PRAYER: God of abundance, we get so caught up on all the things we think we have to accomplish first, that we forget that you are the source of all blessings. And so, remind us today that you call us to be your hands and feet – not someday, but today. Now. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We get very future-focused when it comes to our “purpose.” We’ll help one day. We’ll have enough one day. We will be more prepared one day. There will be more time one day. We often see our purpose as something we find later. Something that we’ll get to… later.
After we get more education, we’ll be able to do what we’re supposed to do. Once our schedule gets easier to juggle, we’ll be able to do… whatever… I’ve got this stiffness in my knee, but after I heal, or as soon as the perfect circumstances present themselves, I’ll get to do what I really should be doing.
Sometimes we make excuses because we just don’t think we have the ability to do what needs to be done. We get into a habit of just trying to tread water with greater efficiency so that we can better multi-task and do all the other things we have to do in order to achieve our purpose.
This mentality sometimes means that we put off living with the sense of meaning that our purpose is supposed to offer. But what if, right now, you already have most of what you need to make a difference and live with purpose? What if, right now is the time that God is calling you to your purpose?
When Jesus and the disciples show up in our Gospel reading this morning, they have two very different perspectives. I think it’s very interesting how people can look at the same thing and see two completely different things.
The disciples looked out around them and saw nothing but scarcity. They saw a deserted place. They saw the lateness of the hour. The only thing they saw in abundance was hungry people. They looked at all those hungry people and said, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”
Jesus looked out around him and saw abundance. He knew that there was enough for everyone to get something to eat, so he told his disciples
“They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” He told them to bring him the five loaves and two fish. He blessed them and gave them back to his disciples to give to the crowds. Five thousand people ate and had twelve baskets of food leftover.
Jesus saw that they had need. Rather than sending them away, he encouraged the disciples not to wait, but to give of what they had in the moment — and to believe it was enough to meet their needs.
Jesus performed a miracle here, we can all see that, but I’m not sure if we all see the same thing when we look at what that miracle was.
Some people view this story as Jesus, the almighty son of God, taking what paltry offerings there were and somehow producing an abundance of food out of thin air. Jesus IS the son of God, the Messiah, so if he wants to break the laws of physics, I’m sure he could. He walked on water, after all. He filled up the disciples’ net with fish after they had been out all night and had caught nothing. He raised Lazarus from the dead; he raised himself from the dead. So, why not?
On the other hand, some people view this story from a different perspective. Jesus created community. Jesus brought people together. Jesus got everyone who had much to share with everyone who had nothing. When I read this story, I am reminded of the story of Stone Soup. Do you know the story of Stone Soup? This is an old tale about three travelers who are entering a village. But as soon as they show up, everyone in the village closes and locks their doors. The visitors go from door to door asking for just a little bit of food, but everyone says that they have none to share.
So the travelers go into the village square and loudly proclaim that since no one else has food, that they will make Stone Soup. Somehow they got a big pot – maybe someone from the village lent it to them – and they filled it with water and put the pot on a fire. Then, they went down to the river and got three large stones. With as much fanfare as the three of them could muster, they put the stones into the water and declared that this was going to be the most delicious Stone Soup… of course, to be really good Stone Soup, they would need to put some meat in the broth, but since no one had any….
But then, one person emerged from their home – curious – and said, “well, I do have a scrap or two of meat I could spare.”
They put the meat into the soup and said, “Oh, NOW it’s going to be really delicious…
Of course, true Stone Soup has vegetables in it, but since no one has any to spare…
But then one other person came out of their house with a small handful of carrots, and then another with some potatoes. Still another came out with other vegetables, while one more person came out with some more meat.
Before anyone realized what happened, the entire community had a delicious feast, when just a little while earlier, everyone had said that they had nothing to share.
Think about our hyper-polarized culture today. We have divided ourselves into factions, one side against the other. We’ve stopped listening to one another; instead we talk over one another. We have become isolated in our own silos. Everyone’s out for themselves. I’m sure that if Jesus were so inclined, he could create food out of thin air right now that would satisfy everyone. I would like to think that all of us in this room would agree that even though our culture is deeply wounded, Jesus is the salve. But the healing that Jesus offers is not him making food come out of nowhere. The salve that Jesus offers is us, as a community. As a re-presentation of God’s love.
Which do you suppose is the greater miracle: that Jesus created a feast out of thin air, or got all of those people in their individual silos to share their resources with one another? Which would be the miracle today that can offer healing to our fractured world?
Could Jesus make food mysteriously appear out of thin air? Sure he could. Suddenly 5,000 people would be fed, but what would the disciples learn from that experience? What would the people learn from that experience? What do WE learn from that experience?
No. Jesus taught his disciples to operate in an economy of abundance instead of an economy of scarcity. This is the very Kingdom of God being lived out in a very real, human way. Sharing with others out of our abundance knowing that ultimately, God is the provider.
As we consider our purpose today, I believe that we have to view this story as one which demonstrates the generosity of the Holy Spirit being manifested within people who then began sharing all they had, which then provided food for everyone. That all of those people could be transformed in such a way… That’s the miracle! And it would do us well to worship and praise God for showing us that miracle of generosity… that miracle of sharing… that miracle of community.
Because that is a miracle that we can duplicate. That is a miracle that Jesus teaches us that we can perform ourselves. That is a miracle that we can show our neighbors, our family, our community. That is a miracle that is sharable by us all.
There is enough food on this planet right now in July 2024 to feed every single human being, with plenty leftover. There is more than enough food, but we continue to live in an attitude of scarcity. We don’t have enough. We can’t because of this reason or the other. But Jesus is telling us that we do have enough and we can live into the purpose that God has given us.
The miracle that Jesus is teaching us – and this is the miracle that we can repeat over and over again – is to see the humanity in others. That’s what he did in that isolated place that day. Think about the people in that place who had nothing to eat and think about how they must have felt to be fed. How it must have felt to them to be seen for who they are, to be seen as worthy of a piece of bread… a piece of fish. See the humanity in others as they share their stories, as they share their hopes and dreams. See the humanity in others as they share their vulnerabilities. That is how we begin to stand in solidarity with our neighbor.
To discover our purpose, we must not focus only on the future, but also pay attention to the present. What do we have to offer right now, and who needs it? When we offer what we have now, we find – often to our surprise – that our purpose begins to come into focus.
Where do your gifts align with the needs you see in the lives of others or the world around you? What opportunity do you have to help someone else right now? Exploring these questions can help us think about how God wants to begin using us today, rather than putting it off. Where do the gifts of this church align with the needs we see in the lives of the world around us?
Rather than view this church through a lens of what we don’t have, let’s view this church through a lens of what God is empowering us to do! We can sit around all day and lament about the fact that there aren’t enough people in the pews on Sunday. We can get despondent about the average age of the congregation being higher now than it ever was. We can look at the church’s bank balance and use that as an excuse of why we can’t do what God is calling us to do…
OR… we can rejoice that God is still telling us to feed our neighbor. We can rejoice in the resources we DO have and in the gifts and talents and the joy that we DO possess as disciples of Jesus Christ. We have more than enough. What would it mean for us as a church to recognize the blessings that we hold instead of worrying about what we don’t have?
It seems so simple. It seems like something we should all be doing anyway. But we often let ourselves get in the way. We put ourselves first. That kind of response that allows others to be seen for themselves… When we respond in kindness and compassion, when we sit and be present with others and allow them the space to be themselves, that kind of response is indeed rare. So rare, that you might even call it a miracle. But it’s a miracle that we are all capable of duplicating. It is a miracle that can be the purpose to which God has called us all.
Be that miracle. That’s how we find our purpose.
To God be the glory.
