11th Sunday after Pentecost 7/31/05 Text: Matthew 14:13-21 Title: You Give Them Something to Eat!

7/31/2005
11th Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Matthew 14:13-21
Title: “You Give Them Something to Eat!”

Grace, mercy and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
There was once this little boy named Danny. One Sunday he came bursting out of his Sunday school room like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate his dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his daddy by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down at his son as fathers do, smiled, and asked his son to tell him about it.
"Well, we learned that as the Israelites were leaving Egypt, Pharaoh and his army were chasing after them. So they ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. There was nowhere to go and the Egyptian Army was getting closer and closer, so Moses got on his walkie-talkie and called in the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Engineer Corps took their bulldozers and built two huge dams, so the Israelites could walk across on dry land. Then they blew up the dams so that the Egyptian Army was drowned and they were safe! Wow dad, it was great!
By now dad was shocked. "Is that the way they taught you the story?" “Well, no, not exactly”, Danny admitted, "But if I told you the way they told it to us, you'd never believe it, Dad."
Without even realizing what he had done, Danny had made an observation that points out a major weakness of our so called sophisticated adult world, where we are taught to be skeptical about anything that cannot be proven. It is far more popular to operate in the black-and-white world of facts, which of course leaves no room for the miraculous.
And so, when we read the story of the feeding of the five thousand, we have a natural tendency to ask, "Did it really happen?" We might not outwardly voice our doubt, but it is there never the less. To doubt the authenticity of Jesus’ miracles is not new. Thomas Jefferson believed that the miracles of Jesus had been added later by the church, so in his Bible, appropriately called the “Jefferson Bible” he removed all mention of miracles.
There have been any number of attempts to explain this particular miracle of Jesus. The most popular one being that the people were so moved by Jesus' generosity and the generosity of the disciples that they were willing to share their 5 loafs and 2 fish, that all the people started sharing the food they had hidden under their clothes and in their traveling pouches.
Another theory says that the story is not really talking about physical hunger but spiritual hunger. When the small amount of food was passed around everyone tore off a minuscule symbolic fragment. By doing this Jesus is said to have satisfied the thirst of the soul not the stomach.
The point of the story of the feeding of the five thousand is not to prove that miracles happen. The point of the story is to teach us at least one or more timeless truth that we can use in our lives today.
Let’s see if we can ferret them out, for if we cannot, then this Gospel lesson is just another nice story, that took place long ago and has nothing to do with us today.
The first thing we can learn from this story is that Jesus saw a need and filled it. Standing there before him were a large group of people who had probably walked long distances so that they could have their loved ones healed. Since Saint Matthew only counts the men who were there, there were probably closer to 15, 000 or so, counting women and children.
The second thing we can learn is that Jesus did not perform this particular miracle alone. He used the disciples to bring him the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and then used them to distribute his bounty to the 15,000 or so people gathered there that day.
The third thing we can learn from this miracle is that Jesus can take insignificant things and do great miracles with them. 15,000 people being fed with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. You have to admit it is pretty impressive.
From this one miracle we have now learned that Jesus could see needs, both spiritual and physical. We learned that he uses people to meet the needs of others. And we learned that he can take what we would consider insignificant or worthless things and use them to do something beyond our wildest imagination.
But you might still be asking yourself, what does that have to do with me? That is a legitimate question that deserves an answer, so let’s see what this miracle has to do with our lives today.
Well first of all, can we all agree that if are joined with Jesus through our baptism that we are in fact his disciples? And since we are his disciples, can we all agree that we should look for needs that need to be met and then meet those needs? You might be saying to yourself, hold it, we cannot do everything and you are right. We cannot meet the needs of everyone, but with God’s help we will meet the needs of those he wants us to meet, those he puts into our lives.
As noted earlier Jesus did not perform this particular miracle in a vacuum. He used his disciples as a means to accomplish what he intended to do. Just like his disciples that day he asks us to bring to him whatever we have, no matter how insignificant or worthless we or anyone else might think it might be.
Take this penny for example. It is worth hardly anything and most people would not take the time to even bend over and pick one up if they saw it lying on the ground. It is just not worth bending over for. Let me show you what God can do with something that we don’t think is worth the effort to pick up.
Yesterday I read a story about a woman by the name of Edna Tomevi. She had run across an article in one of the church’s newsletter that talked about a particular mission project. That article really touched her heart, but since she was pretty poor she knew she could not do much. As she was trying to figure out how she could help the mission project, someone she knew told her that she had read somewhere that it took 85,000 pennies lined up side by side to make a mile long line of pennies. Wow, she thought 85,000 pennies is a lot of pennies and so she started a fund raising program in her congregation for the mission project called “Miles of Pennies”. To date, oh did I tell you she is 88 years old; she has collected and given to the mission project 4 miles of pennies. Nothing dramatic, just one women using a little penny to make a miracle happen in someone’s life. What should we learn from Edna is this, do not discount the power of God using what you have, no matter how worthless or insignificant you might think it is.
That brings me to our congregation and what this miracle has to do with us. As many of you know we are in the midst of finding out how we can fulfill the mission of our congregation. We have already come up with some great ideas on how to do mission in our congregation and the community.
In just a few weeks we will meet again to look at some of the different ways we can do mission beyond Hattiesburg and surrounding area. After we have gotten all of the ideas written down, we will have to decide on which ones we can do. There are going to be some tough decisions to make.
There are two ways we can go. One way is to respond to God’s call to do mission as the disciples did when Jesus told them to feed the people. I am sure their initial response was “Who, us. You have got to be kidding,” especially when all the food they could find was five loaves of bread and two fish."
Or we can say, “God, here is all we have right now, it might not be much, but we know what you can do with it, so please take all we have and multiply what we have given you, and then God show us how you want us to use all you have given to us for your glory.
Some of you might be thinking that if God can do miraculous things with just 5 loaves and 2 fishes, then he does not need our pitiful gifts, so why bother to take up the collection plate every Sunday? Well it is like this. It is just the way God has chosen to work. He works in partnership with those that call themselves disciples, that is us. Don’t get me wrong, for I am not talking about our salvation, for that is all God’s work. I am talking about our cooperating with him as we care for the sick, the elderly, orphans, those in need, especially those that do not know if the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
I firmly believe that God working in partnership with his followers is a spiritual principle. If we try and go it alone without God we well never see a miracle happen. The same is true if we do not give God something to work with, like our time, talents, and money. For without our giving him something to work with, if the miracle we looked at today is any indication of how he performs miracles, we won’t see a miracle happen.
What should we do? I firmly believe that we have three choices? One, we can try to work on our own without God’s help. Two, we can rely on him to do everything. Or third, we can work with him so that he can do the miracle he wants to do in our lives and those we are reaching out to. Which one shall we do? It is our choice, but there is only one that is God pleasing? Amen

10th Sunday after Pentecost 07/24/05 Matthew 13: 31-33; 44-52 Title: One Man's Trash is Another Mans's Treasure

07/24/05
Text: Matthew 13: 31-33; 44-52
Title: One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from out Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
For the last two weeks we have been looking at some of Jesus’ parables, as they are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In today’s Gospel reading we will look at the final two parables of Jesus that Matthew recorded.
Two weeks ago in the parable of the sower we found out that we are to throw the seed of God’s Word everywhere. We are not to decide on who is worthy or not worthy of hearing the Word of God.
In last weeks parable, the parable of the wheat and weeds we found out that it is not our business, but God’s business to decide who is a child of God and who is not. God will make that final distinction on judgment day.
Judgment day is a long time off, right? But is it really a long way off? Well it might not be as far off as you might think, for whenever the time comes for you to die, your judgment time has arrived. At that point it will not make any difference if the final judgment day has arrived or not. That is why it is so important for you to live your life in Christ.
In today’s Gospel there are several parables, but I am going to take a closer look at the parable of the treasure found in the field. There is a show on public television that I just love to watch. It is called the “Road Show”. That is the show were people bring their junk, hoping it will be treasure, and where others bring their treasure only to find out it is junk. I love it when somebody discovers that something is worth a ton of money. Their look of surprise and then delight is wonderful to behold.
I have always wondered how you would treat an object that you thought was worth only a few dollars after you found out it is worth thousands. Do you lock it away, or put it out for all to see, or do you sell it? Maybe you just sit in front of it and admire it. I don’t know, but I am sure that you would never look at it in the same way again.
I think that shopping garage sales has gained in popularity because of that show. People go poking around looking for that piece of junk that will turn out to be a treasure. Some people get really good at finding treasure in garage sales and flea markets; they just seem to have an ability to spot treasure in the junk.
Jesus exhibited the same kind of ability throughout his ministry, especially in the use of his parables. It is through his parables, those stories of the ordinary and mundane trash of this world that is hidden the treasure of the Kingdom of God.
In our reading for today we see that God’s love is hidden in the ordinary things of life. The Kingdom seems to be anything but extraordinary. A mustard seed is tiny. The yeast seems invisible and insignificant. The treasure is hidden in the field. The fine pearl is mixed in with the ordinary pearls. And hidden in the net among all the fish that were caught is the finest of seafood.
When we look at our lives, we see only the mundane, the struggle to live the way we would like. As we look back on our lives we see the what-ifs, the dreams that were not fulfilled, the ambitions that were somehow lost, the evil in the world. And we think that if there is a God out there in whom we can trust, he is sure doing a good job hiding. And that gives us a problem, for the God we would like to have is an active God, one that we can see, talk to, and maybe even touch.
But we don’t have that kind of God, at least we don’t think so, because we who are spiritually blind cannot see the Kingdom of God that is at work among us. We are unable for the most part to see what God is doing right under all noses, in the seemingly mundane things of life.
We look in all the wrong places, we read all the latest self help books, the most popular religious books, everything but his Word, all in the hope of seeing God at work, when in fact he is at work in our lives.
I am afraid that too often we just do not grasp the significance of a little baby born in a manager. We fail to see that the tiny mustard seed can produce a mighty shrub that spreads its branches out far enough for birds to build nests in. We fail to see that a little yeast in a huge amount of flour can make a truckload of bread. We fail to see in the weed patch of life a treasure.
Which reminds me of a Texan that was mining gold, but he could never get the pit cleared of some type of sludge. It just kept seeping in and ruining his work. One day a city-slicker from the East came by and offered to buy the land, well the Texan jumped at the chance and sold it to him. Little did he know that that sludge was an indication of oil, black gold, and that the man he sold it to would become wealthy beyond his imagination. That Texan who thought he saw a sucker was actually blind to the treasure that was right in front of him.
We too are blinded to God’s work because we are caught up in instant gratification, with consumerism, with all those things that keep pushing God out of his rightful place in our lives. I am afraid that for the most part we are so blind to God’s work in our lives that too many times we do not see what is right before us in his Word, and in his Sacraments.
Just because we are often blind to God’s work in our lives does not mean that he is blind to our lack of compassion, our grudge holding, our “they will just have to get over it”, or “tough luck” attitude toward those we have hurt, either unintentionally or on purpose. God notices those things in our heart.
There is no doubt that our present and future would be bleak indeed if God had not come into our world as that seemingly insignificant little baby boy. God could not and did not leave us on the trash heap. He wants to turn us into treasure, for he treasures us.
He comes to us today, not as a person publicly doing miracles, nor does he come in flashes of lightening, or claps of thunder, but in the mundane, the broken bread, the wine that is poured out, the water that is splashed in baptism.
He is the mustard seed that will grow into a wonderful bush that is almost tree like. He is the treasure worth giving all for. He is the pearl waiting to be discovered. He is all those things and yet he was and still is rejected today. The world was blind to the treasure he is, and so they trashed him by nailing him to a cross.
As awful as that was, God knew his son was not trash but treasure. He knew that through the trashing that he was taking, he would take the trash of the world, that is you and me, and make a wonderful treasure out of us. And what he treasures will not have to worry about being thrown into the trash dump.
Brian Stoffregain a Lutheran pastor once told a modern day parable designed to be told along with the parable of the treasure hidden in the field. It goes like this. A man finds a treasure box hidden in a field. It is too big for him to carry it home, so he buries it so no one else can find it. He finds out the field is for sale, so he gets together all the money that he can get, he even goes into debt to buy the field, for he knows it will be worth it, once he has the treasure box.
He digs it up, spends hours cleaning the treasure box until it shines like gold. It was a beautiful box, heavily carved and made of the finest materials. He spent hours just sitting there admiring it. He talked constantly about his beautiful treasure box. He would wake up in the morning thinking about the box. At night he would lay in bed dreaming about his wonderful treasure box.
Whenever some one would ask him what is in his wonderful treasure box, he would reply, “I don’t know. I haven’t look inside. But is sure is a beautiful box isn’t it?” To the day he died he never looked inside the box. He never found out what great treasure the box contained.
Brian’s modern day parable is about the way we in the church often emphasize the box rather the real treasure inside the box. Too often we let denominational loyalties, buildings, liturgies, hymn books, creeds, and the confessional books that make up our treasure box become more important than the treasure they contain. For in doing so we let them become barriers to the real treasure which is the Kingdom of God.
I want to close with this thought. It came to me as I reviewed my sermon this morning. It is time to shift our priorities around, so that God is at the top of our list, instead of wherever we have him now. For we do not possess the Kingdom of God, it possesses us. In fact God asks us to be slaves to his kingdom, for it is only when we are slaves to his kingdom that we will learn how pleasurable it is to start to turn lose of our time and money, as we care for those in need of our society.
God has given each of you the most precious treasure, the most precious pearl, all bought at the greatest cost; the life of the Son of God, to hold and to share until the end of the age. Let us then respond to his great gift by devoting our lives to thanking, praising, serving, and obeying Him. Amen.