The Church of the Redeemer

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 30, 2003

This morning we heard the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.  It is a wonderful miracle story that all of the Gospel writers have chosen to place in their Gospel narratives.  Normally I would focus on the miracle but as I read this story this week, I realized there is yet another message within the story that we normally miss.  If you read slowly through the story, you will find it is also a message about how people respond to serving God. 

First there is the crowd.  A hoard of nameless and faceless people who have come to hear Jesus speak, but when it comes time to eat, they were perhaps good at complaining they were hungry, but not willing to offer a helping hand when it came to creating the solution.  The world is full of people like this, who complain about the ills of the world but look to others to do something about them.

Then there were the disciples, the men who were closest to Jesus.  When Jesus asked them about feeding the crowd, they simply responded it could not be done; it was too expensive because it would require six months wages.  These are the people who have responded to Jesus’ message, but are afraid to take risks with God and fear change.  Their slogans in life are, we have never done it that way before so why try it now, or simply just it cannot be done.

And then there is the young boy, who knows the crowd needs to be fed and innocently gives all the food he has with him to Jesus. This young boy represents all those who hear God’s call and follow with out question, without worrying about the cost of God’s request.  They simply hear God’s call and follow, willing to be instruments of God’s work in the world, trusting that if they obeyed God’s call to them, God would take care of them.  In the case of the young boy, he was willing to give up all the food he had and walk home hungry.  In the end however, because of the young boy’s sacrifice, not only was he able to eat until he was full, but the entire crowd of 5,000 and more were able to eat of his five simple loaves of bread and two fish.

This young boy is like many of the people we have been learning about in Church School.  Like Abraham, he loved God so much that he was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac and in return for his obedience, Abraham fathered a whole country of people. 

(Out of curiosity, who in the Jr. Choir can tell me the names of other people you learned about in church school?)

It is not just men who God has used as instruments of his love. This past fall our children learned about some of the women in the Bible.  And one of the greatest women of the Old Testament was Ruth.  She too is like the young boy of today’s story.  She sacrificed her chance to return home to her family and lead a comfortable life after all of Naomi’s sons died.  Because of her loyalty to Naomi and God, God blessed her by declaring her a child of Abraham, a Jew during a time when someone could only become a Jew by birth. And second, God honored by making her grandson, David, the first king of Israel. 

Finally, a most important woman of the New Testament, the Virgin Mary, who at thirteen or fourteen risked everything she had in life by saying yes to God, and willingly bore the pains of motherhood to become the mother of God.  Because she was willing to risk it all for God, Christ entered the world and all of humanity was redeemed.

The stories of the Young Boy and the other people I have mentioned tells us that God works through people and needs people like you and me to help bring about God’s work in the world.   When we were baptized our parents promised that we would seek to serve God.  We can all serve God if we simply ask God how we can help.  Every day there are stories of people who have done just that.  Children as young as 10 or 11 who have asked how they can help God and by doing so have helped to feed thousands of people, provided warm coats to the needy, and blanket to help homeless people keep warm.  All are ways in which they have been part of one of God’s miracles.

With Easter only three weeks away, I have a homework assignment for all of us.  Each morning as we awaken and thank God for yet another wonderful day to live, and ask God to do things for us, like helping us with our tests, or winning our next sporting event, all of which are perfectly good prayer requests.  But I also want you to add something new to yours prayers by asking God how you can help, then see what miracle you can become a part of.  Amen

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