Enough

Sermon: Feb 19th 2023

Enough: Matthew 14:13-21

Of all the miracle stories told in the gospels, the story of the sharing of loaves and fishes is told a total of six times (twice in Matthew; twice in Mark; once in Luke; and once in John). This tells us something…..mainly that the lessons of this story are significant (foundational). There is something to pay attention to here. There is something central to the core message of the gospel. Provision – Plenty – Enough – Sharing. These ideas, we might call them “spiritual laws of the universe” are all wrapped up in these various iterations told in the story of the loaves and fishes.

Now I imagine if we all took a moment and tried to recall family rules from our childhood (either implied or explicit) we could come up with few. Some of them made sense….maybe some of them didn’t. I remember one of the rules my mom insisted on was …. “It was super rude to eat in front of your friends unless you were willing to share what you had. No eating the afternoon snack in the presence of your friends unless you were planning on sharing.” My mom certainly wasn’t thinking of the story of the loaves and fishes, but essentially her little rule captures the basic principle of “sharing.”

Sharing, and specifically the sharing a basic life sustaining elements….like food…is really the foundation of a functioning social structure. In tribal society the principles of sharing were essential for everyone’s survival. Everyone depended upon everyone else for the survival of the tribe.

Over a few short millennia we humans have moved from small tribal groups to larger city-state (tribes) to even larger nation state (tribes). And in 2023, we find ourselves stumbling toward a new global human chapter…but we don’t know exactly what it is. We are now in an era where we are faced (whether we like it or not) with the reality that we are globally and ecologically interconnected and interdependent. A tribe of one. All eight billion of us! And not unlike the disciples of Jesus we might ask, “Who will feed them?”

None of us know where these modern challenges are taking us, but one thing is for certain, if we as a human species don’t learn to live by the basic principles of “enough” and of “sharing” life may not be possible, and it certainly won’t be pleasant.

But the gospel charts a different story. The gospel charts a story of a world that thrives…a world that moves toward the Hebrew idea of Shalom….well-being, peace, wholeness, provision. These are key principles in our biblical theology.

In our story this morning the basic problem of hunger was presented to Jesus. “Rabbi, send them away so that they can go into the villages and get something to eat.” And I suppose Jesus could have done that.

Or, he could have just done the miracle himself. (You know how it’s sometimes easier just to do the job yourself rather than to delegate). But that would have missed the point! In fact, as I think about it, for Jesus to have provided the food for this mass feeding, would have been to succumb to one of the three original temptations Jesus resisted while fasting in the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread and thus to have the world “eating out of his hands.” No, were Jesus to have done that it would have totally missed the teaching of this so-called “miracle.”

So instead, Jesus says to his disciples, “You give them something to eat.” How crazy is that! Absurd! (Place yourself in that position!) Insane, right? We live in a limited world of scarcity, and yet this is a key element in this story…. “You give them something to eat.” These very words, by the way, are inscribed on the side of the Bread For the World building…an organization who’s mission it is to make this gospel story manifest in real time and place by lobbying for equitable food programs.

So what does Jesus do after saying “You give them something to eat”? He says, “Gather up the food that is available.” (In other words, “Start by working with what you have.”)

So they gather up a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread. And then what happens? Jesus gives thanks to God! (In other words….gratitude. Not taking things for granted! It seems to me that gratitude is a key frame of mind for the cultivation of the giving heart. Because we know and we feel gratitude we are more inclined to share).

Why gratitude? Because the truth of the matter is, we didn’t make any of this stuff. It’s all a gift. And on top of that….it’s all provisional. “It’s all on loan,” if you will. And the older we get the more that profound truth starts to sink in. I mistakenly used to think that I own a piece of land…and I own a house that sits on that land. But ownership really is somewhat of an illusion. I’m actually just renting it for awhile. That’s all any of us are doing. Rich or poor. It’s all provisional.

So then what happens? The food is distributed to everyone. All are feed. No one goes hungry. And there is even more than enough…i.e. leftovers.

Someone once said, “That faith is acting despite evidence to the contrary …. And then watching that evidence change.” That seems to be what is happening in this story. Acting despite the apparent limitations.

This story, if you will recall, reflects other biblical story lessons. In other words, there is a common motif here.

Recall the story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and daily manna and quail being miraculously provided.

Or recall the story of Elijah told in 1 Kings 17.  A famine is in the land.  Elijah meets a widow and her son who are preparing to eat the very last of their food (a little bit of flour and oil) and then simply give up and die.  But in the act of the widow’s sharing what she had with the great prophet, the miracle of provision gets them through.

Or the apocryphal story told in the book of Maccabees of a lamp with only one days supply of oil, yet it burned for eight days.

Or even the story Jesus turning water into wine as the supply at a wedding feast began to run low.

All these stories remind us that within our earthly situation, whereby human vulnerability comes up against perceived scarcity, hunger and lack do not need to get the last word. Or it doesn’t have to.

One of the things that is interesting about this story from Matthew 14 is that it is proceeded by the story of the execution (beheading) of John the Baptist. If you recall, King Herod, the puppet ruler of Judea, is having a party. And during this party his step daughter performs a wonderful dance for him and he is so enchanted by her that he offers to pledge her what she wishes. At the bidding of her mother, she asks for the head of John the Baptist, who up to this point has been in prison for speaking truth to power. Herod reluctantly complies.

This story offers an interesting contrast. On one hand you have violent, corrupt, and fearful world of King Herod living isolated in his palace. One the other hand is Jesus in the open countyside, speaking with common folks who need healing, words of hope and truth, and….basic human needs met like having food.

Herod lives in a world of perceived scarcity. Jesus operates out of the mindset of abundance. Herod lives in a world where the strong prey upon the weak. Jesus lives in a world where the meek are the ones whose inheritance is the earth. Herod lives in a small limited world of isolation and loneliness. Jesus gathers a community based on sharing and enough to go around.

So the question is…Which world do we believe in? Herod’s world or Jesus’ world? Which world do we want to live in? If we’re honest, we’re conflicted. We’re not conflicted by our sincere desires. We long for a world where all receive what they need. But we also are painfully aware that comparatively speaking we have great wealth (and the comfort it affords) in comparison to the millions who live on the margins. If we’re uncomfortable with that reality, then good! We still have our humanity in tact!

But still the question remains….What do we do? What do we have to give up? What will it cost us if we are to imagine ourselves amongst those first followers of Jesus when he told them, “You give them something to eat?”

One thing we have to do is fight against the current national trends of fear and notions of “not enough.”

“Turn away those fleeing poverty and persecution and close down the borders…we don’t have enough!”

“Cut programs that help lift people out of poverty….we don’t have enough!”

“Cut subsides like SNAP….we don’t have enough!”

“Ignore the growing injustices of wealth disparity and then treat homelessness and addiction as the problem, rather than a symptom of a much deeper problem of a broken economic system… and more importantly, spiritual decay”.

“We don’t have enough!”

But the gospel lesson this morning tells us that that is a lie! If there is anything to take away from “the loaves and fishes” story this morning it is this… There Is Enough! As Ghandi once said, “There is enough in the world for all our needs…just not enough for all our greeds.”

So what do we do? How about we cultivate a new mindset. Jesus, I believe, teaches us to live out of a new spiritual paradigm. (Because ultimately the problems we face are spiritual before they are economic.)

So here are a few ways of thinking that might help…..

– Operate out of privilege: “I get to”…not “I have to”. I get to share out of my abundance. I get to be a vessel of God’s love through my giving (time, talents, and resources) (Notice the difference in feeling when you say “I get to” verses “I have to.”)

 

– Make gratitude your foundation: We live in gratitude for everything we “have.” The word “have” is in quotes because in the end we have nothing. Possession is an illusion. Everything gets left behind. The only things that remain after we’re gone is our kindness, generosity, and wisdom.

 

– Know that you are not an isolated part: We are all interconnected. My well-being is tied to yours. My thriving is tied to yours. My children’s future is tied to your children’s future.

 

– Celebrate that you are God’s Great Mystery: We are part of an eternal inheritance. Our perceived world is much much much grander, mysterious, and inclusive than we can ever know. You are a part of that…and you will never cease to be a part of that.

I believe the Bible calls to us to imagine what is possible… “on earth as it is in heaven”.

As I end this meditation on the subject of abundance and enough, I’ll close with the words of the prophet Isaiah whose words reflect for me a calling for a better world, where all are satisfied and no one goes hungry.

“Come all you who are thirsty. Come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good. As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that comes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55)

May God bless the reading of The Word this morning.