Sunday, July 28, 2024

There Is Always Enough

Reverend Debbie Cato
John 6:1-21
Fairfield Community Church
July 28 2024


Let us pray:  Holy God, open our minds and hearts so that we can hear you speak to us through the preached word.  Help us to apply what you teach us to our lives.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

 There Is Always Enough


We have talked about Jesus feeding the five thousand and Jesus walking on water for the last few weeks.  Today, the lectionary has us focusing on these stories again – but from John’s perspective.  Remember, each of the Gospel’s was written by someone different, for a different audience and a different perspective.

Today’s Gospel readings from John are perhaps two of the better-known miracle stories of Jesus: his feeding of the five thousand and his walking on water.  These stories were important for the early church.  The feeding narrative is the only miracle story that is included in all four Gospels and accounts of Jesus walking on the sea are in all the Gospels except Luke.

Many people are following Jesus because they want to see more of his miraculous healing power and hear more of his authoritative teaching.  People from all over the region are drawn to Jesus.  We talked about this – Jesus has compassion, he suffers-with the people and the people are attracted to Jesus.  They follow him everywhere. 

Jesus looks over this particular crowd, as always it’s very large.  He lifts his eyes in prayer and speaks with his disciples.  The Gospel doesn’t tell us that Jesus was teaching this crowd.  John also does not say that Jesus notices that the crowd is hungry; John doesn’t say anything about Jesus having compassion on the thousands gathered around him that day.  This is about the disciples.  He asks Philip how they can feed the crowd.  (hint:  this question is a test). 

Philip sees the complete impossibility of the situation.  There are thousands of people in the crowd.  The Gospels tell us that there were five thousand men in the crowd.  But as I said last week there were also women and children in the crowd, so it’s possible that the actual size of the crowd was double that – it’s possible there were as many as 10,000 people in the crowd that day. 10,000 people to feed.

Philip has worked the numbers; he’s a finance guy.  It would cost 8 months of wages – thousands of dollars to buy enough food to feed the crowd.  They don’t have that much money.  They can’t do it.  Philip doesn’t see – or maybe he just forgets for a moment that the miracle-working Lord is sitting right in front of him.  In fact, Jesus is the one who asked Philip the question.  But Philip can’t see Him.  Philip is overwhelmed.    Technically he’s right.  It’s impossible to feed all those people.  The need is overwhelming.  The feeding ministry is too expensive.  Philip loses out in the faith department, like anyone of us would.

By contrast, Andrew sees some hope and even shows a little faith by coming forward with a small boy and his meager provisions – five barley loaves and two fish; the traveling lunch of the poor.  Barley was the grain of the poor. It made into decent bread and bread is bread when you’re hungry.  The fish were likely sardines or other small, cheap, boney fish.  Initially, Andrew was excited – he had found some food in the crowd.  For a moment he sees hope; “Look!” he says, “Here is a boy with five small barley loves and two small fish.  Here’s some food for the crowd.”  But even Andrew’s faith doesn’t last very long.  It doesn’t take long before his common sense gets the better of him.  “Oh,” he says.  “This won’t go far among so many people.  What was I thinking?” [1]

Jesus doesn’t directly respond to either Philip or Andrew.  He doesn’t chastise them or explain anything to them.  Instead, he asks his disciples to have the people sit down and then Jesus takes the barley loaves and the two small fish and thanks God for them – he prays over the small meal they are about to share with this large crowd.  And then Jesus takes the loaves and the fish, and he passes them out to the people in the crowd.  In the Gospel of John, He doesn’t ask his disciples to do it.  Jesus passes out the food himself.  And after everyone has enough; after everyone is full; Jesus makes his way back to the disciples and he asks them to clean up.  He says, “Gather the pieces that are left over so that nothing goes to waste.”  And so the disciples wander throughout the hillside, among the thousands of people sitting around on the grass and they gather the leftovers; twelve baskets to be exact.  A basket for each disciple.  What had seemed to the disciples to be scarcity – not enough to feed the large crowd of hungry people was actually an over-abundance.  Twelve baskets of leftovers!

We don’t know how these small loaves of barley bread and two small fish were enough food to feed this huge crowd.  We know Jesus’ miracles weren’t magic.  Jesus didn’t wave a magic wand and pull a bunch of bread and fish out of a hat.  But exactly how such a meager lunch fed so many people, we don’t know.  Since none of the Gospel writers tell us, it must not matter; the how isn’t important.    What we know is that Jesus wanted his disciples to know that God is a God of abundance, not a God of scarcity.  Jesus wanted his disciples to know that there was enough for them to do what needed to be done.

Afterward, Jesus withdraws to a mountain by himself like he so often does and so when evening comes, his disciples go down to the lake, get into a boat and begin to cross the lake for Capernaum without Jesus.  It’s dark and a storm blows in.  The wind gets pretty wicked on the Sea of Galilee and the waters get rough and before they know it the boat is being tossed around on the high waves, threatening to throw them all overboard and drown them.  The miracle of feeding the large crowd gets forgotten as fear grips them.  Suddenly they see the shadows of a man approaching the boat, walking on water and they are terrified.  But Jesus says to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”  It is I. 

It is only then that they are willing to take Jesus into the boat with them.  And the moment Jesus gets in the boat, it immediately reaches the shore where they were headed.   When the disciples believe it is Jesus, they reach their destination. 

Sounds like two miracles, doesn’t it?  Jesus walks on water and after getting into the boat they immediately reach the shore.  

Do these miracles about scarcity and abundance; does letting fear block our view of Jesus, mean anything to us today?  I think they do.

Just like Philip and Andrew, sometimes we are filled with doubt because we live out of fear and see only what we don’t have. We live out of scarcity.  We are too old, we say.  We are too small.  We don’t have the money to do that.  We can’t do that.  No one will come.  It won’t work.  And so, we don’t do anything; we don’t try.  Even when we decide we are going to do something; we may not really believe it will work.  We don’t really put much effort into it.  We don’t get involved. We wait for it to fail.  

How might things be different if we worshipped and prayed and ministered out of Christ’s abundance?  If we believed big?  If we believed in Jesus’ goal of revealing God’s power through each act of our ministry?  If we believed in God’s abundant provision?  Would we be more willing to share what we have like the small boy was willing to share his small lunch of loaves and fishes and then watch Jesus multiply our gifts to meet the needs?  If we acted out of a mentality of abundance would we be more willing to provide opportunities for God to surprise us and transform our expectations? 

The “Jesus walking on water” story shows us that the disciples’ problem wasn’t their desire to have Jesus join them on their journey, but in their ability to recognize Jesus as he approached them.  Is that our problem too? 

Do we take the time to look and listen for where God has come to meet us?  Or have you already decided that He has withdrawn to a distant place and left you – and this church?   Only by opening your hearts and minds through prayer and time in the God’s Word will you be able to recognize salvation and spiritual guidance when it enters your life and the life of this church.[2]  Jesus performs the miracles.  But for each miracle he performs, he asks something of his disciples.  We cannot expect to just sit back and do nothing.  What is He calling you to do?

Surveying the great crowd, Jesus asks a question that tests the limits of the disciples’ knowledge: “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”  Clearly, whatever we have is not enough.  Yet, as this text points out, the “not enough” is not the final answer.   When placed in the hands of Jesus, what we have becomes more than enough.  With Jesus, little can become much, the few can become the many, and the weak can become strong.[3]

Both Philip and Andrew – and I would imagine the other disciples functioned out of a mentality of scarcity – we don’t have enough for all these people.  Jesus functioned out of abundance.  Look at the difference in results.

From all the Gospel reports, it’s just a “little faith” that Jesus ever expects from anyone.  It’s all he ever minimally seeks from even his very-human disciples.  “If you have faith the size of just a little mustard seed, you can say to this mountain here, ‘Move over!’ and it will move over, and there will be nothing impossible for you,” Jesus told his disciples.

I wonder what we might be able to accomplish through Him with just a little faith?  How courageous can we be?  Amen.

                 



[1] Bruner, Frederick Dale.  The Gospel of John:  A Commentary.    Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans Publishing Co.  2012.  John 6:1-24. P357-362.  Key ideas and thought fragments.
[2] Feasting on the Word, Year B: Volume 3.  Karen Marie Yust.  p288.
[3] Feasting on the Word, Year B: Volume 3.  Cheryl Bridges Johns.  P287 & 289.

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Reverend Debbie Cato
Mark 6:45-52
Fairfield Community Church
July 21. 2024


Loving God, Open our ears and our hearts to your teachings, that we may be strengthened in our faith and equipped for ministry in your name. Amen.

 

 Do Not Be Afraid

 

 This passage is like the passage we looked at on June 23rd  from Mark 4:35-41.  I’m sure you remember my sermon!!  In that passage, Jesus was already in the boat.  In fact, he was sound asleep while the disciples struggled to handle the boat in the vicious storm.  The disciples woke him up in a frenzy and Jesus said 3 words:  “Peace!  Be Still!” and the storm immediately stopped.  Today’s scripture is another example of how Jesus is with us in the storms of life.

Once again Jesus was teaching –5,000 people men. (Women and children were not counted in those days.)  Scholars estimate there would have been around 10,000 people including the women and children.  When Jesus realized they were hungry, He fed them with five small barley loaves and two small fish that a young boy contributed.

After the people were fed, Jesus had his disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd.  After Jesus said good-bye to everyone, he went up on the mountain to pray, as was his habit.

Jesus must have been on the mountain praying for some time because evening came – it was dark.  Now, we find Jesus standing alone on the side of the sea.  He could see the disciples and he realized they were straining to control the boat because an adverse wind had whipped-up on the sea.  It sounds like Jesus stood watching them for some time, because the passage says that when he began walking toward them on the sea, it was early the next morning.

The disciples were straining on the oars.  They were caught in a storm and rowing using their own strength was no longer working.  The waves and wind were furious and the resistance against the oars was more than they could handle.  Perhaps they were even thinking about quitting because they were tired and running out of strength.  They’ve been in the boat since early evening and now it’s the next day – we don’t know how long the storm had been raging.  Perhaps all night, but we don’t know.

There are many times in my life when I’ve felt as if the problems and pressures of my life were like a vicious storm – knocking me down.  Plenty of times when I felt like I was rowing on furious waters and couldn’t get away from it all.  Like I was stuck in a storm of problems and pressures, and I was running out of strength to keep going.  Have you ever felt that way?

I think about the people we pray for with cancer and other serious health problems.  I think about those who are battling tremendous physical pain, fighting it each and every day.  I think about the families of the teenagers that were killed last week and what a whirlwind of grief they are feeling.  I think about people suffering in the heat, those who are hungry every day, those who work two jobs but still cannot afford rent, those who are house-less.  We don’t have to look far to find storms raging – in our lives and others. Storms that have zapped our strength, our resolve, our very souls.

I think the way Mark is telling the story in chapter 6 of his Gospel, he’s reminding us once again - we are not alone.  Jesus is there.  It may feel as if he is far off, standing on the shore, just watching.  But He will come to where we are, he will reach us as we are – regardless of what brutal storm we are battling. We can cry out – “Help, I can’t do this alone” and He will come to us.

We don’t have to have our life all-together, we don’t have to be in control of our psyche.  Jesus doesn’t care if we are a mess, if we are overwhelmed, angry, grieving, or scared.  He is there.  Saying, “Do not be afraid.  It is I. I am with you in this storm.”

In our story, when Jesus gets into the boat with his disciples, the winds immediately stop.  The water is at peace, no longer pushing against the oars.  Water is no longer splashing into the boat, the wind tossing them about with no regard.  The sea is calm.

Now, I have never had my problems, my crises, immediately go away when I have given up figuring it out on my own and called out to Jesus.  Problems and situations are still there.  It is still hard.

But what changes is me.  I no longer feel alone.  I am no longer carrying the burden all on my own.  I feel a strange sense of peace in the midst of my situation.  I’m able to let go – just a little and pray about what’s going on – trying my best to give it to God.  At the very least, I know I’m not in it alone.  Jesus is with me.  That’s the peace I feel. The sense of fear and hopelessness lessens. I have even found that I often see a solution or at least reconcile the situation in my mind or come to accept it instead of fighting it. The problem is still there but isn’t as big a part of my life.  It isn’t controlling me.  It’s not as overwhelming.  I don’t feel as alone.

The phrase "do not be afraid" appears often in the Bible.  Some sources say you can find it 365 times in the Bible, which is one for each day of the year. Some say that this is a daily reminder from God to live fearlessly and to focus on him and trust him.

But other sources say it’s much less – which I think are more accurate - say the actual phrase “Do not be afraid” is in Scripture 71 times. They say all the others are about fear but do not specially say “Do not be afraid.”  I have not counted them myself.  But, even if it’s only 71 times, that is enough to see that it is an important message. We can be afraid or nervous walking into a new chapter of our lives because of the unknown or we may fear certain things, places and situations. But amidst the fear, God promises to never leave us or forsake us.

The Psalms prove we don’t even have to be nice!  We don’t have to choose our words carefully or be a master at prayer.  We can completely bear our soul.  We can be angry, we can be hopeless – God doesn’t care.  He can take it.  He already knows our hearts anyway.  Our prayer can be as simple as “help me.”  Honestly, we don’t even have to speak.  We can just sit and focus on God’s presence. It’s enough.  God knows.

We don’t have to sink on our own.  Something happens when we give it to God in prayer.  God is there.  He says, “Do not be afraid.  It is I.”  Amen.

Sunday, July 14, 2024

What the World Needs Now

Reverend Debbie Cato
Mark 6:30-44
Fairfield Community Church
July 14.2024


Holy God, Prepare our hearts and minds for the hearing of your Word. Open us to your truth. Humble us to your ways. Amen.

 

What the World Needs Now

 

 While Jesus invites his disciples to rest, you’ll notice that they don’t get that opportunity. But Jesus sees the crowds and their multitude of unmet needs. Jesus has compassion on them. So instead of resting, Jesus responds to the needs of the throngs coming to them. Jesus puts his plans/ his need for rest temporarily on hold and goes out to them, healing, curing, feeding, and teaching all who are in need.

Even though Jesus was tired, even though he and his disciples were heading off to a well-deserved rest, he put his own plans on hold to meet the needs around him.  He did this because he had compassion for the crowds that had gathered around him. What does it mean to have compassion?  We hear that word often in the Bible.  Jesus is often described as “having compassion.”  Compassion is an adjective we use to describe God.  I often begin prayers with “Compassionate God.”  Perhaps someone has described you as being compassionate.  But what does that really mean? To have compassion? 

Compassion is not feeling sorry for someone or having pity on them.  Pity is something you imagine or feel from far off.  Pity is an us and them thing.  Poor them, we say.  We are removed from the pain and suffering. We don’t feel anything when we pity someone.  Something is happening to someone else, not us and we may be sorry, but we don’t feel anything.  It doesn’t affect us. 

Compassion literally means with-suffering.  Compassion is unconditional solidarity with the ones you feel compassion toward.  You cannot have compassion unless you suffer with those to whom you refer.  You feel someone’s suffering with them – as if you are indeed there with them; suffering with them; feeling their hurt; feeling their pain.  You can relate to them.  When Jesus had compassion on the crowds that gathered around him, he felt the pain of their hunger; their illnesses/disabilities; their brokenness.  Jesus felt with them.  He had compassion.

It’s no wonder the Gospel of Mark speaks of people rushing and begging for an opportunity to be made whole through an encounter with Jesus.  It’s no wonder people were attracted to Him.  Mark 6:55 says, “They ran through-out that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.  And wherever he went – into villages, towns, or the countryside, they placed the sick in the marketplaces.  They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”   People in all conditions were drawn to Jesus because of His compassion. 

Are you drawn to Jesus because of his compassion?  Does it bring you comfort to know that the God you worship is a God of compassion?  How does it feel to know that God suffers with you?  That Jesus feels your hurt?  He feels your pain?  Have you ever thought about that?

When you hear these stories in Scripture of the throngs of people who follow Jesus and bring their needs and their sick friends to him for healing, are you reminded that you can bring your needs to Jesus?  Do you trust that He is there for you?  That He has compassion for you?

What do you need to feel whole; to be happy, to lead a fulfilling life?  What do you need to make a difference in the world, to feel like you belong, to have a place to call your own?

When I moved from Tacoma to Spokane Valley,  I had to down-size.  Have any of you down-sized?  Well, I moved from a 2 bedroom very large apartment with lots of storage to a mother-in-law unit that was 724 square feet.  It didn’t have a lot of storage.  Now, I’ll tell you something about myself.  I’m very sentimental so I keep everything that my daughters give me, make for me ….  Anything that is “special.” (Now it’s my grandchildren.) I also LOVE books!  It’s sort of a danger of being a pastor.  I had a lot of books.

Because I was down-sizing, I had to decide what I “needed” and what I “wanted” because I didn’t have room to keep everything.  Luckily – or not!, I had one of my daughters to help.  Tracy is not as sentimental as I am!  She’s very practical.  It was hard to do.  She would say, “Mother, do you really need this?” Or, she would make the decision on her own – “you don’t need this” and into the donation pile it would go.

It was really hard for me.  I gave a lot of things away, including 8 boxes of beloved books.  I developed the mantra, “Do I need this, or do I just want this?” Or even, do I think I need this? It was amazing how little I actually needed.

I think life is like that.  We have so many choices that our stuff gets in our way.  It’s hard to know what we really need, and what we just want.  We fill our lives with so many wants – things the world (or advertisers!) tell us we “need” that our lives get over-crowded with stuff. We begin to think we need things when we really don’t.  It can become hard to remember what it is we need to feel happy and fulfilled.

In today’s passage and others like it in Mark, the needs seem clear: people who are sick want to be healed. People who are hungry want to be fed. People who are isolated and ostracized seek a touch of kindness. 

But there are some less tangible needs in evidence as well. In fact, Jesus first responds to the crowds because they seem lost, like “sheep without a shepherd.” Here he doesn’t cure or feed but instead reaches out and meets them, teaching and preaching and opening them up to the power and possibility of life in God’s kingdom.[1]

I’m not sure things have changed that much.  I think people still want to be healed.  There are plenty of people with obvious physical and mental challenges that need healing, just as there were in Jesus’ day.  But we don’t have to look far to see the brokenness that needs Jesus’ healing touch as well.  The hate that just seems to grow and grow; the disregard for God’s creation, the lack of integrity in leadership. 

People are still hungry today.  Literally and figuratively.  According to Feeding America, more than 13 million children in the United States faced hunger in 2022, which is about one in five children. The USDA estimate that 7.3 million children, or 10% of all children in the country, lived in food-insecure households in 2022. Food insecurity means that households don't have enough food for every family member to live a healthy life.[2] The official poverty rate in the United States in 2022 was 11.5%. This means that 37.9 million people were living in poverty.[3] The United States is the richest country in the world yet the rate of poverty in our country is quickly increasing as corporate greed increases. 

People are lonely and ostracized and yearn for a touch of kindness.  Immigrants far from home.  The elderly safely tucked into nursing homes with families too busy to visit.  Families sitting at dinner with iPhones instead of conversations.  Kids may have 1,000 Facebook friends but how many “real” friends do they have?

Jesus wants us to come to him.  What do you need?  What do you need to live a more abundant life?  A life with purpose and meaning?  A life that gives you a sense of belonging?

What do you need to feel whole; to be happy, to lead a fulfilling life?  What do you need to make a difference in the world, to feel like you belong, to have a place to call your own?

 

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus calls this the Kingdom of God. In John, he often describes the Kingdom of God as abundant life. No matter what you name it, we all want it, we all sense something more is out there for us, and we’d all desperately like some help living into the kingdom world of the abundant life Jesus offers. 

 

What do we need as individuals; as households; as a community to flourish as God’s children put on this planet for a purpose?

 

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”[4]  He’s inviting us – he’s inviting you and me.  When we go to Jesus with our real needs, he responds with compassion.  He feels with us.  He suffers with us.  Jesus heals, he feeds, he touches.  He is with us.  We just have to ask.   Amen.



[2] Feeding America and the USDA
[3] Census Bureau 2022.
[4] Matthew 19:14