Good Morning Friends,
We have all learned in school that one plus one equals two. It is still a fundamental truth… true yesterday, today and it will be tomorrow as well. But this morning I want you to understand that spiritually this is not always the case, and we need to adapt our thinking in a way to change our lives to understand this about how things work together. Let me give you an example. During the pandemic I have been making muffins and sometimes I put a topping on them that can actually be eaten separately as a distinct item. I can have a yellow muffin base and a chocolate topping as two flavors or mix them together and make chocolate muffins as something uniquely different. In one case, one plus one equals two and in the other, one plus one mixed together equals one very tasty one, where the yellow cake and the chocolate topping ceases to be, and a new muffin is born. Today we look at this idea of feeding on the word of God in a way where the Spirit can lead us to a better experience of what it means to be one with Jesus. Our text comes from the miracle of the loaves and fishes and the Old Testament guidance that when we give to all, something is always left over. But the message is also linked to a passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians about what it means to be one more like a melting pot than a tossed salad. Of course, part of the challenge of grasping the message relates to whether we are acting in faith or waiting to see what benefit might come our way Eucharistically. The deeper question is our motivation, whether academic, emotional, temporal or eternal. And that begs today’s question about having the right ingredients but also having the right process. Maybe the Spirit of the text can guide us in understanding even though there is no magic formula but for the grace of God. Still, I ask what may be obvious to some and confounding to others, Why Are We All Not Following Jesus In Unity Even Though We Are Well Fed?
Scripture: After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
John 6:1-15 (NRSV)
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6 (NRSV)
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.'” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
2 Kings 4:42-44 (NRSV)
Message: Sometimes a little thing makes all the difference in the world not only in baking but in how we follow Jesus too.
Let us contemplate a wise response to today’s question against the backdrop of the miracle of multiplication, when a small boy’s lunch is leveraged by God to take what looked like a fast and turned it into a feast. But think this through for there is a deep message here about being in unity. Here we have the bread of life being broken and the fish symbolizing the nations and the Christian movement to the world being revealed. Here we have the makings of an army for God fighting the good fight for a common cause. Interestingly the Greek word for ‘fish’ is ‘ichthus’ and forms an acrostic from its letters: Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Savior. Now I doubt those at the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 would be thinking about that at all, but it in retrospect makes sense. It would seem in this reading that the church, if it is about the church, needs to grow with the same dynamics of the feeding of the 5000. The flock needs to be fed and everyone is important so there needs to be an abundance to transform the world. You see, Jesus is concerned about the fragments of what is left as well…all the broken stuff. The message here is about yielding to the will of God every moment of every day, every little part of it…realizing our work is to love enough to give what we have and God to bring the harvest feast as an act of creation that binds us together as a single unit. It is not about some big worship services. We are to allow God to mold us, to refine us into the image of His Son…every bit of us…day by day and moment by moment. If we give the gift of who we are, the Lord will use it. Act in faith and you will see the waiting is over. Believe in the plan and promises of God. Be all in. Trust and humbly obey for that brings unity.
And So, today we have the story of a creative miracle that is massive and eucharistic, and the fact is that in sheer numbers the feeding of the 5000, reached perhaps 20,000 people when the women and children are counted. The setting is at a time when Jesus was exhausted. The disciples were exhausted, and they sought isolation as perhaps Jesus did as well. John the Baptist had been beheaded and many of the religious leaders wanted Jesus’ head too. But Jesus was an evangelist and wanted to reach those who might hear the good news, so he turned his attention to them when he saw them coming. They would get what they came for and more. But the problem was that they were not coming for the right reasons. What drew them was not God’s Kingdom. They were not seeking repentance or sound doctrine, or a true understanding of what God was doing. They did not long for forgiveness or mercy in the hereafter. What drew them was that they sought healing and food for they all had health issues and they had heard the stories of what Jesus could do and they all fought the fight of putting food on the table each day. The upcoming Passover would have increased the numbers too. But it would seem that these followers were drawn by the temporal desires of healings and the free food and not for the deeper reasons. So too the religious leaders in Jerusalem were motivated by the wrong reasons. And they would not deny the miracles of Jesus, who could when thousands had participated in the events and the events had been replicated. But they would deny and reject the miracle worker himself. Friends, this miracle is presented as evidence of the deity of Christ in all four Gospels as a precursor to an even greater miracle. This story is about understanding the identity of Jesus… not as an earthy king yet but as fully man and fully God engaging us in the miracle of the cross and us being touched though revelation of his identity as both Savior and Lord melded into one. Not one or the other but both as one. Our job is to act in faith believing on this in the face of uncertainty. Our job is to keep a focus on Christ considering the purity of our own motivations and humbly submitting to Christ’s rule in a reality that transforms us to live life abundantly and hopefully in unity with Christ.
Pray we realize that Jesus is enough. Pray we realize that our inadequacy makes room for God’s sufficiency. Pray we turn all the fragments of our lives over to God so Jesus might use them all for the glory of His Kingdom. Pray we pick our battles wisely and not only make the right decisions but the right actions not just for the moment but for the long term. Pray we give what we possess to Jesus. Pray we realize that if the work we do called church is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing we can do to stop it. Pray we are not found fighting against God. Pray we realize that God will be what God will be and if we have been called to do something for God, we better do it to the best of our ability. Pray our little light be part of the new things God is about to do even as Jesus baptizes with Spirit and with Fire. Pray we realize that God’s mathematics extend beyond what we learned in elementary school to a reality that transforms us into something new.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 