explanation except a miracle through Jesus.

Both Elisha’s servants and Jesus’ disciples question how the food they have available will be enough to feed the crowd that has gathered. They became concerned about what they lacked rather than what God could provide. Jesus, however, takes the loaves and fish and gives thanks. He is not worried about what he doesn’t have but thankful for what he does have. Like the manna in the desert, God has always provided for his people in abundance. More than enough!

My husband and I saw the Broadway musical “Come from Away” a few years ago. It tells the story of actual events that occurred on 9/11. After the Twin Towers fell, all airspace was shut down and all incoming flights from Europe were diverted to Canada. The Gander International Airport in Gander, Newfoundland was told, at first, to expect 18 planes to land there, then another 13 were announced, finally there were a total of 38 planes directed to this airport. On those planes were 6579 passengers, equal to more than two-thirds of the 10,300 people in Gander. The planes sat on the tarmac for five hours before the passengers were allowed to get off and another 20 hours before security cleared their baggage.

As these exhausted, hungry souls got off the planes, they had NO idea what to expect or what they would do. To their amazement, they were greeted with cars, trucks, taxis and buses waiting for them. The local bus company who had been on strike, came off their picket lines to transport these passengers. These vehicles were used to drive them to Salvation Army centers, churches, schools and community centers where there was room for them to stay. The townspeople had also gathered food and prepared a large feast for the “come from aways” as they called these stranded folks. Linens and toiletries that had been bought were donated to them. The middle school provided showers as well as access to computers, email and TVs so that the passengers could stay in touch with their families and follow the news.

By September 13, the first planes were cleared for take-off. The last planes however did not leave until 6 pm on September16 – six days after arriving. Ten years later, the passengers came back by choice for a reunion to thank the people of Gander and to celebrate the lasting connections and friendships they had made.

As we left the theater at the end of the play, there were very few dry eyes. Comments of “Why didn’t we hear more about this?” and “This is a wonderful story. More people need to know about it!, and “How uplifting to know that this story is real. This actually happened.”

What prompted the people of Gander and the nearby communities to welcome and generously accommodate these strangers for almost a week? They could have been overwhelmed by the enormity of it and given up…. OR as they did, they put their heads together to determine what these people would need. They put themselves in the shoes of the ones stranded. Then they got to work fulfilling those needs with the resources they had. The results were beyond expectations. More than enough!

Does the caring and providing that took place in Gander in those overwhelming circumstances qualify as a miracle? I believe that it was by God’s direction that those passengers landed in that airport where there were warm and giving hearts that would get them through a most difficult time. Maybe it is not a certifiable miracle but I believe it was a miracle of human beings reaching out to one another in need. I believe it was a miracle of great proportions and that God was present, opening all their hearts.

I believe that miracles happen every day and are all around us. The more we look for miracles, the more we find them.

Just walk around your neighborhood. Notice the variety of plants as you walk. Nothing humans can do would have created this beauty and diversity. And only God can make them grow.

Are you ever up early enough to see a sunrise or aware of the sunsets? They are beautiful and different every single day. Again, God’s handiwork.

A great miracle to me is that a child grows from single cell – a cell that contains everything needed to produce a life complete with personality for years.

What is even more amazing is when God changes a human heart. I remember a poster I saw in college that said:

It takes more energy for God to convert a single soul than it did for Him to create the world, because the world did not resist!

Think about the bus drivers in Gander. They broke their strike to help their fellow humans who were in need.

Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector in Jericho, promised to give half his possessions to the poor and to pay four times what he may have cheated anyone on, after Jesus speaks to him.

Jacob was a manipulator in his early years, cheating his brother of his birthright. After journeying back home, he wrestled with God. God made him a father to the Israelites according to the promise God had made to Abraham.

On the road to Damascus to persecute Christians, Saul was blinded by light and the voice of Jesus. After this experience, Saul became Paul, a deeply dedicated disciple of Jesus who spread the Gospel far and wide to the Gentiles.

What can happen when we look at abundance rather than scarcity? When we trust Jesus to provide the resources we need?

If one person had been expected to provide everything for our parish picnic last weekend, it would have been a heavy burden. By each of us bringing what we could, it was wonderful and we probably could have invited another parish with all the food and fun we had! More than enough!

Can we look at our parishes from the perspective of the resources and talents we have rather than what we lack? What if we didn’t have an endowment (the disciples didn’t), how would we make things work? What resources would we tap into? What resources would we discover within ourselves? How would God provide for our needs?

Think about and look for miracles. Look at your life to see where God has provided more than enough for you. If you are lacking something, has He given you resources to provide for it? Has he given you gifts to share within the parish or in your community?

As one preacher said, “What we have is Jesus. And Jesus is always enough. Jesus is always willing to take whatever meager gifts we are willing to share, and bless them, and us, as we share them with the world. And Jesus makes sure that it is always enough….Share what you have – your faith, hope, and love, and your time, talent, and treasure. And never doubt that with Jesus, what we have, and what we give, will always be more than enough. https://mypastoralponderings.com/2021/07/24/with-jesus-there-is-always-enough-my-sermon-on-john-61-21/.

In the words of today’s Epistle: “Now to him who, by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Amen.

Collect:  O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2 Kings 4:42-44 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

Psalm 145:10-19:

10 All your works praise you, O LORD, *and your faithful servants bless you.

11 They make known the glory of your kingdom *and speak of your power;

12 That the peoples may know of your power *and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; *your dominion endures throughout all ages.

14 The LORD is faithful in all his words *and merciful in all his deeds.

15 The LORD upholds all those who fall; *he lifts up those who are bowed down.

16 The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, *and you give them their food in due season.

17 You open wide your hand *and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

18 The LORD is righteous in all his ways *and loving in all his works.

19 The LORD is near to those who call upon him, *to all who call upon him faithfully.

Ephesians 3:14-21:  I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

John 6:1-21:  Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 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.”When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.