“Sitting Down To Dinner”
John 6:1-21
One Saturday Ken Erickson’s wife cleaned out leftovers from the refrigerator. She gave the one remaining portion of tortellini to their 6-year-old son, Jeremy. Their 8-year-old son, Matthew, also wanted some, so bickering ensued. After several unsuccessful attempts to mediate the dispute, Ken decided on a theological approach. Hoping to convince Jeremy to share his portion with Matthew, he said, “Jeremy, what would Jesus do in this situation?”
Jeremy immediately responded, “Oh, Dad, He would just make more!” Yes, that is exactly what Jesus would do. Jesus would make more!
Would you agree with me that the biggest problem facing the church today is lack of faith? It’s not lack of resources. We think it is, but it’s not. The first question someone will ask when a necessary expense is brought up at a church is, “Where’s the money coming from?” But that’s the wrong question. The only question we should ask is: Is this God’s will for the church? We may not realize it, but we are rich in terms of both financial strength and talent. We only scratch the surface in our giving of either. What we lack is faith.
“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out ofher poverty put in all she had to live on’” (Luke 21:1-4 NIV). This poor widow’s faith was stronger than everyone else present in the Temple that day. She gave all she had having faith that God would provide for her.
Maybe you heard about the preacher who said to his congregation: “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the church needs a new roof. The good news is that the money is in your wallets and purses. Would everyone willing to give $100 towards the new roof please stand up.” At that, the fill-in pianist started playing the National Anthem. That fill-in pianist became the full-time pianist after that.
We can limit what God does in us by assuming what He can and can not do. Like we can figure God out and somehow control Him. Is there some seemingly impossible task that you believe God wants you to do? Don’t let your estimate of what can’t be done keep you from taking on the task. God can do the miraculous; trust Him to provide the resources when He gives you a mission.
We could feed the worlds hungry. Not by ourselves, of course, but with the help of other caring people. Remember, there are two billion Christians on this earth. We could heal conflicts between the nations of the world. We could give comfort to the lonely, freedom to the captive, hope to the desperate. We have the resources. All we lack is faith.
What did Jesus say? “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20b-21 NIV).
The problem, brothers and sisters, isn’t our lack of resources, but our lack of faith, and where we direct our resources.
Remember Jesus’ trip home a couple of weeks ago and how He couldn’t perform any miracles. It wasn’t that He lacked the ability to do so but the people lacked faith.
Our Gospel lesson begins this morning with a large dinner party that Jesus and His disciples are hosting. I heard about a large gathering similar to this when a young boy was asked to say the blessing. He didn’t really know what to say so someone suggested he say what his mom might say. So, his prayer went something like this: “Dear God, why did I invite all these people here?”
John’s rendition of the feeding of the 5000 is basically the same as Mark’s, but John talks more about Jesus’ motivation. In Mark it is the disciples asking Jesus where to get enough food to feed such a large crowd, here in John, it is Jesus who is asking the questions, kind of like a test that once again the disciples seem to fail.
In Mark, Jesus simply dismisses the crowd after they eat. Here in John, Jesus, aware of the crowd’s intention, eludes the grip of His admirers—something He does a lot of in the Gospels. The crowd wants to make Him a King, someone famous, but this wasn’t Jesus’ intention. Jesus wanted to slip into the world to save it uncharacteristically by way of a cross, so he needed to keep His plan a secret. Had word gotten out that Jesus was the celebrity savior everybody wanted, they never would have let Him be the suffering Savior they needed.
Jesus was a king all right, but He would establish His kingdom not by wielding military might or political power but by surrendering might and yielding to power. He would overrun injustice by succumbing to it. He would expose the futility of violence by suffering its cruelty. He would win victory by being defeated. He would take away sin by taking it on. He would redeem death by dying.
Jesus had retreated off to be alone when He felt the crowds wanting to seize Him and the disciples have gone out on a boat alone, not really sure why. Out text says that in the middle of the night there is a terrible storm on the sea, and John writes that the disciples “Saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified” (verse 19). Do you think they were terrified because Jesus was walking on water like some sort of ghost, or because Jesus was “approaching the boat?” Scripture says, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 NIV). It may be a dreadful thing when we realize that Jesus Christ is not our errand boy, not our caregiver, not a king, not a celebrity, maybe not even our compassionate healer. Jesus Christ is Lord!
A minister was making a home visit to one of the younger families in his church. A five-year-old boy answered the front door and told the minister his mother would be here shortly. To make some conversation, the minister asked the little guy what he would like to be when he grows up. The boy immediately answered, “I’d like to be possible.” “What do you mean by that?” the puzzled minister asked. “Well, you see,” the boy replied, “just about every day my mom tells me I’m impossible.”
What seems to be impossible in your life these days? Some task you are facing in your personal life? Or maybe as you look out on our weary world and society today, you are prompted to ask, “Who is going to accomplish all the things that seem so impossible in our world today?”
This must have been the thoughts of the disciples forced to figure out how they would feed such a large crowd, but with Jesus’ blessing, not only were all fed but there was enough food left to fill up twelve baskets. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13 NIV). He wasn’t talking about his trainer at the gym, he was talking about Jesus. When we have Jesus, we can do so much more than we ever imagined.
In performing His miracles, Jesus usually preferred to work through people. Here He takes what a young boy offered and used it to accomplish one of the most spectacular miracles recoded in the Gospels. Jesus recognizes no barriers. Never think you are too young or too old or too anything to be of service to Jesus.
Someone once calculated that the words “fear not” appear in the Bible 365 times, that means there is one “Fear not” for every day of the year! That makes a good story but trying to prove it may be hard to do. But all we need to hear are those words over and over that He says to the disciples, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” That is enough. But that is everything!
From Charles Wesley’s famous hymn, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, we are reminded of these words:
Jesus! the Name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
Tis life, and health, and peace.
The last verse of our text this morning tells us that when the disciples realized it was Jesus “Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.”
Do you see the significance of this? When we accept Jesus, when we believe in Jesus, when we ask Jesus into our heart and into our lives; He comes to us when we’re at those dark points, when we are seeking hope, when we are hungry, when we are lost, when we need healing or security. And when He comes to us, we reach our destination, we find that peace.
When we’re in that darkness, when we face that storm, when we don’t know where else to turn, like the disciples learned on that night so long ago; we find that Jesus not only feeds our hunger; He comes to us in the raging storm. He not only nourishes us but also saves us!
Deo Volente
Thanks be to God!
Eastman First Methodist Church 