The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
John 6: 1-21
The Venerable Ralph Leavitt, Honorary Associate Priest
What an excellent week it has been. For a lot of reasons.
One of my disciplines is to read the Sunday’s scriptures on Monday before, I choose one to concentrate on, and then have it in my mind throughout the week. I must admit that I did not want to be thinking about David’s adultery and planning a murder all week long, so I chose the Gospel reading with it’s miracles.
I think Jesus walking on the water is perhaps the very first miracle you hear about in Sunday school. Walk on water, you are astounded. But right beside it in the Gospel of John is the feeding of the 5000, one of God’s biggest miracles, and if you include the women and children who were present, it is actually the feeding of the 10,000. Wow!
In any case, one of the articles I looked at called this miracle “the miracle of abundance”. I think this is an excellent name for it. Providing food for 10,000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fish showed God’s incredible abundance and generosity. This miracle brought people from “not enough” to “more than enough” in many ways.
To sidetrack just a bit, it is important to realize why Jesus did miracles. First and foremost he did them because it was the will of God, and Jesus always followed the will of his Father. Another word used in the Bible for miracles was “signs”. For instance, people were always asking Jesus for a `sign`. Signs were meant to point to something larger and more important. Signs I feel, are a bit like sacraments, for sacraments are an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. They point to something bigger.
In our church we celebrate two sacraments, baptism and communion. With baptism we use the symbol of water which is the outward and visible sign, to celebrate death to sin and new birth to righteousness, which is the inward and invisible grace.
With communion the bread and wine are the outward and visible signs, and as we take communion, we consume the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our souls and bodies are strengthened and refreshed unto eternal life, this is the inward and spiritual grace at work.
With this in mind, Jesus did miracles not so people would be impressed by him, but rather that people would come to know the abundance of a loving and generous God, and that they would be transformed by it.
So let us look more closely at the miracle of the loaves and fishes with this in mind. In the reading we can note several things
- Before the miracle Jesus went up the mountain – no doubt to pray and to know the Father`s will.
- Secondly, it was the time of Passover, this was the most important religious time of the year. So this `sign` from Jesus will be important.
- The number of people, some 10,000 was impressive.
- If we look at what was available, we are shocked to note the scarcity of food, only 5 loaves and 2 fish
- Another interesting thing is that it is a boy who has this food. Children were counted as nothing in Jesus` day. The food is coming from someone who has no status and did not count!
- Jesus tells everyone to sit down. This was different too. People always stood in front of a teacher, it was the teacher who was allowed to sit. Jesus tells the crowd to sit, giving them the honour.
- Then Jesus gives thanks – in verb the Greek being eucharisto, meaning to give thanks. It is the word from which we get Eucharist. Note that Jesus does not just bless the food, but gives thanks for it, and for the miracle that God is about to perform.
- Amazingly enough Jesus distributes the food himself, he does not ask the disciples to help. No doubt he goes around touching and healing people also. Jesus gets to look into every ones eyes, bringing the love of God to everyone.
- Interesting enough Jesus is specific about what remains. The disciples clean up and there are 12 baskets of leftovers! Jesus wants nothing lost. In one way, the fragments are what we are left with today. Praise God.
All these things speak of the magnitude of the miracle that Jesus performs and the abundance he provides..
I think it is most important that we never diminish the magnificence of this miracle to try and fit it into our vision or rationale, but rather, quite the opposite, we must expand our rationale and our vision in order to see God’s majesty, to see the incredible abundance of God’s providence.
As I said, this has been an excellent week. Why? Because since Monday I have tried to see, feel, recognize and embrace God’s abundance all around me. In everyday life. And it has been everywhere.
We have just spent two weeks up at our cottage in the Laurentians. And ironically I found the best way to see and feel God’s abundance was to do nothing, nothing but just sit on the porch, looking at the lake and the rolling hills. I did nothing. Said nothing. No cell phone beside me. I just heard the birds, admired the vegetation, watched the shimmering lake, and thanked God for the abundance all around me in creation.
We had a visit with one of our daughters and her two girls aged 3 and five. At first, my granddaughters were a bit wary, not only of us, but our dog Hannah too. I wondered what I might do with them. Again, ironically, the simplest of things was a big hit. I said, “Want to go on an adventure with Grandpa? Let’s walk down the road.” So we walked only about 100 feet. They were very happy to swing on a rope hanging from a tree. And, they informed me, that the ladder to the tree house was broken! Then we picked some wildflowers. Nothing fancy at all, some almost weeds. They were thrilled to be making a bouquet. And the joy in their face was abundant when they gave it to Mama. Simplest of flowers brought so much joy. Joy in abundance from God’s creation.
And as a PS, they were thrilled to watch our dog Hannah jump off a rock into the lake and swim. My daughter later informed me that they loved swimming with the dog the most!
I don’t want to go on with my experiences, but rather I want to encourage you to do the same. With the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 in your mind, and remembering God’s incredible abundance, go out this week and do nothing! Simply look around and see the signs of God’s abundance everywhere. In nature, in your work, in your play, in your family, at your table, in other people, in the church, in the eyes of strangers. For God is at work in everything and everybody. Miracles abound if we open our eyes to them.
So realize the abundance that God wants for you and for all of us. An abundance that transcends the life of the physical and finite and leads us to become one with Him whose bounds know no end. If we follow Jesus towards abundance we will be in touch with how God has been working in our lives, and we will bear witness to the light, life, and love that God restored in us. After all, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.
So may God bless you as God reveals God’s glory, love and abundance to you. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
