Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Matthew 14:3-21 on August 3, 2008
Herod had arrested John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison to placate Herodias, his current wife, who his brother Philip's former wife. John had provoked Herod by classifying his relationship with Herodias "adultery." Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid because so many people revered John as a prophet of God. But at his birthday celebration, he got his chance. Herodias's daughter provided the entertainment, dancing for the guests. She swept Herod away. In his drunken enthusiasm, he promised her on oath anything she wanted. Already coached by her mother, she was ready: "Give me, served up on a platter, the head of John the Baptizer." That sobered the king up fast. Unwilling to lose face with his guests, he did it—ordered John's head cut off and presented to the girl on a platter. She in turn gave it to her mother. Later, John's disciples got the body, gave it a reverent burial, and reported to Jesus. King Herod the murderer takes the life of John the Baptist. Rulers rule by division and subtraction. They take away life. Check the books and you may notice how we have lost so many civil rights since 9-11. Our liberties are being taken away. That is what rulers have always done and that is what they are doing today.
When he got the news about Herod's murder of John the Baptist, Jesus slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick. Immediately we notice the contrast between Jesus and Herod in Matthew's gospel. Herod kills. Jesus heals. That is the first principle here. Another is to follow in the story now.
Toward evening the disciples approached him. "We're out in the country and it's getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper."
But Jesus said, "There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper."
"All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish," they said.
Jesus said, "Bring them here." Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.
Jesus, the compassionate one, gives life. Jesus feeds over 5,000 people. Here is the second principle in the story. Herod rules by division and life taking. Jesus rules by multiplication and life giving.
Our challenge is to be compassionate like Jesus. We are his representatives on this earth. Our compassion should include both material and spiritual bread. We are to feed people's bodies, minds and souls. We are to give them a sense of community. We are to let them into our community. There are so many people within a 20 minute drive of this church. People who are starving for what we have to give. Let's open our hearts to those in need. Let's feed their bellies and their souls. Jesus gives us the food. We are merely distributors, as his disciples distributed the bread and fish to that crowd so many years ago.
Dr. Charles Garfield tells a story about one man who found a place to stand, saying:
Late one morning in 1984, headed for lunch in San Francisco, I drove toward one of the toll booths. I heard loud music. It sounded like a party, or a Michael Jackson concert. I looked around. No other cars with their windows open. No sound trucks. I looked at the toll booth. Inside it, the man was dancing.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm having a party," he said.
"What about the rest of the these people?" I looked over at other booths; nothing moving there.
"They're not invited."
I had a dozen other questions for him, but somebody in a big hurry to get somewhere started punching his horn behind me and I drove off. But I made a note to myself: Find this guy again. there's something in his eye that says there's magic in his toll booth.
Months later I did find him again, still with the loud music, still having a party.
Again I asked, "What are you dong?"
He said, "I remember you from the last time. I've still dancing. I'm having the same party."
I said, "Look. What about the rest of the people . . . "
He said,, "Stop. What do those look like to you?" He pointed down the row of toll booths.
"They look like . . . toll booths."
"Nooooooo imagination!
I said, "Okay, I give up. What do they look like to you?"
He said, "Vertical coffins."
"What are you talking about?"
"I can prove it. At 8:30 every morning, live people get in. They they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home. For eight hours, brain is on hold, dead on the job. Going through the motions."
I was amazed. This guy had developed a philosophy, a mythology about this job. I could not help asking the next question: "Why is it different for you?? You're having a good time."
He looked at me. "I knew you were going to ask that," he said. "I'm I'm going to be dancer somebody." He pointed to the administration building. He pointed toward the administration building. "My bosses are in there and they are paying for my training."
Sixteen people dead on the job, and the seventeenth, in precisely the same situation , figures out a way to lie. That man was having a party where you and I would probably not last three days. The boredom! he and I did have lunch later, and he said, "I don't understand why anybody would think my job's boring. I have a corner office, glass on all sides. i can see the Golden Gate, San Francisco, the Berkeley hills; half the Western world vacations here . . . . and I just stroll in every day and practice dancing." (Dr. Charles Garfield, A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit, 175-177)
We have everything we need here for this church to grow and grow. All that needs to change is our attitude. The growth of our church begins with our own perceptions of what we are doing here. Are we learning to dance? Or are we putting in our time until we check out at the end fo the day?
Marianne Williamson writes:
Miracles are available in any moment when we bring the best of ourselves forward. It isn't the amount of our years that will determine the life we live now, but the amount of our love. Our future isn't determined by anything that happened 20 years ago, 30 years ago, or even 10 minutes ago. It's determined by who we are and what we think, right here, right now, in this moment. Almost every hour of every day, we'll find ourselves in a situation where we can be now who we weren't before, because we know now what we didn't know before. And from this newness in our being springs fresh opportunities we could never have imagined. God specializes in new beginnings. (The Age of Miracles, p. 60)
In times of need we go to the Spirit Surplus Store to find what we need: More love, more light, more peace, more joy, more fullness of life. As we take this bread and drink this wine, we shop at the Spirit Surplus Store and God gives us all the supplies we need. We have been blessed with a surplus of Holy Spirit. God calls us to give it away. The more we give away the more abundance we receive. We can never out give God. That will never happen. The rulers of this world want to divide, subtract and kill but God calls the church to unite, multiply and birth God's kingdom on this earth.
Let's take one last backward glance at Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 and notice the result, according to Matthew's gospel. The story ends without amazement at the miracle. There is no me mention of Jesus' fame spreading throughout the region. Why? Was this miracle not considered impressive enough? No. Biblical scholars suggest this story is an inside story. This is a church story. This is a story about us! This is how God wants to multiply us! This story was recited when the early church gathered at the Lord's Table.
As we gather for the Lord's Supper today, remember how Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus women and children and know that there is more than enough here to feed us and thousands and thousands and millions and billions more people. Jesus gives this congregation enough to feed many more people than we are feeding now. Jesus multiplies what we have. We have more than enough to share. There is no oil shortage in this congregation. We have more than enough Spirit to last us for the next 50 years. Let's go shopping at the Spirit surplus store. There is more Spirit in stock there than we will ever need and it is free for the asking. Pick up some extra love and deliver it to your friends and neighbors. We will never run out of God's love no matter how much of it we give away. That is the promise of the feeding of the 5,000. That is the promise of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
