Wouldn’t We All Like a Little Fame?
John 6:1-21
A Sermon
Preached at Centenary United Methodist Church
Richmond, VA
July 29, 2012
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Jesus demonstrates God’s goodness and power to us by
meeting our ordinary human needs, not to accrue worldly power or fame, but to
glorify God.
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Sometimes,
God’s blessings and God’s presence comes to us in the most unusual ways. Many of us would like for God to make the
divine presence undeniably real. We
would like for God’s power and goodness to mightily and decisively put the
forces of evil on the run. We’d like for
God to claim the fame that rightly belongs to the creator of the universe. So, we fail to recognize that God’s blessings
are often being offered to us through situations and people we fail to perceive
as channels of God’s blessings and presence.
And to our impoverishment, we fail to realize the resources of grace,
mercy, and courage that are right in front of us, if we will only learn to see
them.
The Need for
Bread
Jesus
and the disciples had the good fortune of ministering to a large crowd of
5000. Well, at least 5000, since they
probably only counted the men. They’d
had a great time together. Jesus’
teaching had been superb. It was a
beautiful scene there on the mountainside.
But there was a problem. There
was no food to be found. There were no
fast food places to send the crowd to, no caterers to call, no pizza delivery
guys in the neighborhood. Jesus, trying
always to teach his disciples, so that one day they will be able to carry on
his mission to the world, says to Philip, “Look at all these folks. It’s time to eat. Where are we going to buy food for everyone?”
“We don’t have any food. It would take six months’ wages to feed all
these people,” Philip replies. Andrew
chimes in, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two
fish. But that won’t make any difference
for this many people.”
We
often spiritualize passages of scripture like this one. We quickly turn this into a spiritual lesson
about the way God provides for our spiritual needs. We jump to the notion that we need more than
physical bread, that Jesus is the bread of
life. John gets there later in
this chapter, along with making the connections between Jesus’ provision of
physical bread with the bread of life we receive in the eucharist. And the connections to the Old Testament are
here as well, even deepening the spiritual meaning. The bread left over reminds one of the manna
God gave to the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. The mountain scene reminds you of Moses
ascending to Mt. Sinai to receive the law from God. All of that is here, but none of those deep
spiritual messages deny the reality—Jesus is concerned about people’s need for
food. Jesus realizes there are a lot of
people and they’re hungry. And he
probably knows that hungry masses don’t always remain peaceful ones. He wants to give people something to eat.
But
there’s another need here, isn’t there?
And that is the need for the disciples to learn to recognize who Jesus
really is. They are aware of the need
Jesus calls to their attention. But they
are only aware of their meager resources, their lack of a plan, and their inability
to meet the need. They don’t realize who
is there with them. They don’t see the
source of blessing right there with them.
They’ve seen Jesus perform miracles, signs John calls them, turning
water into wine, healing the sick, casting out demons, but their first thought
in this situation is not that Jesus will help them and the crowd, but that they
have a problem on their hands for which there is no solution.
Our Needs and
the World’s
Don’t
we sometimes become preoccupied with our problems, so much so that we fail to
recognize that there may be sources of blessings and power right in front of
us? It is easy to feel overwhelmed with
a burden in our own lives that we cannot see how it could ever be lifted. After hearing about the massacre at the
movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and being reminded that it is not the first
of such horrific events nor will it probably be the last, we are left thinking
about a range of problems that seem to be without solution: 1) What do we do to identify and treat people
with severe mental illness before they become a danger to others or
themselves? 2) How could we have a
sensible discussion about gun violence in our society? 3) And for us as people of faith, how do we
make sense of that faith in the light of such senseless actions that bring
nothing but pain and sorrow to everyone involved?
Here
in our own city, we face challenges that seem to overwhelm us. We are keenly aware of the way the human
struggle for mental health and poverty converge to make many people hungry for
real food. 38% of the people in our city
limits live in poverty, many of them children.
And poverty is no longer found in isolated pockets in the city limits,
it is dramatically increasing in the suburbs around us. And thankfully this
church has responded by trying to offer food and hospitality to those who need
it most. But if we’re honest, doesn’t it
seem a little overwhelming at times when we wonder what else we could do?
And
how many times have you been overwhelmed by problems in your own life for which
no solution seems forthcoming?
You
have been diagnosed with an illness for which there are no easy cures. You struggle with an emotional or mental
condition that depletes both your confidence and energy. You feel alone and isolated in a busy
world. You see relationships that were
once precious to you now foundering because of old grudges and
resentments. We’re not unacquainted with
problems for which there seem to be few simple solutions. And moreover, if we’re honest, it’s very easy
to see the problems so clearly that we are unable to the solutions when they
present themselves. It’s easy to fail to
see the blessings that might be right before us. Like the disciples who saw a need but failed
to understand that Jesus was right there with them and could help them to find
food for the hungry, we often look at the problems of our worlds and our lives,
become focused on those, and are just unable to see that Jesus is present and
just might be able to help us if we’d ask.
Well-known writer Frederick Buechner
wrote an autobiography called The and
Now. He writes of his off-the-beaten-path (at least
for a seminary-trained, ordained Presbyterian minister) encounter with Agnes
Sanford, a Christian healer. "The most vivid image she presented,"
writes Buechner, "was of Jesus standing in church services all over
Christendom with his hands tied behind his back, unable to do any mighty works
because the ministers who led the services either didn't expect him to do them
or didn't dare ask him to do them . . ."
That's quite an image: Jesus
standing in the church, his hands tied behind his back. Then Buechner added
this: “I recognized immediately my own kinship with
those ministers.”[1]
How many times have we failed to see
that God is present in our problems that a blessing is being offered to us if
we can only see it?
A Resource They Didn’t Recognize
As they considered the need of the
crowd for food and how they could possibly meet that real need, the disciples
were focused on what they lacked. They
had a crowd in the thousands and no money.
They had a few fish and loaves of bread and that was all. They didn’t have any other ideas. But what were they not seeing? They failed to recognize that right there in
front of them was the presence of God in Jesus.
They failed to connect the previous signs he had performed with the need
they faced at that moment.
Jesus was present with them—he could
find a way to solve their problem. And
somehow he did. He took the bread and
fish from the little boy and as a gracious, thoughtful host at a meal with
cherished guests, gave thanks over what they had and told the disciples to
start distributing the food. Somehow,
there was enough. Because Jesus was
there, the little the disciples had was enough for everyone.
There was a blessing in front of
them waiting to be received. Now, don’t
be too hard on the disciples. It’s
harder than we realize to see God’s presence among us, isn’t it? And Jesus doesn’t always help a lot. He’s not really interested in wowing big
crowds with his miracles. He never does
a miracle to gain fame for himself.
After this great miracle, the people in the crowd were indeed
excited. They thought that since Jesus
had filled their empty stomachs, he would be just the person to do even bigger
things—like overthrowing the hated Roman regime. When they tried to make Jesus king, he would
have nothing to do with it, and slipped away to hide and to pray.
So, we have to remember that
learning to see those hidden blessings, learning to discern God’s presence
requires some training. It often
requires learning to pay much closer attention.
It was hard for people to believe
that in this human being, born in a manger, raised in such humble
circumstances, that God really was present among them.
In a church I served, every sermon
the youth group went on a mission trip.
They would work all day painting houses, clearing brush, building decks
and ramps and then return to worship with other young people. Each night in worship they were challenged to
describe their “God-sightings” for the day, by which the leaders wanted them to
report on where, in that day, they had seen God at work. When they would share these “God-sightings”
with the congregation in worship when they returned, they would never say
things like, “I saw God raise a man from the dead.” No, they would say things like, “I saw God
today when the old woman we were working with sat on the front porch and told
us about her life.” Or, “I saw God today
when we didn’t have all the tools we needed and a construction worker at a
nearby job site happened to stop and see what we were doing and loaned us just
what we needed.” Small things.
I’ll admit it sometimes seemed a
little contrived to me—these lessons in seeing God. But, then, I learned, that like the
disciples, we all need help learning to see where God is present and at work
among us. The disciples had God with
them when they were trying to figure out how to feed a mob—and they didn’t even
know it.
Seeing a God Who’s Not Interested in Fame
Where do we see God? What signs of God’s presence are we
missing? In one way, it is hard to see
the God we know in Jesus. Yes, our God
is a self-revealing God, a God who speaks to us through the Word—the Bible, the
Word made flesh, the word as it is proclaimed in worship. But our God never tries to coerce or frighten
or wow us into belief.
After all, the ultimate sign given
the disciples and the world in John’s Gospel is not an appearance on a jumbo
tron in a huge stadium, but an old rugged cross—a sign the world regarded as
indicative of shame and humiliation.
But God is trying—if we’ll look,
listen, wait, and pray.
When we learn to discern God’s
blessings and God’s presence, faith increases.
And when faith increases, we realize following God is an open sum
game. When you and I put our faith
together, and then we add that with the faith of others, good things will
happen. When we stop thinking of the cup
as half empty and start seeing it half full, we’ll begin to see how can God can
use what we have, however small in our eyes, for good.
How do you look at yourself? Do you spend a lot of your time focusing on
your failures, your shortcomings, your inadequacies, and weaknesses? It’s easy to do. We often become obsessed about our
imperfections. It is not uncommon to
meet people who do not like themselves, who do not accept themselves, who do
not believe in themselves. It is easy
for us sometimes to look at people and see only what we perceive to be their
wants, their needs—a lack of money or food or shelter or education. And we rush into try to meet their need. But we often fail to see that every child of
God has some gift to share with others.
What if you started to look at yourself and ask, “What am I good
at? What am I passionate about? What do I care about? What has God given me? How has God blessed me?” It might make all the difference in the
world.
Sometimes in every need there is a
gift waiting to be received and experienced.
I read recently about a church that was doing an exercise together to
identify its gifts. Each person was
asked to identify some gift or asset in their church. The leader came to Renee and she started
talking about her daughter, Sarah, who got around in a wheelchair. The leader said, “Remember, we’re focusing on
assets here.” She didn’t object, but got
quiet. The leader felt he’d rubbed Renee
the wrong way. He asked the group, “Can
anybody help here?”
One woman said, “Renee your daughter
is an asset to us. I still remember the
day we worked together on that ramp to the front door. That was the day our congregation really
started thinking about the different skills and perspectives we each have. And without Sarah, I know my children’
wouldn’t be in Sunday school. She’s the
one always talking to them about church.”[2]
Renee saw her daughter’s limitations
in a different way as others described how she was such a gift to all of them.
Gifts come in many forms. A few fish and a few loaves of bread fed a
multitude. Paul boasted of his
weaknesses and infirmities, his afflictions and beatings. He said in his weakness he was made strong.
How do you see yourself? Have you humbly but confidently been able to
receive the gifts God has given you, even if those gifts are sometimes
disguised is limitations?
How do we see ourselves as a
church? It is easy to see all our
challenges. We are in a very diverse
community. Church growth experts all
know that it’s easier to grow a church in a setting where people are
alike. We are in a community with great
need—huge numbers of people--many of whom are children growing up in single
parent households—living in poverty.
We’ve been in decline many years, not the church we used to be.
What do we see? A cup half empty? Or do we see the possibilities that are
present not because we’re so smart or committed or virtuous, but because Jesus
is here among us? And where Jesus is,
there’s always enough!
Not long ago Anthony Robinson
visited a once prominent church, a church that had for decades been known far
and wide as the home of great preachers and a center of great social causes.
Like many, however, this church had declined in recent decades.
When I arrived to give a lecture
there, I was met by an officer of the church. As I was early, he asked if I
would like a tour of the grand facility. As we walked he told me that twenty
years ago he had feared for the future of his church. In fact, he said, "I
was pretty sure than by now we would have closed our doors. You see, we were
just fifty elderly people left in this great sanctuary." Then he
brightened. "But something has happened. Something has changed. We're
experiencing a kind of renewal, a revival."
"Really," I said,
"that's wonderful." "Yes, these days we have four or five
hundred people in church. We have new ministries in the community. We are
seeing new people, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight."
"How do you explain this?"
I asked.
He thought for a moment, his hand on
his chin. Then he said, "Well, it wasn't all our new minister, but he has
made a difference."
"What's he done?"
"Well, he got us studying the
Bible . . . yes, our minister gives a wonderful Bible Study. In fact, he can
give you the entire message of the Bible in just six words."
Inwardly, I groaned. "Another
fast operator?" I thought.
"And what might those six words
be?" I asked skeptically. My host, an older African-American man grinned
broadly. "The six words that summarize the entire message of the Bible? 'I
am God and you're not.'" We both laughed.[3]
"I am God and you're not."
God has decided you are his beloved
child. Have you received that gift—and
all the others that go along with it?
God is present with us as a congregation. The disciples were learning that though Jesus
didn’t always seek his own fame, that someone unique was among them. And when he was present, amazing things would
happen. There was always enough. And who knows just what God will do with us
if we put our complete faith and trust in his power, goodness, and mercy? Amen.
