July 31, 2005

THERE IS PLENTY!

(Matthew 14:13-21)

A Sermon by Gordon E. Simmons, Pastor

Reformation Lutheran Church

    The disciples thought they had an insurmountable problem, and that the only answer was to send the people away and let them solve the problem themselves.  Jesus had developed such a reputation for healing people – everywhere he went the sick were cured – that large crowds were attracted.  One evening, somewhere out in the wilderness, at least 5,000 men, plus the women and the children had gathered around him.  It may be,  with the women and children, that there were 15-20,000 people there.  That’s a possibility.  Or perhaps, it was mostly the men and only a few women and children.  Even today, when you see pictures of crowds in the Middle East, sometimes all you see are the men.  The women and children didn’t travel much; then tended to stay home.  In either case, it was large crowd, bigger than all but a few cities in Israel in those days.  They came to hear the Messiah, and they were not disappointed.  But when evening came, the disciples discovered that there wasn’t any food.  People didn’t have coolers to take along on a hot day.  The disciples saw that they had a public relations problem on their hands – a big crowd and no food.  “Send the people back into the villages, and let them buy food for themselves” – that was all that the disciples could think of.  But Jesus took what they had – fives loaves of bread and two fish – and he fed the great crowd.  There was plenty – plenty to go around – when it was all done, there were twelve baskets of food left over.  “There is plenty of food here,” Jesus said.  “Look around; there is already more than enough.

          I just returned from two weeks out west – in Arizona and Colorado.  There is some beautiful scenery out there, and we saw a lot of wildlife.  Rabbits scurrying, sometimes in groups of six or eight, across the desert.  Coyotes lurking around, looking for their next meal.  Mule deer, large deer with big ears, hiding in the woods in the mountains.  And birds, beautiful birds.  There was a little family of quail – walking across  the road – a mother and a father and half a dozen babies, tiny little birds weighing only a couple of ounces, in a little line, all hurrying to keep up and to stay out of danger.  In the Grand Canyon, there were condor, birds once almost extinct, but nursed back to life in captivity and now released again.  The condor have wing spans of 9 ½ feet – these are big birds!  We stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon one morning watching four or five condor flying around, looking for prey.  One of the rangers who led a hike one morning stopped to tell us that he loved birds.  He said, “Don’t ever start watching birds – you’ll never get over it.”  One time, he told us, he drove eight hours just to see one bird.

     Last weekend we worshipped in a church in a little ski village in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  It was a church called “Lord of the Mountains Lutheran Church.”  It sat on the edge of a mountain.  The building had some similarity to ours, in the sense that it had large open windows over the altar and on the sides.  But instead of being able to look out onto Vernon Road or into our neighbors’ back yards, we could see the mountains.  Some still had snow on them.  And below a beautiful canyon, covered with trees.  It was raining during the service, thundering through the heavens, and the preacher told us a story about a bird.

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     She said the ivory-billed woodpecker had been thought to be extinct.  Since 1944, no one had seen one.  Eventually it was put onto the list of extinct species.  Everybody knew the ivory-billed woodpecker was extinct.  But last year – this was apparently reported this spring in “Science” magazine – 17 birdwatchers verified that they had seen an ivory-billed woodpecker.  It happened near a town in a swampy area in eastern Arkansas.  It was absolutely solid evidence.  The ivory-billed woodpecker has now been moved from “extinct” to “endangered”.  Apparently this discovery has already had quite an impact on the little town in Arkansas were the bird was spotted.  The people there are gearing up for a lot of tourism.  The residents expect that people from all over the world are going to come to see the ivory-billed woodpecker.  They are anticipating crowds of people.  The local diner already has a woodpecker sandwich.  It’s just a hamburger, but it has special cheese and sauces on it.  The local beauty shop now has a woodpecker cut – the sides of the hair are black, but there is a red Mohawk across the top.   The people in this little town in Arkansas are expecting great things from the ivory-billed woodpecker.  Some of the townspeople are beginning to wonder why they never saw the bird before.  One man said, “I guess it was there before, and I just never looked.”   And a woman said, “I’ll bet I’ve seen it many times; I just didn’t know what I was seeing.” 

     Jesus told the disciples that there was plenty of food; they just didn’t see it.  The disciples wanted to send the crowds away.  “Let them take care of themselves.”  That’s what the disciples were thinking.  They didn’t see enough food to feed all these thousands of people.  But Jesus told the disciples, “Don’t send the people away.  Just give them something to eat.”  And the disciples said, “But all we have are these five loaves of bread and two fish.”  Jesus said, “Bring them to me; it will be enough.”  So he had the crowds sit down in the grass, and he took the five loaves and the two fish and he looked up to heaven and he blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  And all ate and were filled, and when they picked up the broken pieces, there were twelve baskets full left over. 

     There was plenty of food there.  They just hadn’t seen it.  The power of God can do great things.

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     Over on Ogontz Avenue there is a church called “The Church of the Broken Pieces.”  I always thought it was a pretty strange name for a church.  I don’t know anything about the church;  all I know is that it is a little store front church with a sign up on top which says, “The Church of the Broken Pieces.”  I always figured that there were a lot of people in that church who had had hard times and who remembered their brokenness. After reading today’s text, though, now I suspect that what the founder of that church did was to take the name from Matthew, chapter 14, verse 20.  The broken pieces were what was left over.  The broken pieces were a sign of the abundance of God. They had so much, they had pieces left over.   There was plenty of food.  They just hadn’t seen it.  The power of God can do great things.

     We live in a world where sometimes it seems like there is not enough food to go around.  I’ve been in Haiti, where people have almost nothing.  When you go into the little villages in the mountains, people get along with almost nothing to eat.  I’ve been in Tanzania, where meat is a luxury.  If you only own two chickens and a goat, you don’t eat meat very often.  You get along with a few fruits and vegetables, and perhaps a little meal made from flour.  Even in our country; where there is so much abundance, there are some people who go hungry every night.  People who live in houses where the cupboards are bare; families where there just isn’t enough to go around.  We  live  in  a  world  where sometimes it seems like there is not enough food.  And the problems seem like they are overwhelming.  How are we ever going to feed all these hungry people?  We are tempted to be like the disciples.  “Let them take care of themselves.”  But there is plenty.  This is what Jesus is saying.  There is plenty.  We live in a world where God has given great abundance.  There is plenty of food around; there are more than enough resources.  If we would only learn to share.  We live in a world that has chosen to use God’s resources for destruction.  Bombs are set off – strapped to people’s backs or hidden in the bottom of trucks or dropped from high speed airplanes or carried in missals.   Our world spends trillions of dollars every year on destruction.  There are plenty of resources to feed people.  If we would only use what we have in the right ways.  If we would only share.  Jesus says “There is plenty.”  It is right here in our midst.  Sometimes, like the ivory-billed woodpecker, sometimes the answers are all around; we just don’t see them.  Jesus says “There is plenty.”  We can depend upon the abundance of God.

     When we come here on Sundays, we sometimes feel empty spiritually.  We get down on ourselves; we get discouraged; we feel guilty; it seems like there is not enough love to go around.  What are we going to do?  How are we going to keep on going?  And what does the church have to offer this morning?  Only a little bread, and a little wine.  It’s not very much for all these people.  But we will come, and we will eat and we will drink.  And – you can believe this – there will be plenty.  We will go away filled, because this is the food of the Lord and it is in abundance.  In fact, there will be broken pieces left over.  God’s love for us never runs short.  There is plenty.  Sometimes we don’t see what is in the midst of us, but God’s love is never in short supply. 

     The people in the town in Arkansas may be right.  That little bird may just change their town.  Actually, it was there all along.  They just didn’t see it.  The love of God is ready to change the world.  It is all around us, in great abundance.  The love of God can multiply our efforts to feed the hungry.  There is plenty of food.  And the love of God can fill the emptiness in our lives.  There is plenty.  God’s love is never in short supply.  Don’t underestimate it.  Don’t fail to see it.  Come, let us eat together.  There is plenty.  We can rely upon the abundance of Jesus.  This is Good News.  Thanks be to God.

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