August 3 - The Miraculous Power of Jesus.

Let’s look at the gospel again, and see if Matthew’s point comes through. Try to picture the scene in your minds - concentrate on the visual images. I’d tell you to close your eyes to visualize it, but I fear some of you would not open them again until we sing a hymn.

The scene opens as a crowd begins to gather to hear Jesus preach. You can picture them, coming individually and in groups, trying to decide where to sit. Then Jesus and the twelve, his assistants arrive; - people begin to look in their direction as they go to the front. The crowd becomes quiet as Jesus welcomes them and begins to speak to them of the Kingdom of God. He teaches them many things, explaining the Old Testament scriptures and telling them stories. After a while, Jesus concludes his teaching, and then begins the prayers - he prays for those who are sick, or have other needs.

When the prayers are concluded, it almost seems that the meeting is over, - a short break - while Jesus speaks privately to his disciples, and the some in the crowd begin to talk among themselves. Then a disciple goes into the crowd, and brings a boy, who has five loaves and two fish. They take these forward to Jesus and he tells the crowd to be seated. Jesus takes the loaves, and, lifting his eyes to heaven, he blesses them with prayer, breaks the loaves, and gives them to the disciples to distribute to the people. The disciples offer the bread to the people, and all receive. Then they gather up what remains, and the crowd is dismissed with His blessing.

Did those visual images suggest something familiar to you?

The gathering and welcome

Teaching from the scriptures, followed by prayer

Bread being brought forward, and then blessed with prayer, broken and distributed.

Matthew expected us, when we hear the story, to see ourselves - our Sunday gathering - reflected in that story. We are to see ourselves as like those who came to Jesus long ago. Our worship is simply another gathering of disciples for a meal with Jesus. We are continuing the tradition Jesus established with His disciples during His earthly ministry. This gospel is one part of the explanation of why Christians worship in the manner they do on Sunday morning. I should add that this is not the only biblical text that suggests this outline for worship, but one text is enough for one sermon.

Of course that is not the only message in this gospel. In Vacation Bible School this week we’ve been studying the Miraculous power of Jesus. Today’s gospel in another example of the miraculous power of Jesus in the face of a difficult situation. But it’s not just about Jesus. The disciples are integral to the exercise of His power. In fact, they are indispensable - He couldn’t do it without them. The disciples diagnosis the need. Some of Jesus’ compassion for the crowds rubbed off on His disciples. They become concerned about the lateness of the hour and the lack of food for the crowd.

But when they suggest Jesus send them to the surrounding villages to purchase food, he clearly has other plans. His instructions are decisive: They need not go away. You give them something to eat. Don’t tell me what you don’t have, show me what you do have. Bring them to me.

All they have are five loaves and two fish. The resources the disciples can muster are meager, but Jesus helps them to discover that such resources are sufficient. In his hands they become more than enough.

In faith, they follow Jesus’ instructions, first organizing the crowd and getting them seated - they give what they have - then later, they distribute the meal, never questioning whether the bread and fish will run out before they are done passing it out. And finally, they clean up, gathering the leftovers. They carry out the orders of Jesus - orders that seem preposterous and beyond credulity.

That’s faith. Trusting that Jesus will provide, even when you don’t see how that could be possible. The disciples kept giving out the bread and fish, returning to Jesus to get more to distribute - and he never ran out. The crispness of their response, and their unquestioning obedience makes them models of faith. Jesus didn’t brief them before hand - didn’t even say, trust me, I’ve got a plan and this will work. Rather they had to have faith in Jesus even though they didn’t know what he would do.

That’s the point. Jesus wanted them to do the impossible - the kind of thing that could only be possible by the power of God. The disciples initial response - send the crowd away, there’s no way we can feed them - is an example of thinking in human terms, keenly aware of their limitations.. From that perspective, they were right.

But they were thinking too small. As they calculated the cost, they neglected to factor in one critical figure - Jesus. Did not the presence of the Son of God open new possibilities? Was it not possible that with Jesus help, they could do something truly amazing?

Yet we shouldn’t judge the disciples too harshly. For we too have seen the power of God - and still we fail to recognize the possibilities. We miss opportunities to serve because we rely too heavily on our own strength and resources. When we count the cost, we neglect to figure in Jesus. Like the disciples, we too would send the people away, missing the opportunity to serve - because we lack the faith to ask for a miracle.

The lesson:

As individuals and as a congregation, we can’t only evaluate the challenges we face in human terms. We have to factor Jesus into our thinking. That means both seeking the guidance of His Spirit and also trusting in His power.

That means more than just turning the problem over to Jesus and hoping he’ll take care of it. The disciples didn’t just sit back and wait for him to take care of the situation. Rather they had to work – actually to do more than they anticipated. That happened because they followed His guidance, beginning with the command You feed them, then offering their meager resources – using all they had – and then trusting that Jesus would stretch their resources as they proceeded to feed the crowd.

Tony Campolo, a popular speaker, was invited to a women's conference where he was to give a major address. These women were being challenged to raise several thousand dollars for a mission project goal. While Campolo was sitting on the dais, the chairperson turned to him and asked him if he would pray for God's blessing as they considered their individual responses to the goal.

Campolo stood and--to the utter amazement of everyone present – graciously said "no." He approached the microphone and said, "You already have all the resources necessary to complete this mission project right here within this room. It would be inappropriate to ask for God's blessing, when in fact God has already blessed you with the abundance and the means to achieve this goal. The necessary gifts are in your hands. As soon as we take the offering and underwrite this mission project, we will thank God for freeing us to be the generous, responsible and accountable stewards that we're called to be as Christian disciples." And they did.

Tony Campolo to hit the nail right on the thumb! Jesus says, "You feed them!" And we can! he assures us, “If you will begin to fulfill the mission I have given you – if you will use all the resources I have given you – acting in faith – then I will provide whatever is lacking.” There are still hungry multitudes - people hungry for their next meal, or hungry for God - hungry for grace, or hungry for a chance to change their lives. God promises to do the feeding; all we need is to provide the resources.

Rather than scratching our heads and throwing up our hands in futility when faced with the enormity of task – the mission He has given us - Jesus invites us instead to take inventory What do we have to offer? More than we think. Trust Jesus to multiply us and our resources to carry out His mission. Have faith in the miraculous power of Jesus.