Sermon, by Pastor Nelson
Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
July 28, 2024
2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 145:10-18
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21
(Seventeenth Sunday in ordinary time,
Turtle island)
We begin this journey for the next six Sundays. When I preached on communion the last time I was with you, I did not know I would be with you again for these six Sundays.
Last Sunday you heard Mark’s version of the “bread miracles.” Now for these next five Sundays we will be working with the Gospel of John’s ideas about the “bread miracles.” Then on September 1, we will return to the Gospel of Mark. I hope that even though you might not “listen” to all my six sermons, you will take the time to read them. I certainly will not pretend to have all the answers to life, but I will try to speak to life through these six Sundays of lessons.
We have a tendency to think that the four gospels all say the same thing. That is far from the truth. The writers of the four gospels each had a unique theology. Briefly, Mark stresses the role of the community in the feedings, while the writer of John zeros in on Jesus’ role. Mark emphasizes the peoples’ action, John focuses on the bread and wine itself. Our second lessons from Ephesians try to highlight the community’s importance to give balance to John’s version. Thus, you will see some variations in the Ephesian Pericopes I use and the one in the ELW, our red book today. In the old red book [SBH) published in 1958, [some of you might be old enough to remember it, (the year I graduated from high school)] we would use Matthew one week, Luke the next etc. Now I know many of you are saying, “Pastor, who cares?”. Well quite frankly I do not think I would be preaching today, if the church had not introduced the three-year cycle of lessons twenty years later in 1978.
Ok, that is more than you ever wanted to know. So, let us look at our lessons for today. This Sunday’s readings focus on sharing and practicing virtues so that the bond of unity can be preserved within the human community and among all its members. The readings today remind us that we have all been given the one spirit who lives and breathes within us and among us. An unnamed servant of Elisha is hesitant that the 20 loaves of barley bread he brings to the prophet, will not be enough to feed the 100 people. But Elisha was confident that the loaves would be enough to provide food for all. The loaves were distributed, and some bread was even left over.
Now what is the miracle here?
- is it the fact that 20 barley loaves suddenly multiplied in number or that each loaf grew in size?
- or was the miracle that all the people became truly conscious of one another and took only what they needed from a loaf, so that others could also have a share of the bread, with no one going hungry and no one doing without?
The people in the first parish I served in Drumheller, AB were mainly people of Danish ancestry. They liked to eat, and so did this Young Swede. At every gathering there would be a cake or two. The cake would never be cut and parceled out. The whole cake would be passed around, and you would cut your own slice. I soon learned, most people always took smaller pieces when they cut their own. No Elisha was not divine, but he knew that God works miracles through people who cooperate with the work of God in the world. There are a few politicians who I wish could understand that. Our Psalm today, 145, calls upon all creation to give thanks to God. We as God’s faithful people are to bless God, and everyone is to talk about how our needs are satisfied if we could only work together as both human and non-human life. That there is enough for all has been demonstrated in Second Kings, and I have not even gotten to the second lesson and the gospel.
In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul urges the believing community members at Ephesus to live a life worthy of the call they have received. They are to follow the way of the Christ who embodied a virtuous life of love. Paul’s words of encouragement highlight specific virtues that the community members are to practice so that they can preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Diverse as they may be, the people are essentially one body and one spirit. Through that communion, they are also united to God whose spirit remains alive in the midst of all creation. Here then is the message that needs to be heard so much in our day. [a life lived in humility, with patience and the ability to bear with one another through love also safeguards right relationships and ensures the practice of civility among the community’s many members.]
Now I know that is a mouthful, but that is the gospel. Please remember, when these letters by Paul and his fellow missionaries were written, the Greco-Roman world would not have heralded humility, gentleness, and patience as virtues. In fact, in the Greco-Roman society, the above virtues would have been looked on as vices. Is it not interesting that the above has become so true today in some political circles? Paul’s directive that the community members bear with one another through love, highlights what Paul considered to be the greatest of all virtues—love. Remember Saul would have been spouting the same views as some of our political leaders do today, if he had not “fallen off his horse” and become Paul. In Ephesians today we hear that not all the people at Ephesus, even the Christians, were on the same page. They were at different stages of faith and growth. They had diverse temperaments and differences of opinions. In fact, diversity was to be celebrated and was never meant to be a stumbling block toward or for unity. Would it not be something if we understood that today? Finally, Paul and his fellow writers pushed a life of virtue grounded in love. It sounds so simple but yet it is so complicated. Are there any politicians of different stripes today who would have a beer with each other after the workday is done? Just asking.
Well, I better get to the gospel of John. The gospel from John develops the theme of sharing, that we heard earlier in Second Kings. Captivated by Jesus’ healings, a large crowd followed Jesus, and he wanted to feed them. But buying food for such a large group would have been impossible. Andrew, one of Jesus’ disciples, draws attention to a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish. Sounds like our first lesson, eh? Andrew immediately realizes, five loaves and two fish is not going to do it. You can just hear him saying to himself, “why did I even mention it?”. Well like Elisha before him, the people are all fed by the miracle of sharing. Jesus’ question to Philip is similar to the one Moses and others asked of god in the desert. Jesus’ question to Philip is genuine and Philip’s response to Jesus is also genuine. The crowd is large, and feeding everyone is humanly and financially impossible. Once again, because people share, scarcity becomes abundance and mindfulness guards against over-consumption.
How big a piece of cake do we really need? This Sunday’s readings remind us that we live in a world of abundance.
- when the global human community learns to share and embrace a life of virtue, maybe then world hunger will be eradicated.
- if miracles like the above have happened, maybe they can happen again?
When we are tempted as individuals or even as a country to think we can go it alone, we need to take another look at these scriptures for today. How should we live?
- by having patience with one another,
- by striving for humility and patience,
- by preserving unity among us,
- and by trusting that god will feed us and sustain us.
How? By realizing that God works through people just like us. Today’s gospel account of the feeding of a huge crowd shows us how Jesus was concerned with people’s physical needs while at the same time he was obviously not a political leader. I see so much of our local leaders in church and state, who get so tied up in political games that they forget their main “job” is to “feed” the people. When the crowds wanted Jesus to be a king, Jesus escaped into the mountains to pray. We in the church often forget that we are to be about more than physical hunger and political liberation. Yes, we need more than just food for physical hunger. When we get totally caught up in bread for hunger, we often forget the “bread of life.” I know, I as a pastor, can say all kinds of flowery things, but, as we leave here today, trying to meet our responsibilities in daily life and encountering all of our ordinary limits and frustrations, we must believe that God is with us forever.
Presbyterian candidates for ordination are asked: “will you pray for and seek to serve God with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?” Imagination is part of ministry; a dimension of good reading and pastoral wisdom is to step back and ask occasionally about those we know best. “Who is this person?” Is to remember that each of us is fully known only to God. If we allow God to work through us, mighty things may happen. Grace is like water in the atmosphere, it cannot be diminished, but it can be redistributed. Look at what has been happening with floods while other places have drought.
We have a role in how god works within us and among us. Though God is present, divine action sometimes requires consent, and even collaboration among us. Quite simply, God does not force herself on us. It was no accident that immediately after Jesus was rejected in his hometown, Jesus sent the disciples out as strangers into new places. Their words, like wine, were to be poured into new wine-skins.
Through these next weeks we will hear of:
- Elisha feeding 100 men, manna in the wilderness,
- Elijah being fed by an angel,
- Wisdom preparing a feast and inviting all to share,
- And Jesus multiplying bread for many.
In each case those who ate were challenged to look beyond the gifts of nourishment in order to more intimately know and appreciate the giver. The people in today’s gospel were drawn to Jesus because they had a hunger for god. They followed Jesus into the wilderness because they were aware that their own lives were a wilderness. They hungered for something new. They wanted more than their ordinary lives were able to offer. But then something strange happened. Jesus gave them bread and fish. So they then wanted to make him their king.
Beware of politicians who offer us “free lunch.” Jesus was smart enough to flee from the crowds, most politicians can not do that. God has enabled us to develop technology that allows us to feed great multitudes. But we, like the people in today’s gospel are tempted by the miracles and want to make god the king of technology or even worse, technology becomes our king. Today and for the next five weeks, we will be reminded of the balance that must be kept. If we have been blessed, the gifts we have been blessed with must be shared. Love, mercy, forgiveness, companionship, peace and fulfillment are all hungers that we will try to fulfill. If we strive for that, we will find that God is always ready to satisfy our hungry hearts. But when we find ourselves clinging to safety nets and building walls for protection, we might have to return to a point where our sense of safety has to disappear.
I think Thomas Dorsey said it best.
Precious lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Through the storm,
Through the night,
Lead me on, lead me to the light.
Take my hand, precious lord,
Lead me home.
[ELW 773 v. 1]
Amen
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