7. Sunday after Pentecost, 07/31/2011

Sermon on Matthew 14:13-21, by Richard O. Johnson

¹³Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. ¹⁵When it was evening, the disciples came to him 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." ¹⁶Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." ¹⁷They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." ¹⁸And he said, "Bring them here to me." ¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. -New Revised Standard Version-

"When it was evening, the disciples came to him 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. Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.' They replied, ‘We have nothing . . .'

"What is it that Jesus is doing with these poor disciples on a pleasant summer evening? There are perhaps 20,000 here-I know it says 5,000, but then it says that's just the men, not counting women and children. How are the disciples going to feed so many? Is Jesus just playing with them, teasing them? Is he testing them? Well, a bit of each, perhaps, but more important, he is teaching them-teaching them something about faith, and teaching them something about stewardship. And of course he is teaching us as well. What is the lesson?

Everything comes from God

I suppose his first point is that everything we have comes from God. Oh, you've heard that before-but look how cleverly we find it in this story! The disciples say, ‘We have nothing (but five loaves and two fish). The emphasis is on the nothing! In their mind, you see, they don't have what it takes to feed these hungry people. In a sense, they are denigrating or talking down the resources that they do have. "It's nothing," they say. "We have nothing."

How often is that the human response! "I can't do that. I don't have enough money. I'm not smart enough. I'm not talented enough. I have nothing." Compare it to the catechism: "I believe that God has created me and all that exists. He has given me and still preserves my body and soul with all their powers. God provides me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all I need from day to day." All I need from day to day. That's just what these disciples need to learn, you see. God has already provided them with all they need. If they would believe that, if they would trust that Jesus would not ask them to do something unless he had already provided them with all they need. But no. "We have nothing here . . . We can't do that."

But God provides us with all we need. The first lesson we must take from this familiar story is that what we have, all we have, all we need-comes from God. It will not do to complain that it isn't enough! What we have comes from God-it is enough!

Give it back

But there is a second lesson. What we have comes from God-but we are asked to give it back to him. "God gives so that you can." God's gifts are given to you so that you can learn how to give them back. I suppose most of the parents here went through the stage of giving their children something every Sunday morning to put into the offering plate. We do that because we want to teach the kids about giving. And it's there in the lesson! The disciples have been given five loaves and two fish, and Jesus tells them, "Bring them to me."

Frances Ridley Havergal was a young English woman, daughter of an Anglican pastor. She was chronically ill most of her life, and she was not a woman blessed with wonderful gifts of any kind. Yet she desired to give what she had back to Christ. She had a passion for missions. One day she determined that she really had no need of jewelry. She packed it all up, all save a couple of pieces with some sentimental value, and shipped it off to the Church Missionary Society, and asked them to dispose of it and use the proceeds for their work. "I had no idea I had such a jeweler's shop," she wrote to her friend. "Nearly fifty pieces are being packed off . . . I never packed a box with such pleasure.

It's easy to say, "I have nothing." But when we recognize that God has, in fact, given us wonderful gifts, then the next step is to give them back. Frances Ridley Havergal learned the pleasure of giving back those gifts-and not just material things. I said she wasn't blessed with wonderful talent, but what she had she gave back. She wrote verses-most of them pretty mediocre poetry, but a few have become much loved by the church. She wrote this, for instance:

Take my life, and let it be

Consecrated, Lord, to thee;

take my moments and my days;

let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move

At the impulse of thy love.

Take my fee, and let them be

Swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing,

Always, only, for my King.

Take my lips, and let them be

Filled with messages from thee.

Take my silver and my gold;

not a mite would I withhold.

Take my intellect, and use

Every power as thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it thine;

It shall be no longer mine.

Take my heart, it is then own;

It shall be thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour

At thy feet its treasure-store.

Take myself, and I will be

Ever, only, all for thee.

The second lesson this story gives us is what it means to give back to God all the things he has given us-our silver and our gold, yes, but also our moments and days, our hands and feet, our voice and intellect, our heart and will and love. "Bring them to me," the Lord says.

He gives them back again

Then there is a third lesson. We have God's gifts, we bring them to him and give them to him, and then he gives them back again. "He blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd."

In my family there is a story that I like to tell. My great-grandfather's uncle, Captain Billy Johnson, lived in Texas, in an area that was a common route for pioneers traveling farther west. They often stopped over there, looking for a place to spend the night and perhaps to find some food and water.

One summer there was a drought in that country, and the wells were drying up. Many people stopped offering water to strangers, but not Captain Billy. It may have been only half a pail that he gave to a traveler, but it was always at least that much. And that summer, they say, Captain Billy's well was the only one in the county that never ran dry.

God gives us great and wonderful gifts-"food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all we need from day to day." The lesson he wants us to learn is that of giving back to him-silver and gold, hands and feet, voice and intellect, giving back our life so that it may be consecrated to him. When we do so, he gives it back to us yet again.

The incredible circle of giving

It is a strange way that God works with us, is it not? We are always receiving from God, and always giving back, in one way or another. We receive, and we give. We give, and we receive. We bring these offerings to the altar, and then moments later we are receiving-"this is my body, given for you." Receiving, giving, giving, receiving, all bound up in one incredible circle.

The five year old came into the pastor's office on Saturday afternoon with an armload of daisies, so big she was hardly visible behind them. They were from her garden, she said, and she wanted to share them with the church. The pastor was young, and perhaps not very wise. "There are so many!" he exclaimed. "Don't you want to keep some of them for yourself?" Oh, no," she replied confidently. "These are the kind that the more you pick, the more you grow."

In God's wonderful economy, that's how it is with everything! The more you give to God, and to others in God's name, the more you receive. The disciples learned that lesson-oh, so dramatically! Five loaves, two fish, 20,000 people-and twelve baskets left over. Ands all this giving God does "out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, though I do not deserve it. Therefore I surely ought to thank and praise, serve and obey him"-and I surely ought to give, and give, and give again what God has given me, to spend myself, not count the cost! If you don't think so, ask those disciples, each one lugging home a basket of what was left!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Rev. Richard O. Johnson
Grass Valley, CA, USA
E-Mail: roj@nccn.net

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