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Are You Hungry?

Sermon Matthew 14:13-21 August 6, 2017 Communion Ordinary Time

Are You Hungry?

All I could think about at the beginning of this week’s VBS as we were filled to the gills with young people, was, “is there enough?”

We are still unsure of how we went from 23 registered little ones for VBS to 38, then 42. Perhaps it was the radio advertisement, perhaps, it was friends of little ones that came before. In 20 minutes, the room was full of young people and parents and the buzzing sound of happiness. And the buzzing sound of leaders discovering their ability to adapt in a heartbeat.

This week has been a miracle,

a wonder,

at times incomprehensible,

and a reality of a blessing.

God was in the midst of us fulfilling promises

and offering us the reality of salvation!

The story of Jesus in the desert seeking quiet is a story about the One we call our Savior.

It’s a story that helps us live into the power of God present with us fulfilling promises and offering us the reality of salvation.

We have tried so often to turn the stories of the Bible into scientific stories.

We have spent a lot of time trying to rationalize the miracle out of the stories we read. Jesus walked on stones beneath the surface, not on the water-people shared their food rather than the miracle of multiplication.

We debunk the miracle and only claim the humanity and compassion of Jesus. I think over the decades of historical criticism we have minimalized the God we serve and the God we worship.

Jesus has just been told of the death of John the Baptist.

He is in deep grief.

Grief struck so suddenly is paralyzing.

It creates a numbness,

an inability to focus and a

need to get away and

regroup the brain to know how to go forward.

Jesus needed to get away in his grief.

It was not about the crowds and their needs

it was his need to process this devastating news.

So, he sought to go to a place alone.

But, when he arrived he was greeted by the crowds.

Instead of being angry or frustrated, or indignant of the crowd’s lack of understanding of his needs, he turns to them with compassion.

Every time I read that about Jesus, it blows me away.

I’m a horrible introvert and I need my alone time to regroup and get my act together to be able to meet folks with a cheery smile. And I blow it all the time.

We discover the person of Jesus as he reaches out in compassion to those who follow him. His grief is processed through his outpouring of his love for those who need healing, and those who need love, and those who need to be touched by the kindness of another, and those who need to be acknowledges as human.

The crowd was hungry.

And Jesus knew it.

And he provided them filled them til they were full.

In his compassion, he healed them. Jesus stayed with them and the day turned to evening and Jesus was still with them.

The disciples were hungry by then.

I can hear their tummies rumbling as they tell Jesus to send the crowd home to get their own supper. Jesus is now more than just a teacher to follow and be amazed at all he can do.

Jesus, looks at his disciples and tells them to feed the crowd.

They look at him through limited lenses.

They only have five loaves and two fish.

And as far as they are concerned they are ready to get to town because that’s nowhere near enough for all of them let alone share with a crowd of lesser people.

Jesus offers them the miracle.

He offers them the chance to distribute fulfillment to a hungry crowd.

But they fail to see the possibility of a miracle.

They fail to see the power of God present with them.

They fail to see the reality of salvation being fulfilled.

They fail to see the Messiah in their midst who fulfills God’s promises.

They dismiss the opportunity.

We are no different from the disciples.

We are constantly excluding the power of God to work salvation in history.

We lack the imagination that things contrary to nature can happen.

Perhaps we are not hungry enough.

Perhaps we are too filled up on our own selves to be hungry for God.

Perhaps, we are stuffed with our own self-righteousness that we fail to see God still working contrary to nature for the sake of our salvation.

 God can’t do anything with us without our desire, our hunger, our need for the presence of God with us.

If we can be hungry.

If we can chase after Jesus and meet him and desire him.

If we can be hungry enough to let him feed us.

We can have enough imagination to believe the miracle of how he feeds us til we are stuffed to the gills.

Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples and they gave them to the crowds and ALL ate and were filled.

Are you hungry?

May we be hungry. May we be Blessed. May we be Broken. May we be Offered. May we be Filled.

Amen.

 Resources: Feasting on the Word, NIB, Word Biblical Commentary