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July 26, 2015
John 6:1-15
1After
this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of
Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the
signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain
and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the
festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large
crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread
for these people to eat?" 6He said this to test him, for he
himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him,
"Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a
little." 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother,
said to him, 9"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves
and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" 10Jesus
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. 11Then
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. 12When
they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left
over, so that nothing may be lost." 13So they gathered them up,
and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten,
they filled twelve baskets. 14When 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."
15When
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.
Sermon: “Feasting on the Fragments”
I think about that kid a
lot. The one with the lunch to share in
our story. How did he get there? Was he just swept along in the crowd on a
boat across the Sea of Galilee, following this powerful teacher? Did he set out on one of those childhood
adventures, packing a couple of fish and some bread and maybe his favorite
slingshot, deciding to explore on his own?
Did his parents know where he was?
However it was he got there, this little boy is the heart of the story
of feeding the five thousand.
Without him, people would
have been hungry. Of course, if everyone
had shared what they had, that might have been another sort of miracle.
But as it is, we have one dreamer of a little boy, who brings his lunch to Andrew, offering it freely if it will help. He just wanted to help. Kids often do. But like frequently happens, Andrew doubted how much that little boy could do. He assumed it wasn’t enough, and perhaps he told the little boy like he told Jesus that there was no way this would be enough food. An adult would know that. But this story didn’t need an adult. It needed a kid.
But as it is, we have one dreamer of a little boy, who brings his lunch to Andrew, offering it freely if it will help. He just wanted to help. Kids often do. But like frequently happens, Andrew doubted how much that little boy could do. He assumed it wasn’t enough, and perhaps he told the little boy like he told Jesus that there was no way this would be enough food. An adult would know that. But this story didn’t need an adult. It needed a kid.
We adults often sell kids
short. We tend to assume they don’t
understand how the world works, and see it as our job to enlighten them on how
hard a place it is. We push them to fit
into our understanding of what success is, testing them mercilessly,
categorizing them as “achievers” and “underachievers,” often before they even
reach elementary school.
There are lots of miracles in
this story in John, but chief among them is that God in Jesus Christ took that
kid seriously. He freely accepted what
that boy had to offer, whether it made sense or not. It’s sad that this has to be a miracle, but
so many kids don’t have this.
I met lots of kids at Camp
Monroe last week as the Camp Pastor.
Some were from supportive families, others felt alone at home. Some were struggling with parents or
grandparents going through cancer treatment.
Some had just lost pets, and gravitated toward my dog Fifi (okay, they
ALL did that). Some resented being away
from their video games for a week, while others were return campers who reveled
in the actual games, crafts and activities.
But all these kids had
something in common, something I think all children have in common: they wanted
to be treated like they mattered. They
wanted to know they were important, and not just an afterthought who only gets
attention when they do something wrong.
That’s why camp is so very
important. It’s also why this story from
John is so important. You’ll notice that
Jesus didn’t let anything go to waste: not the boy’s generous idea, not the
fragments of bread leftover. Everything
was valuable. But the crowd saw Jesus as
the most valuable. When the people
experienced the miracle of all being fed, they immediately wanted to make him
king.
Isn’t that how we grown-ups
work? Give us what we want, and we’ll
follow you, until you don’t. But Jesus
withdrew from the crowd before they could do this. I think he did this for lots of reasons. He never came to be the king of any earthly
kingdom. He didn’t want the tribute
lowly citizens pay to a king; he wanted the worship children of God freely give
to their Creator. But perhaps most
importantly, I think Jesus didn’t want the focus to be on himself. I think Jesus knew the kid was the star of
that story, even if no one else realized it.
I believe Jesus is calling us
to recognize what kids offer, in ways that we grown ups simply can’t. We’re too caught up in our agendas and egos
and logic to share ourselves as freely as that little boy did.
At Camp Monroe, more than
anything else, I wanted those kids to know, deep in their hearts, that they
mattered. For our last evening worship
together, I decided to share with them the Top 10 Things I Wanted Them to Know. I’ll share them with you now, because I think
they apply to kids of all ages. But I
also share them in hopes that they will inspire you to take the dreams of
children seriously. When we do, there is
more blessing than we could imagine, even fragments leftover to feast upon.
So, here are This Preacher Lady’s Top 10 Things to Know:
10. You
matter. Sometimes
adults and definitely other people your age are going to try to suggest to you
that you don’t. You might have someone
laugh at your idea, or ignore you entirely.
You might have someone tell you you’re stupid or fat or annoying or too
quiet. Their words don’t matter. YOU DO.
God made you to do something with your life, not in some astrophysicist
sort of way (though, maybe), but in an everyday way. To be kind.
To be forgiving. To treat other
people like they matter, even when they don’t return the favor. You matter.
9. God
matters. It’s completely
impossible to narrow down who God is into a few words, but I’ll give you this
much: God is love, wants you to love,
and showers love on you in ways you’ll probably never understand. I still don’t, though I happen to think it’s
a lot of fun to try to understand God.
But you don’t have to have God figured out, you don’t even have to talk
about God using the same words other people do.
You just have to know that you didn’t create yourself. God did.
And that same God who made you will always be there, whether you realize
it or not.
8.
Doubts are the heart of faith. Faith is not certainty. Faith is not trusting that when you’re in a
sinking boat, God’s going to scoop you out of that ocean, fast. Faith is crying out to whoever might be out
there for help. Faith is most found when
we feel most lost. When we doubt God for
allowing some things to happen. When we
see suffering and suffer ourselves. When
we don’t know where to turn. Don’t be
afraid to question God. Don’t be afraid
to question the church. Don’t be afraid
to question yourself. Doubts are the
heart of faith.
7. Eat
chocolate as much as possible. Don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for
it. Guilt is a really bad way to live
your life.
6.
You’re going to hurt someone. Sometimes you’ll do it on purpose. Often, you won’t even realize you’ve done it
until they get all weird and distant.
But you will hurt someone. And
when you do, it doesn’t matter whether you thought you were right to do so, or
whether they hurt you first. You say
you’re sorry, every single time. Whether
you even mean it or not. Those two words
are magic – they can make you into who you want to be.
5.
Someone’s going to hurt you. They probably won’t do it on purpose,
either. They may not say they’re
sorry. But you have to let go of that
hurt the best way you can. Talk to
someone about it. Pray about it. Draw or dance or scream until you feel
better. Just don’t hold onto it. Someone wise (maybe Buddha?) once said,
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to
die.” Don’t do that.
4. Hang
out with animals as much as you can. They are pure souls, not caught up in
worrying about the color of someone’s fur or how fancy their leash is. They just love and trust implicitly. They’ll teach you how to do that.
3. Find
(or make) community. You
can’t live this life without your people. Find them. Practice forgiveness and
kindness with them. And when someone
seems a bit lost, be wide open to welcoming them. We all need people. I hope church can be that for you, but if it
isn’t, find some community. You'll need
it to survive.
2. Sit
under a tree, as often as possible. The
screen of your phone or tablet or laptop is fun and shiny and numbs you from
whatever you’re worried about. But,
y’all, that stuff is addictive. Be
careful you don’t let it keep you from really living. Get outside and touch something real, like a
tree. Something that grows and changes
and lives. It will help you do the same.
1. You
are loved more fully and completely than you will ever realize. You’ll spend so much time and energy and
mistakes trying to convince people to love you.
You’ll buy things, and study things, and worship things to try to get
love. But you don’t need to, because
that's not really love. God loves you
exactly as you are. Always has. Always will.
You can’t buy or earn it. It’s called grace. And it’s yours. But not just yours – it’s everyone’s. So we have to try to love others as fully and
completely as we can. It’s not
easy. But easy is boring. Y’all are loved. If you forget the other 9, never forget that.
May we have faith in
Jesus. But may we also have faith in
children like he did. Look how many were
fed because he took that little boy’s offering seriously. Look how much was leftover. He didn’t just say, “let the little children
come to me.” He meant it. So should we.
Thanks be to the God who
created us with delight, to the Spirit who gives us the courage to dream and to
the Son who works wonders with the gifts of children. Amen.