Sermon # 3

Apparently no one is posting these days. Haha. Sorry for the absenteeism.

This is the sermon I preached last Thursday at Pilgrims. We had 36 people, some were sitting in the other room craning their necks to see into the worship room. When I began chopping up the scheduler (you'll get to that part) there were panicked gasps - which is exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

Luke 9:11-17 (New International Version)
11but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
12Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."
13He replied, "You give them something to eat."
They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." 14(About five thousand men were there.)
But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." 15The disciples did so, and everybody sat down.16Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. 17They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.


Today we share in the story of a familiar miracle. Huge crowds form to hang on every word of Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus is intent on feeding them.
With limited financial resources; the more pragmatic disciples fully realized that feeding a crowd this large would be impossible.

Feeding people is no easy task – and the larger the crowd the more difficult it is. While the people listen intently to the words of Jesus, their stomachs begin to grumble and something must happen. So when Jesus’ disciples are confronted with the task of feeding 5000 men along with their wives and children – they simply take the pragmatic approach and ask their teacher to send them away. “Let them go to the nearest villages and find dinner and a good place to sleep.”

But Jesus looks at the 12 men who had given up everything to follow Him – the 12 ordinary men who had left jobs, families, and friends to follow this Jesus of Nazareth – and He tells them, “You feed them.”

Get creative.

Figure it out.

This is your responsibility.

So the disciples start trying to figure out a way to solve this problem. They start figuring up just how much it will cost only to discover that it would take a whole year’s wage to feed this crowd.
And then a small child steps forward and opens up his lunchbox containing two fish and five loaves.
Sometimes pictures show two giant deep sea fish and five large batons of French bread. This was probably not the case. The meal provided was the daily lunch of a small boy – the scraps his mother had thrown together that morning to send him off with to hear this new teacher.

-Bring out two sardines and 5 rolls-

This is probably the meal brought to the attention of the disciples – this is probably the meal that they showed to Jesus. This laughable little snack was probably it.

Obviously a miracle would be needed for this small meal to feed such a large crowd – but a miracle had already happened.

God had performed the first miracle in the heart of the young boy. This young lad had decided that the needs of those around him were more important than his own. No small miracle, indeed.

Children are better at this than grownups. They’re better at not dismissing ideas. Adults are all too good at dismissing a new idea because, “we’ve never done it that way,” or “that’s just not how things work” or “my contribution is just too small.” With 5000 thousand men – some with their wives and children – do you really think that no one had thought to bring food? Others had food, but they quickly dismissed the idea of sharing:

I don’t have enough to make a difference
If I give up my food who will provide for me?
The others should have thought to bring some food.

But this little boy had a grand idea:
I could share my food with those around me!
There is this wonderful recklessness in the words and actions of this young boy.
This is the first miracle. A small boy shows reckless generosity.

Jesus takes this small offering and holds it up to heaven and thanks God for it. He has the people sit down into groups of 50 and has the disciples start passing out the food.

Ok … so 100 groups of 50 people – so I have to split this food up into 100 pieces. [Bring out cutting board and knife and start chopping.]

There is this wonderful recklessness in the actions of Jesus and the twelve. They all start passing out these meager portions with the full knowledge that God will take care of the rest. And God does.

The second miracle happens in the hearts of those sharing the meal. Men, women, and children start pulling out their own meager meals and begin to share with those around them. Inspired by the recklessness of this young boy and the faith of Jesus and the 12 they take the next step and decide to share.

And the third miracle is that God multiplies the food that has been offered up so that it is enough to feed the multitude and to have much left over.

This is just how things work in the Kingdom of God.
There is a problem.
Christians see a solution that others might think laughable.
The followers of Jesus give recklessly, the others are inspired and God takes care of the rest.

We are not a huge crowd. We are not hungry. We are well fed and not particularly poor. So how does this story apply to us?

Well, what are we short of? What do we need more of?

Time.

We don’t have enough time. We share panicked glances as we are asked to do “just one more thing.” As our course papers pile up and the threat of never-ending finals looms over our heads we find ourselves at a loss for time.

We as a community are gathered together, we hear the teachings of Jesus, but we quietly check the clock. We look at our wristwatches or cell phones to see how much time we have before our next activity. We realize that something must happen.
Today I wonder, who will be like the small boy? Who will step up with his or her calendar and say, “I don’t have much time, but it’s yours, God.” Who will give their meager portion to Jesus?

- Bring out scheduler –

Like the small boy, the first miracle we need is the courage to be reckless. Instead of selfishly holding on to every second, we must have the courage to recklessly offer our time to others. Call up a friend and drink some tea at the student center, spend an hour in the prayer corner, or spend some extra time cleaning around your house to improve things for your family or roommates.

The second miracle will happen in the lives of the others who are led by your example. If we give generously of our time and others see how much it reduces our stress, perhaps they will want to follow our lead. When we recklessly begin sharing our time with others, they will see the joy we find in this and will follow our lead.

- Begin cutting up scheduler –

And the third miracle will be when you begin to see your time multiplying. When we take a step back from our schedule, we might realize that if we organized our time better and planned more effectively that we have more time than we ever realized. As a group, we might see that we have baskets full of time left over.
We might, maybe, perhaps …. These things will only happen if we are wiling to follow the example of the young boy. These events are conditional, depending on our hearts and our actions.

This week I challenge you to step up with your small portion of time and offer it to God. You shouldn’t be surprised when God blesses your sacrifice by multiplying your time.

If you think you don't have enough time to do all things you need to do, remember this little snack and the 5,000 people it fed.

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