Dear friends,
It’s good to be back with you in this space. I pray you are well. I pray you know God’s abiding presence with you this day and every day to come.
Here is today’s worship service in its entirety:
If you’d prefer to listen only to the gospel reading and sermon, you may do so here:
The sermon is based on Isaiah 55:1-5 and Matthew 14:13-21.
Isaiah 55:1-5
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Matthew 14:13-21
13Now when Jesus heard [about the beheading of John the Baptist], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
I’m so curious about the motivation of Jesus’ disciples in our gospel reading for today. Are they trying to protect Jesus? After all, he’s grieving the death of his friend, his cousin, the one who paved the way for him and baptized him in the River Jordan. He would have been in that deserted place by himself, as he intended, except that the crowds had followed him there. And they were in such need. And Jesus had compassion for them. So now, at the end of a long day, are the disciples trying to create some needed space for Jesus so that he can be alone to mourn?
Or, are they themselves tired? Are they looking for some rest for their weary bodies and spirits? Have they been overwhelmed by the volume of the crowd, the depth of the need?
Could it even be the case that they’ve been working alongside Jesus to offer healing for the sick that day? Earlier in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus has sent his disciples out with authority to cure every disease and sickness. Maybe they’ve spent the day responding to the great need of the crowd alongside Jesus. Maybe they’re ready to be done.
Or maybe, despite all that they’ve seen of Jesus’ ministry—all the miracles they’ve witnessed, all the hope and healing he has provided—when it comes to something so basic as food to eat they don’t see Jesus as their provider. They see the need, certainly. They see a great crowd of people who’ve been milling around all day and who are sure to be hungry. They see that they are in a deserted place; there are no resources readily available there—no restaurants, no grocery stores, no gas stations with something that could tide you over in a pinch, no McDonald’s, no Culver’s, not even a neighbor’s garden to sneak into and grab a tomato or a cucumber.
They see the need. But they don’t see the provider.
On the last day of June, I met with a spiritual director who listened so well as I shared the need that I saw all around me and deep within me. I had been trying to follow so many different scenarios to their logical conclusions and I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t see a way forward. I couldn’t see, even, the question that was at the heart of all the other questions. I saw need—all around me—but I didn’t see the provider.
Jane asked me, “Have you experienced God providing clarity in the past?”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “God has always made it abundantly clear to me the way forward. I feel it in my gut and I know that God is leading me.”
“Then, you can trust God to provide that same kind of clarity now,” she said so gently.
The disciples had witnessed Jesus throughout his ministry providing for the needs of the great crowds that followed him—healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sins. And they had even experienced him providing for them—in a boat, where a storm raged as Jesus slept, until finally they woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And Jesus provided. He woke up, and he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was calm.
But on this day, in this deserted place, they’ve somehow forgotten—just as I had—that the one who provided in the past is there to provide again, to provide still. Even in the face of overwhelming need. Even in a place where there appear to be no resources at all. Even there. Even then.
Part of my discernment this past month has been reading Rebekah Lyons’ book, Rhythms of Renewal. My friend, Amanda, and I are working on a worship/sermon series designed around the book and we’ll look forward to sharing that with you starting next week. I’m part of an online group in which Rebekah offers a facebook live bible study every Monday morning and throughout July we worked through the book of Philippians. It was such an overwhelming moment–a moment of great clarity, a moment for which I had prayed–when I listened to her work through the 4th chapter of Philippians.
These are the notes I took that day. I wrote them in my notebook, but God wrote them on my heart: God will supply everything you need. In Christ, you have all you need. God is your provision. That thing you feel most ill-equipped for? Whatever it is, God is doing something new, providing all you need.
The disciples, I believe, certainly felt ill-equipped. When Jesus tells them there’s no need to send the people away and instead commands the disciples, “You give them something to eat,” they reply, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” It’s not enough. It’s laughable, what we have to offer in the face of such need. It’s not enough. We’re not enough. We can’t feed 5,000 people. We can barely feed ourselves.
They’ve forgotten. Or maybe they never knew. Maybe they didn’t experience, until this very moment, that in Christ they have all they need. It simply isn’t true that they have nothing there but five loaves and two fish. They have five loaves and two fish and Jesus. They have their provider. They have the embodiment of God’s gracious invitation that we heard this morning in our reading from Isaiah: “You that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price…Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.”
Listen, God says. There is no need I can’t meet. Listen. I will make a way for you. Listen. You are not alone; you are never left with nothing. Listen. The need is great, but I am greater. Listen. I will supply everything you need to live.
To live, not just survive. To delight. To rise. To be satisfied. To be saved.
Listen. Bring what you have to me, even if it’s nothing but questions that seem to have no answers. Bring what you have to me, even if it’s nothing but tears and sighs and an overwhelming recognition of the need that surrounds you, the need you feel so ill-equipped to respond to. Bring what you have to me. And in my hands, it will be more than enough. You will be more than enough.
I will provide through you, God says. And the world will be fed. Amen.