This sermon was preached at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, a mainly African American congregation in Cambria Heights NY where I preached and led worship this morning, Brenda Irving, their pastor, preached and led worship at St. Jacobus.
The reading
John 6:1-21
After this Jesus went
to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.A
large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing
for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd
coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for
these people to eat?" He said this
to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him,
"Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a
little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are
they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit
down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down,
about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given
thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much
as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather
up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered
them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who
had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had
done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into
the world."
The message
I am glad to be here this morning with all of you, to
worship, to share God’s word, to lift up our prayers together, to receive the
gift of God’s forgiveness, to sing praise, to give thanks, to encounter God’s
amazing presence in simple bread and wine, to celebrate our shared faith which
centers around God’s love for all people and to remind each other that God
accepts, welcomes and cares for each of us just as we are.
This morning the Gospel reading from John about Jesus
feeding 5000 men (plus an unidentified number of women and children) seems like
the perfect scripture to talk about in a new place. I do not know most of you
and when Pr Irving and I scheduled this pulpit exchange, I was not quite sure
what to expect. I say this reading is
perfect for this morning because, at its core, it is about a community of all
different people that forms around the recognition of Jesus as savior and the
sharing of a sacred meal (which in many ways is exactly what church should be). As I look at this reading, I am going to talk
about some of my own memories and experiences and how they can help us all
understand what exactly happened in this field of hungry, excited, different
and curious people almost 2000 years ago.
There are meals I will never forget. There are the meals from my childhood, Steak
and Potatoes at my grandmother’s house on Saturday nights, Pasta on Sundays after
church service, and of course, the Christmas Eve fish dinner. After my Grandmother’s death a few years ago,
we struggled to plan, experience and enjoy these meals. We still long for the
way it used to be, the way people sat, the tastes and recipes, the plates we
only used a few times a year, the good silverware, and of course, all of the conversations
and stories.
Also, among the meals I will never
forget are the first times out with my wife Jennifer. There was our first date at John’s pizzeria
and the awkward, nervous, exciting getting to know you conversations. Then there was our perfect dinner a few months
later. We were walking around Park Slope
in Brooklyn and it started pouring rain so we ran into this small corner
restaurant. It didn’t look like much from
the outside but inside was just beautiful. We got the last table, the food was
great and the service was excellent. Our conversation was deep and wonderful.
We got to know each other that night and I knew she was someone special. We
tried to go back a few weeks later, to re-experience that evening, with all its
emotions and joys, but the restaurant had gone out of business.
With these meals at Grandmas house
and my first dates with Jennifer, It was not just the food that made them unforgettable,
it was the people they were shared with, the history, the anticipation and the
feeling that being part of it created. The
people sitting in this field when Jesus feeds them with a few loaves and fishes
would never forget their meal. Being
there showed, reminded and let people feel that God would provide. Even the writers of the Gospels did not
forget this meal. The feeding of the crowd is one of the only two miracles in
the New Testament that is reported in all four Gospels. You find this story told in Matthew 14:13-21,
Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15.
All four writers found this story to be important enough and central
enough to our understanding of Jesus that they included it in their books. The only other miracle found in all four
Gospels is Jesus’ resurrection.
The people who ate with Jesus that day will not only remember
eating bread and fish in a field. They will remember that this feast was shared
with every single person there, regardless of their need, regardless of their
color, regardless of religion, need, or status, regardless of their age, size,
shape or anything else. At this meal which Jesus blesses, gives thanks for and
serves the crowd, everyone eats. friend and enemy, strange and familiar, young
and old, serious and silly, local and foreign, rich and poor all eat
together. When Jesus feeds the crowd, he does so, because
all people are God’s children and all could eat. If you had no money, you could
eat your fill, if you were an outsider, you could eat your fill, if you just got
there, you could eat your fill, if you have been following Jesus for days,
week, months, or years you could eat your fill, if you were good, you could eat
your fill, if you were sinful, you could eat your fill, if you were hurting,
you could eat your fill, if you were scared, you could eat your fill, if you
were anxious you could eat your fill.
Jesus action, the multiplying of bread and fish is not just
a miraculous way of addressing temporary hunger and need for nourishment. There
is something about food that unites people. At my church we share our building
with five other congregations. I eat with most of them at least 7 or 8 times a
year. I have gone to Indonesian
Anniversaries, Chinese Christmas banquets and BBQs, Filipino weddings, Bengali baptisms and
Vegetarian Indian family celebrations.
At these meals, I am always reminded that we are not so different. I also know it’s a chance to show people we
are not all that different through knowing about their food, enjoying what they
serve, and having a decent tolerance for very spice things. In Jesus time, there were a lot of
restrictions on what you could eat, who you could eat with, and what you could
afford to buy. These rules were
longstanding and rooted in religious and cultural traditions. All that seems to disappear in this story; if
you were there, you ate. At this meal, like in God’s kingdom, there is room for
everyone.
Along with being a reminder that God cares for all people,
this meal in the field is also an invitation, or even a command for us to care
for each other. This story of Jesus
feeding the crowd can be seen as one of sharing abundance. People who have
studied this story of Jesus feeding the multitude from a perspective of social
justice, suggest this story is not quite what it seems. It is an amazing
miracle but it is a different kind of miracle. It is one about sharing our
abundance. In the story, the little boy had
2 fish and 5 loaves, enough food to provide a feast for himself and the people
traveling with him. Instead, he shares
his bread and fish with the crowd. We are left to assume others in the crowd
were carrying food too, holding onto bags of bread, fish or other items just in
case they or their families got hungry. Perhaps, the miracle here is getting
them to open their containers of food, to give away what they have and trust
that there will be enough.
Personally, meals have been a central part of my own faith, development
and ministry. My first serious thoughts
of being a pastor came though my work volunteering at soup kitchens and food
pantries around the city. I spent this time among people who were often ignored,
dismissed by society, or at best viewed as an
inconvenience, Many of the people I meet during this work were desperate for
the bare
necessities of life, physical and spiritual, for healthcare and
prayer care, food and hope, water and understanding, help
and compassion, shelter and someone to
listen to them. It helped me understand
that our faith is about announcing God’s presence to people who need to hear
it.
In some ways, during my time at the seminary in Philadelphia,
I survived and finished because I addressed my anxiety and my desire to go out
and do something. A friend and I started a street ministry program. We gathered
and distributed whatever food there was leftover from the cafeteria along with
donations and purchases from a local food warehouse. Each week, we drove to Center City,
Philadelphia, walked under the train stations and gave away whatever we
gathered. For me, this work was not just giving people something to eat. It was
talking with them, sitting with them, meeting them where they were, listening
to them, treating them with respect and realizing that we are all children of
God, with deep faith and serious questions, as well as physical, psychological
and spiritual hunger. This work renewed people’s sense of hope in the
communities we served. People received
something to eat but they also realized that people recognized them, knew they
were hungry, living on the streets, in the stations and under the city, and
offered them help, because it’s what our faith tells us to do. Jesus wanted his disciples to see the crowd the
same way. Jesus tells Phillip, these
people are God’s children, feed them, care for them.
One of the biggest
surprises from this project on the streets of Philadelphia was the finding of
needs in our own community. We started a food bank on campus as a way to get
cheap access to resources. Students started to show up for food as well. I
learned there were some students who needed help with food, especially when the
cafeteria was closed on weekends. This
was a complete shock to me. After all, this was a graduate school and seminary,
and not cheap. It turned out that scholarships and loans covered the meal plan
but not money for other food. We had students, people in class and dorms with
us, people struggling with their sense of call and racing to finish papers, in
our community and in need.
In summary, Jesus feeding the crowd is about a community
formed around God’s care for us and our calling to care for each other. I know this is idealized, our communities, our
neighborhoods, our cities, our world, even our churches are far from this
vision of a place where everyone eats and is satisfied. There is work to be done, serious, honest, faith
filled and spirit led work. Many of you
here know a lot more about not being cared for then I do, many of you here know
a lot more about not being welcomed then I do, Many of you here know a lot more
about being ignored and judged then I do, many of you here know a lot more
about feeling unsafe then I do. That is not how God wants us to live. Jesus
message is an invitation for us to spend time together, to eat together, to see
each other as children of God. We are
told to give them something to eat. We are told to live as people who know
there is plenty to go around, who trust that there is plenty of bread, plenty
of fish, plenty of space to sit down, plenty of things that unite us, plenty of
comfort and joy to share, and plenty of room in God’s kingdom.
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