Our scriptures today are familiar ones. We have heard the account of the loaves
and fishes since we were very young children; we have talked about it and studied it at length. We have lingered over the miracle that took place of how so little became so much. We have talked about all the people who were gathered there on that day, and who stayed and stayed, just
to be there, perhaps to glance Jesus. And we have also spent a great deal of
time talking about Jesus walking on water.
I don’t want to take
away any of the joy of these events, there is always more to take delight in, something different to discuss, a new way of
looking at these two miracles. But as I was studying these passages for today,
I read them through one right to the other, the lectionary had us taking breaks and leaving information out, but when I read
the whole selection, something jumped out at me. The passage begins with Jesus
saying to the apostles, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” This single line brought me to a different place of understanding of this passage. Prior to the wonderful day that we have all heard about, the day when Jesus was teaching
the crowd of thousands; the evening of which a great miracle of limited food becoming enough to feed them all. Jesus sought quiet, rest. He was in need of a break. The passage continued that, “For many were coming and going, and they had no
leisure even to eat.” Jesus was seeking a deserted place for his apostles
and for him to rest, for they didn’t even have time to eat.
Imagine
that, think of those times when you have been in such a hurry that all you had time for was fast food, perhaps for an extended
period all you had time to eat was drive thru. I know we have all been there,
when that’s all we have had time to eat, and what we craved was a nice leisurely meal.
That’s what scripture tells us Jesus and the apostles needed a place away to themselves so they could sit and
relax and enjoy a nice leisurely meal, sharing stories and just having that time alone together. I am sure the families in the room can understand that. Think
about those weeks during the school year where the parents have meetings 2 out of 5 nights and one kid has to be somewhere
and the other has to be somewhere else. How hard is it to come together for dinner
as a family even just for one night, where you can sit with each other and share about your day, and laugh and just spend
time together. This is what our passage is saying they needed and wanted. They just wanted time alone together.
But
as our passage continues, “And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going
and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.” The crowd beat them there! Ahhh can you imagine that, just
when they thought they were going to have some time, the crowd raced, from all corners to get there. They were just so eager to be with Jesus, to share some time with him.
And his response is not one of frustration or disappointment. His response
was to “have compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”
Have you ever been really tired? I mean the kind of tired
that makes your whole body ache. The kind of tired that makes you feel nauseous,
the kind of tired that almost feels like you could never get rest? Whether
the tiredness stemmed from mental or emotional or physical exhaustion the overwhelming need to just sit and rest is all you
can think about. Counting down the minutes or hours before you might find the
rest you are so in need of.
It feels as though this
is where Jesus and his companions are. They have reached the point where they
just need to be done. The disciples share these feelings. “When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is
a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages
and buy something for themselves to eat.” They had used up
all of their patience and energy. They were done!
They just wanted to send everyone away and take a break. But Jesus had
different plans. Although he was the one who originally had said let us find
a deserted place, now in this moment when he had the chance to take a break he refused.
Instead, “he answered them, “You give them something to eat.””
I don’t
know about you, but thinking about that made me laugh. It is almost comical,
that these guys who started the day with Jesus telling them, hey lets find a place where we can just be together, to spending
the day out in the sun with crowds of people, they had just offered a great escape, and Jesus says, nope feed them. And their response cracks me up even more, you can tell they are responding out of exhaustion and frustration,
“They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred Denair worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?”” It is just such a human response, a little sarcasm mixed with some truth and a bit
of resentment. We are those disciples.
We
get so bogged down by our own emotions and limitations. The idea of finding more
mental and emotional energy when we are promised rest can make the best of people cranky.
We see more work, we see there being more responsibilities and more time and effort, the response of, haven’t
we already done enough seems so fitting. For the disciples basically asked that
same question, are we really expected to provide for their every need, can’t we just send them away? That idea of, our work being done, it is someone else’s turn is how we have all felt at some point
in time.
But
thankfully, that is not how God sees the world. God never gets frustrated and
wants to give up. God never thinks, goodness it is someone else’s turn
to clean up this mess. God never refuses to help us because he is tired. In fact, Jesus God on earth responds to his disciples by saying, “How many loaves
have you? Go and see.” Jesus knew that the disciples could handle more,
that they had something to experience by helping to feed all those people. Think
about it, these are the people who Jesus sends out in to the world to spread the good news.
They would face many times when they felt exhausted, times when they would feel like what they were doing doesn’t
matter. In those times, Jesus wanted them to have this experience on their hearts,
think about the uplifting reminder that this day when they would push themselves a little harder and see a great miracle take
place because they trusted in Jesus, they worked past the exhaustion and saw thousands fed with just, “Five, and two
fish.”
And
then as we have heard many times Jesus, “ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.
40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven,
and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among
them all. 42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those
who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.” After days traveling
on the road, and teaching all he encountered, on a day when he began it by saying let us go to a deserted place and rest. Instead of resting, Jesus spent the day teaching thousands of people and then when
others would have sent them away to fend for themselves, Jesus shared a miracle with them; he fed them all, over 5000 people.
With just 5 loaves and 2 fishes he fed those who he had already fed emotionally,
he fed them physically. What a day that must have been.
We
always look at this account with the amazing miracle of feeding so many with so little.
But let us look at this a little differently, let us look at how much Jesus loved them all, that even when he was ready
for a break he overcame and loved the people so much that he nourished their bodies and their souls.
How
can we apply this to ourselves. At a time when we are all tired, for it had been
a long couple of months. It is a time when we are already to go to that deserted
place alone with our Savior and enjoy some quiet time. But we have an interim
coming in two weeks, and it will be time to roll up our sleeves and work hard. But
why, I mean we could all take the attitude that we have been working hard, it is time for other people to step up to the plate. We have earned a break.
We
hear the disciples’ sarcasm when they said what do you want us to do go and buy food for them all? Jesus calls us to take on the roll of those who were fed that day, and I would like to say that the disciples
were fed, that they reached down within themselves and with the help of God with us, they took part in the miracle of the
day. They were there and aided in their way the feeding of the thousands of people
that day. Wow, what God did with a tired and cranky people, he worked through
them and accomplished something so amazing. And what more can he do with us? We who know that not only did he push people because he knew they could handle it,
he also gave his life for us. How much more are we capable of because of that?
Our
scripture also continued telling us that he sent the disciples out in the boat. As
he dismissed the crowds, he gave them a moment to reflect on the day before he shared with them another miracle. He met them at sea. He walked to them out across the water. “And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves,
but their hearts were hardened. ”Perhaps it was the exhaustion, perhaps they had been throwing themselves a pity party
on the boat, oh woe is us who had to help feed all those people when all we wanted to do was rest. Instead of seeing the incredible miracle of the day, the disciples’ closed their hearts, they didn’t
allow the majesty of the day to overcome them, instead they were upset, even as God on earth came walking across the water
to them, they could only think of themselves. Our account of this would also
offer that they were so upset because for someone to be walking across the water to them would mean they were dead, so perhaps
they were so upset because they thought they were seeing a ghost instead of their messiah walking across the water to them.
What
will we see, will we be so beat down by our human limitations that we will think the worst, or will we see the miracle before
us? It is easy to become tired, and overburdened.
It is easy to take on the woe is me approach, but with God walking across the water to us, is it not better to fall
to our knees and praise him? I know we are all tired, I know we are all worn
out, but let Christ be our example, for before he met the disciples on the sea he prayed, he took a few moments out to re-center
and to find peace. When things get rough and you feel worn out, follow that example,
find God on a mountaintop and praise him. Share a few moments in the silence
of your hearts and hear the miracle within. That God is with you in all that
you do. If you close yourself off from that miracle, everything you do will seem
like it is just work, with your hearts open and free to see God, that is what you will see in all that you do and in all that
you encounter.
Our Samuel text brings this point home. We heard that the king was settled
in his house, but that the ark of the covenant still had no resting place. Scripture
says that the Lord had given him rest, and yet they had still not built a place in honor to God. The people were so concerned with themselves, they forgot all about their God who had made this time peaceful. God promises to remain faithful, to keep them in a peaceful time, to grant him life
in the form of generations after death, and all God is asking for is a home where those whom God has been faithful to can
worship Him. We can hear God talking to us through Nathan. God has provided for us, all that we need, and all God is asking from us is a place to worship, for the
gifts we have been given to be used and for us to worship God.
Today we kick off our membership involvement campaign, not because we are trying to ask too much, but because God has
given us all gifts, gifts that are to be used for the glory of God, come and explore your gifts in service to this home of
God, this place of worship. Just as we affirm our faith each week and as we give
of our wealth, we must also give of ourselves, those things that make us different from each other, the things that bring
us together in this place to worship God. SO let us begin this time of offering
of ourselves by standing and affirming what we believe.
Rev. Janice M. Tiedeck
