Westminster Congregational United Church of Christ

Sermon for July 26, 2009

God’s Abundant Presence

Pastor Marj Johnston

John 6:1-21 (New Century Version)

 ¹ After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias).  ² Many people followed him because they saw the miracles he did to heal the sick.  ³ Jesus went up on a hill and sat down there with his followers.  ⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover Feast.   ⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?"   ⁶ (Jesus asked Philip this question to test him, because Jesus already knew what he planned to do.)   ⁷ Philip answered, "Someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough bread for each person to have only a little piece."   ⁸ Another one of his followers, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said,⁹ "Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish, but that is not enough for so many people."   ¹⁰ Jesus said, "Tell the people to sit down." There was plenty of grass there, and about five thousand men sat down there.  ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, thanked God for them, and gave them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted.   ¹² When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his followers, "Gather the leftover pieces of fish and bread so that nothing is wasted."  ¹³ So they gathered up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left from the five barley loaves.   ¹⁴ When the people saw this miracle that Jesus did, they said, "He must truly be the Prophet^[a] who is coming into the world."  ¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people planned to come and take him by force and make him their king, so he left and went into the hills alone.

 ¹⁶ That evening Jesus' followers went down to Lake Galilee.  ¹⁷ It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The followers got into a boat and started across the lake to Capernaum.  ¹⁸ By now a strong wind was blowing, and the waves on the lake were getting bigger.  ¹⁹ When they had rowed the boat about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming toward the boat. The followers were afraid, ²⁰ but Jesus said to them, "It is I. Do not be afraid."   ²¹ Then they were glad to take him into the boat. At once the boat came to land at the place where they wanted to go.

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I don’t know about you, but this is one of those stories that makes me wonder.  John, author of this morning’s reading from the gospel, loves to give details.  He’s specific:  The bread was in the form of barley loaves, the meager substance of those on limited incomes.  There were 5000 people, which scholars point out were most likely 5000 men since women and children were often not included in those counts.  In the calculations of the disciples, it would take a year’s of wages to feed each person there just a little bread.  The fish were little.  And there was, according to the reading, “plenty of grass” where people could sit.

So many stories in the gospel records of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John make sense when kept in context, especially those stories in which an individual of some level of faith experiences a healing from Jesus or some other miracle.  But this story generally seems to have no real point—other than Jesus does a very Jesus-like thing by taking care of the ill-prepared pilgrims who came and stayed to hear him teach and tell more stories.

Some of us are prone to details when it comes to food and resources in some of our events here at Westminster.  I think of my own fretting with details around the Easter Sunday brunch we’ve shared the past few years.  We don’t ask people to make a reservation of any kind—we simply make an invitation for all to join us as a part of our Easter celebration together, and we invite our neighbors.  But in the weeks before Easter, we do ask you who gather to commit to bringing baked egg or breakfast casseroles, fruit, pastries and the like.  We try to estimate how much it will take to feel a possible crowd of 100 or so.  To date, we haven’t lacked in food or the people to provide it.  It’s been a wonderful experience of sharing in spite of any temptation to worry about having enough.

For me, our Easter brunch is an experience that reminds me details are important, and that there is a bigger story at work … that our community gathering for a meal together and then a shared worship celebration is made the richer for the collective effort that goes into it, a far great thing than any of the single details alone.

This morning’s story is similar.  It is definitely possible to get lost in the details, but there is much more happening.

This is not the first story in which the followers of Jesus fail to understand what Jesus is all about.  So many times the disciples get hung up on what it is that brings power in their world—knowing how to fight and defend with a sword or sharing authority when Jesus takes control, or having a leader who can provide for the physical needs of the people like Moses did with the manna in the wilderness.

Imagine!  If Jesus could promise that no one would ever be physically hungry again, he could be the mayor or governor or even the president of something.  John’s story has an element of making Jesus king because of his capacity to feed people wherever he went. 

But Jesus understood all too well that if he let people claim him as provider of their physical needs, they would miss the real reason for his coming.  His intent was to point them beyond their physical needs to their spiritual ones.  He wanted them to look not merely to bread, even bread made with barley, the stuff people of limited means used.

In another story of the gospels Jesus is tempted to eat while he is fasting, and his reply is that “man does not live by bread alone.”  Jesus teaches at that time and in this story that we live by the words and stories of God’s love, of God’s forgiveness which requires us to care for one another in new ways.  John’s record tells us that the words of Jesus are along the lines of “The bread you will eat is representative of my life.”  In a profound and often unexplainable sort of way, the words of Jesus ask the hearers of Jesus’ day and the readers of sacred texts even now to understand that sharing a common meal with Jesus—their very participation in his life—will lead to new understanding and new maturity as people in community.  It’s an invitation to us too – that each time we share in communion here in this place, we might have a new experience of faith and understanding of those with whom we share the meal and the teachings and actions of Jesus.

There are often jokes made about college students and how they get by on the dorm meal plans and limited resources.  We at Westminster have sent care packages of home-baked cookies to our college students as a reminder that we’re thinking of them.  When I was in seminary a few years back, I was a recipient of packages of smoked fish from my dad’s own fishing efforts and the best oatmeal raisin cookies from my sister who knew I wasn’t likely to bake my own.

To my fellow students at the seminary, it was anticipated that a package sitting outside my door meant a lively gathering at my small apartment that evening.  People “in the know” would show up with crackers, cheese, vegetables and dip, fruit or wine.  While the fish or cookies themselves were never an entire meal, when other elements were added by those who joined in the occasion, it became a feast.

At the core of the experience of sharing fish or cookies was the opportunity to build community with something besides shared classroom experiences.

This morning’s text asks us to look beyond the more familiar details of bread and fish to a broader dimension to the story of Jesus feeding 5000. 

Many who followed Jesus—not just the disciples, but those people who followed him from town to town whenever he was in the vicinity—carried what they owned with them.  Perhaps they didn’t have jobs or commitments to families.  No one really expected them to show up for anything in particular.  What in this day we might call “groupies” made it their “job” to follow Jesus – if they didn’t show up for a temporary or part-time job, nobody missed them.  They were most likely the sort of people who had nothing to lose by wandering along with Jesus.  I imagine most of them kept a safe distance under the watchful gaze of the disciples of Jesus, following closely enough to watch and observe, waiting to see what Jesus would do next, listening for what he would say.  They had all the time in the world and were free to sit in the grass.  It is most likely that the crowd who followed Jesus was made up of those we might call loners, those who lacked community connections.  It might even be fair to say that the people who followed Jesus were isolated individuals who needed a place to belong, someone with whom they could identify.

It’s possible that in this morning’s story, much more is taking place than the serving of a meal of barley loaves and fish.

There are many events that take place in and around Spokane all summer long where the parks are made ready for a crowd of people to gather for music, powwows or art events.  And in the process of gathering to listen, to watch and to experience these events, the individuals who gather will become a part of a community because of the shared experience at hand.  In this story, a crowd of 5000 sat down where there was “plenty of grass.”

Maybe in that crowd were people who came prepared with small baskets of lunch or maybe they had a piece of bread and a fish or two wrapped and stuffed in their pockets.  Maybe the young boy with the basket of bread and fish was just one of many who had something to eat with him, and when they saw the boy share his basket with Jesus, they realized they too could share what they had. 

Maybe it really was a miracle and Jesus did multiply the fish and the bread shared by the young boy.  Those are the details we don’t know for sure.

What we do know is, however it happened, community began to take place in a new way as people began sharing with one another, and THAT was a significant piece of what Jesus brought to the people of his day.  If we read the stories behind and around the stories recorded in scriptures, we can imagine that because of Jesus, people who were often alone or lonely came together and experienced new life simply in being with other people.

It happens here at Westminster.  We come together on Sundays and on other occasions.  We come from our individual paths to a place of common worship.  We are not so very alone when we take opportunity to come to this place and share in a conversation with others, whether it’s over an Easter brunch or in our time of communion or even in our community coffee hour and fellowship times.  We hope for a sense of belonging to something bigger than just us.

To me, this is the heart of what we call Christian experience … to know that sometimes we are alone and yet we are a part of one another.  When we come together and share from a common loaf and a common cup, we hear the words that Christ is present with us, but we also experience that we are present with and for one another.  A common experience of bread, shared with others in community.  Our work here continues to turn what was one a limited invitation to one that includes all, that all might come to The Table, excluding no one.

We are not perfect … there are some who still feel left out, but we are learning that we are part of a crowd of at least 5000 on any given day, at any given moment ...

Beyond the details of barley loaves and little fish there is a depth to the ways we are together and in our work of building a community where all are welcome.  May we become one of those places where there is plenty of grass, where we invite all who come to sit and eat with us as we learn more about doing the work we are called to do by loving God, loving our neighbors and loving ourselves.  May we be a part of bringing God’s abundant presence to our world.

Amen.