You Give Them Something to Eat

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A repeating rhythm of a pastor’s life is a phone call or a conversation when I am made aware of a someone in need (I very much appreciate knowing). Sometimes the shared information is accompanied by a specific set of instructions about what I should do or how I should respond.

I wonder what would happen if every time someone contacted me with an expectation of this nature I would follow Jesus’ lead and simply say, "Why don’t you take care of it this time."

I know what would happen. It wouldn’t take long and the council president would soon hear about the Pastor Joe’s unusual and puzzling behavior.

The gospel story for this morning unfolds in a way very much like that. It was late in the day, the disciples were tired, and the crowds who had followed Jesus were hungry. The disciples went to Jesus with their agenda and said, "(Lord) …send the crowd away so they may go to the villages and find something to eat." Jesus’ response shocked their sensibilities when he said, "No, no, they need not go away; you give them something to eat."

"What?", they must have thought, “What?” "You heard me. You give them something to eat." You see, Jesus doesn't let them off the hook so easily. His directive, "you give them something to eat," forced them to confront their deepest fear; a fear they would need to overcome on the long road of discipleship that lay ahead of them; the fear they would be found out; that their inadequacies would be exposed. There are few things we fear more than being found inadequate and not up to the task.

So naturally, when a need arises, the temptation to default to inadequacy can be overwhelming. We can easily feel like the disciples holding five loaves and two fish in the face of the hunger needs of a massive crowd.

It is important to note at this point that when we surrender to a sense of personal inadequacy, we find ourselves in esteemed biblical company:

· When Abraham and Sarah heard the Divine promise that they were going to have a baby, they about fell over in disbelief and even laughed out loud insisting that things like that didn’t happened to people of their advanced age. They were thinking more about assisted-living than setting up a nursery. They felt inadequate.

· When Moses heard the Divine call to be a liberator of the slaves in Egypt, Moses insisted he was totally inadequate presenting the Divine with four good reasons why he was comprehensively unqualified to fill the position - inadequate.

· When Isaiah heard the Sacred call to represent the Divine to his people, Isaiah protested and said he lacked moral fiber and integrity – that he was too sinful - inadequate.

· It was a similar thing with Jeremiah who was resolute in that he lacked credibility because of his youthful age - inadequate.

I wonder how many opportunities for the love of God to touch someone’s life have been forfeited, just among us, because we caved to a sense of inadequacy and the subsequent unwillingness that usually follows?

I will make a confession. A situation with which I have always felt a pervasive sense of inadequacy is in the face of tragic and unexpected death.

About six years ago this weekend a friend of mine from Alaska was one of four scout leaders electrocuted at the Nat’l Boy Scout Jamboree in Williamsburg, Virginia. I baptized his four boys. He was deeply involved in church life, and we spent hours discussing issues of life and faith together. When I received the tragic news, I called his wife. As the phone was ringing, I suddenly felt that profound sense of inadequacy well up within me and grab my throat, "What do I say in the face of such a terrible and profound loss?" I felt inadequate, even though I have been trained and educated in ministering to grieving people. When Kris came to the phone, she said to me through her tears, "Joe, it is a miracle that you would call right at this minute. The boys and I are going through a box of photos, and we just pinned the photo of their baptism on a bulletin board we are making. I thought of how I needed to hear from you and then the phone rang, and it was you!" For her that episode was not coincidence, but a sign that a Divine presence was very much with them in the midst of their indescribable loss. For me that episode was a vivid reminder that the Divine works through us even with a sense of inadequacy.

"We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish," answered the disciples, feeling inadequate. "Bring them here to me," Jesus commanded. “Taking the five loaves and two fish, he… blessed and broke the loaves, gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to all the crowds. And all ate and were filled”

The gospel writers included this feeding story in their gospels not because they merely wanted to recount a dazzling miracle that impressed the crowds. The story has far greater meaning that goes far beyond the literal. This feeding story is ultimately about empowerment; the empowerment of the disciples; the empowerment of you and me. Jesus alone did not feed the crowds by himself that day, the disciples did with their bread – bread that Jesus blessed - and put back in their hands.

When we place our stuff – our treasure - our time - our talents into the hands of Jesus, we run the risk of receiving them back transformed, empowered and consecrated. The result is that which we perceive as inadequate in the face of great need goes a long way as a result of Jesus’ blessing. The early Christian Community experienced something incredible in Jesus, an astounding energizing Presence that neutralized their fears and convinced them that they were not small, powerless and impotent. They were empowered beyond a paralyzing sense of inadequacy and propelled into the world to be daring disciples.

They even dared to shape the dynamics of their community life around it in profoundly counter-cultural ways seeing to it that everyone had enough and no one went without. The book of Acts tells us, “The whole congregation was of one heart and soul… no one claimed private ownership… they held everything in common… and there was not a needy person among them.”[i] Everyone had enough!

Do we dare put our lives and our resources, even our fears and sense of inadequacy into the hands of Jesus? Are we prepared to receive them back with his blessing to now share ourselves and resources with a community and world in great need – a world where a few have a huge surplus and the masses do not have enough?

One of the great things I have been privileged to witness in my ministry happened in Anchorage, Alaska. A woman from the congregation I served was a young local artist whose art form was embossed prints made on heavy rag paper creating art that reflected uniquely Alaskan themes. One weekend she attended a workshop on world hunger. She was so deeply moved by the content that she wanted to respond – she wanted to do something. She wasn’t paralyzed by the fact she was but one person, and she wasn’t discouraged by a personal sense of inadequacy in the face of such a monumental problem. She realized that her five loaves and two fish was the unique gift and talent of her art. She came up with the idea to create a piece of art, make several hundred prints and sell the numbered prints in the Fall just in time for Christmas. She would only charge for the supplies she used and donate the proceeds to world hunger. It started out as a one-time thing. That was over 30 years ago, and every year since she has produced a fine art print, made several hundred copies, sold them through local congregations and in the process about a half million dollars has been raised for world hunger issues and needs.

In our epistle this morning Paul reminds his congregation that they are, each and every one of them, gifted in some way. He names some of gifts he sees in their midst. But he also reminds them that these gifts are not intended to be used merely for self-enhancement but for the enhancement of others and the community. He says they are all “members of one another”[ii] – intertwined – interlinked – profoundly connected. In two other places he speaks to the same issue. In 1 Corinthians he says these gifts are to be used for the “common good.”[iii] In Ephesians it says these gifts are for “the building up of the body of Christ.”[iv]

A friend of mine likes to tell a story about an encounter he had with a woman while volunteering at a blood drive. He had watched this woman, who was also a volunteer, relate in a remarkably effective way to especially people who had not given blood before or people who had some distinct anxieties about giving blood. She had the knack of calming people down and alleviating their anxiety. He later had a conversation with the woman and somehow they ended up discussing this idea of being gifted in some way. She insisted vehemently she had no special gifts to offer anyone – she was a gift-less soul - inadequate! My friend pointed out to her that he had observed her astounding ability to calm people in anxiety, and that she made people feel welcome and affirmed. He went on to name what he had observed as the gifts of compassion, hospitality and conferring a sense of peace to those in distress. She was astounded by his comments. She had never thought of things that came naturally to her as gifts to be used for the common good and to enhance the lives of others. She had not framed her life in such a way. My friend had reframed her life in a new way that was transformational for her, and it caused her to use her gifts in more intentional ways and even to a greater extent in the future. Her life , in a sense, had been consecrated in a special way.

This morning we gather around the banquet table of God, and we re-enact another feeding story that echoes the feeding story of today’s gospel. Once again bread is being distributed that has been blessed by Jesus. The blessed bread is placed into our hands by one of his disciples, and we take it into our bodies – the whole ritual becoming a powerful living metaphor that points to the gospel truth that God will not allow us to stay trapped in our fear and confined by a sense of inadequacy, but empowers us to be Jesus’ body in the world – on fire with is love – equipped with his compassion – taking that which we possess, even if it seems to be a mere five loaves and two fish, to nourish a needy world.

The real miracle ends up being not the multiplication of loaves and fishes of so long ago, but multiplication of love, generosity and compassion in your soul and mine and in this community that turns us inside out; away from ourselves and toward others; sharing ourselves and advocating for a fairer world that can lead to everyone having enough with even some left over.

[i] Acts 4:32-35

[ii] 1 Cor. 12:5

[iii] 1 Cor. 12:7

[iv] Eph. 4:12