"What Are We Lacking?"

A sermon preached by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp at Edgemont Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) based on Matthew 14:13-21.

I read a rather amusing story the other day of three guys named Joe, Steve and Ray who decided to go camping. Joe packed all the food for the camping trip. And the three were dropped off around lunchtime by their wives at the campsite. Naturally, when they arrived they were exhausted. They had traveled many hours and they were in the middle of nowhere - nothing around for miles. And so, Joe started to unpack the food and as everyone sat around ready to eat, it dawned on Steve that Joe forgot the mustard. Steve could not have a picnic without mustard - he used mustard on everything. And so, Steve and Ray both begged Joe to walk to the closest convenient store to purchase some mustard. Joe flat out refused to do so, for two reasons: first of all, the closest store was miles away and secondly, because he knew that they would eat everything by the time he got back. After about two hours, Steve and Ray were able to convince Joe to go and pick up some mustard. But they had to swear to Joe that they would not touch the food until he returned. And so, Joe sets off. Well, several hours pass and there was no sign of Joe. Steve and Ray were starting to get hungry, not to mention puzzled as to where Joe might be - they were beginning to think he got lost! A few more hours pass and still no sign of Joe. Before they knew it, it was getting dark and not only were they worried about their friend - they were starving. By next morning, they were so famished that Steve starts getting restless and tells Ray, with a hint of dementia in his voice; “I NEED FOOD!” “No!” says Ray, “we made a promise! We can’t break it!” A few more hours pass, and they both know that they need to eat and they begin to think that maybe Joe found a diner somewhere and decided to stop and eat. And so the two decided to eat a sandwich and as they lift the sandwiches to their mouths, Joe pops out from behind a rock and says; “Just for that, I’m not going!” In our Gospel Lesson this morning, we hear the infamous story of the “Feeding of Five Thousand.” Jesus and the disciples found themselves in a much more difficult situation then having no mustard. In fact, we read in verse 15 of our Gospel Lesson; “When it was evening, the disciples came to [Jesus] and said; ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’”
Someone once said that the biggest problem facing the church today is a lack of faith, and certainly there is a lot of truth to that. You see, I don’t believe our problem is a lack of resources - although we, like the disciples in our Gospel Lesson, think it is but it’s not. What we lack is faith!
Author and Preacher, King Duncan once said; “Considering that there are over two billion Christians in the world we should have no problem feeding the world’s hungry; healing conflicts between the nations of the world; giving comfort to the lonely, freedom to the captive, and hope to the desperate - for we have the resources, but what we lack is the faith to do so!”
But in Gospel Lesson this morning, Jesus had withdrew to be alone. He had just heard the news of his cousin, John’s death. But in his attempt to be alone, we are told that the crowds followed him - a crowd of five thousand men, not counting the women and children. I mean, can you imagine. But what a great opportunity for Jesus to minister. I would love to come to church on Sunday morning to see such a crowd. But the only problem was, they hadn’t planned on having a church potluck after the sermon. And while the disciples unravel and fall apart, Jesus remains calm. The disciples were ready to send them away, but Jesus wasn’t.
Interestingly enough, all four gospels record this story, each adding a few details neglected by the others. In John’s Gospel we read of Philip’s lack of faith. He said; “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to eat, much less have even a bite!” And then, John also gives a little more information then Matthew. John tells us that Andrew, Peter’s brother, spoke up and said; “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” As far as the disciples were concerned, the problem was resources. They didn’t have enough. But Jesus knew better. What they had was not a resource problem, but a faith problem. It reminds me of that powerful hymn which affirms; “Little is much when God is in it!”
And so, with this small possibility - with this little amount of food, Jesus blesses and distributes. Interestingly enough, the Greek word for “blesses” or “gave thanks” as recorded in the gospels can literally be translated in the Greek eucharisteo, a verb often associated with the Lord’s Supper. In fact, tradition had it that some in the early church ate the Lord’s Supper with bread and fish, as a way to remember this event and as a reminder that the Lord does provide - Jehovah-Jirah.
You may recall in the book of Numbers, of the time when the people of God craved quail. And so God gave them quail, about three feet worth of it. But we are told that while the meat was still between their teeth and before it had been totally consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. The place was named in Hebrew, Kibroth Hattaavah, which literally means “the graves of gluttony” (Numbers 11:31-34). While giving them what they desired, he also used that very thing to get the Israelites attention. And certainly this is true in our Gospel Lesson.
One of the symbols for Christianity in the early centuries was a fish. In fact, we still see this familiar symbol displayed today, on vehicles, t-shirts, and businesses. But the Greek word for fish is ixthus and the five letters that spell this Greek word form an acrostic. The first letter represents the word Jesus. The second letter represents the word Christ, the next two represent God’s Son, and the final letter represents the word Savior. Thus the acrostic for ixthus is, “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior.” But in our Gospel Lesson this morning we see that Jesus uses some fish, some ixthus to prove that he is the true Ixthus, the true Fish – “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior.”
We read that when they all eaten that they gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. I read a joke of a lady who fell out of a second story window and landed in the garbage truck that was slowly moving past the house. Half buried in the middle, she tried without success to get the drivers attention. A foreign diplomat standing on the sidewalk saw her and commented indignantly “Another example of how wasteful Americans are. That woman looks like she’s good for at least another 10 years.”
Twelve baskets of leftovers! And I think the gospel writers makes a point to tell us this as a way of showing us that there was plenty of food. Some suggest that the twelve baskets symbolize the responsibility of the twelve disciples, as well as the church’s to feed the hungry. It is a reminder to us, that we who have been fed by God with the Living Bread and the Ixthus, have a responsibility to go forth and feed the hungry of the world.
Author and preacher, Peter Gomes says, in his book Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, “The question of whether or not this story is true, while natural, is the wrong question.” He goes on to say, “For miracles are not arguments or propositions to which there are yes or no answers. The question to be put about a miracle, such as this one, is not ‘Is it true?’ or even ‘How can this be?’ but rather, ‘What does this say?’ At its essence a miracle is a message - an illustration or a demonstration of a message that God chooses to communicate to us.”
Many modern-day scholars claim that the real miracle is not found in Jesus, but rather in this young boy, whose willingness to share his lunch invoked the willingness of others to share their lunch. So much so, that everyone was able to eat. Now, while such a view may not be widely accepted by most Christians it does offer an interesting perspective, and forces us to ask ourselves “What do I have to offer for the greater good of the church?” What can be accomplished if we were all willing to share, all willing to work together?”
I am a huge fan of The Food Network. One of the shows that I enjoying watching is “Unwrapped.” The show tells the origins to foods. I recall one episode, which told the story of a restaurateur named Caesar. It had been a busy week at his restaurant, and the food service truck would not arrive for another couple of days. The dinning room was full of hungry people. The cooks were upset because they had nothing to prepare. How could they feed the customers? What would they do? Mr. Caesar entered the kitchen, toasted some bread, collected lettuce and a block of Parmesan cheese, anchovies, some eggs, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and a large wooden bowl. He carried them into the dinning room and there, in front of his customers; he created the very salad we know today as the Caesar salad.
God has gifted each one of us with unique talents and abilities that enable us to make a significant contribution to the world. What are your gifts? Unless you attempt to use them, you will never discover how God prepared you to contribute. We need to be like the little boy in Scripture who offered Jesus his lunch - Jesus in turn used it to feed a multitude. May we have the faith to allow God to use us to feed the hungry! God is able, but we must be willing!