Pentecost 9 L17 B

Here we are in the middle of the summer, and it’s time for a good ol’ sermon series. Actually, this sermon series is already laid out for us in the Revised Common Lectionary (the three year cycle of readings that many churches use to hear a wide variety of scripture together) which assigns five Sundays in a row to a journey through the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John in which Jesus is described as the Bread of Life. If you remember ever sitting through an entire month of sermons about bread, now you know why! Besides making my stomach growl, this series of readings about Jesus and bread is a rich collection of remarkable statements about who Jesus really is.

I was recently talking with a young person in the congregation who asked me, “How can Jesus be God and God’s son?” Great question. And while I clumsily struggled to explain what was an unsatisfying answer, the Gospel of John draws us into a deeper understanding of…a belief…a faith in Jesus Christ.

There are certainly more than these, but here are five claims about Jesus that the sixth chapter of John makes:

• Jesus is known in abundance, not scarcity…faith, not fear
• Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Word of God, the I AM
• Jesus is God-with-us, somehow mortal & immortal
• Jesus is a never-ending feast for all people
• Jesus is offensive (and also the Holy One of God)

So first: Jesus is known in abundance, not scarcity…in faith, not fear.

I’ve been thinking about scarcity recently… [Story of dinner panic at the Gathering]

So, as I reflected on this story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, the first thing that stuck out at me was the big crowd of hungry people.

I have to confess that I’ve always thought about this crowd of 5,000 as a humongous church picnic. Smiles, relaxation…maybe some face painters and folks walking around making balloon animals for the kids…But maybe my experience at last week’s Gathering is weighing on me…because now I’m seeing this crowd differently.

Now I’m seeing five thousand people who were tired, hungry, and in many cases, suffering from diseases, disabilities, and other crises all assembled around Jesus — wanting something from Jesus. Some were local, many others had showed up from out of town. This was five thousand of some pretty socially undesirable people that were gathering in public. If you’ve ever been to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa…this is twice as many people as can fit in that theater. I have no doubt that if they were to gather in our day, they would be labeled a mob and the National Guard would be called in for crowd control.

Whenever you have a large group of people hungry and desperate for anything, things can get out of hand extremely quickly: In 2014, fewer than 5000 people who were waiting on a specialty craft beer at Cigar City Brewing Company in Tampa sparked a riot when there wasn’t enough — that’s right — fancy beer for everyone. The police were called, and fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

So I’m imagining that there would be some cause for concern among the disciples when they realize they are standing in the epicenter of a 5,000 person strong mob of hungry and distressed persons, and all they have to eat is five loaves of bread and two fish. I would be afraid.

The power of scarcity is strong. It creates fear. It causes us to make bad decisions. I know that just missing one meal can turn my happy family into enemies. I like to think of myself as civilized and balanced, but if I’m honest, I’m mostly held together by the fact that I’ve got extra snacks stored in my desk drawer, a credit card in my wallet, and an address book of people that would help me in an emergency. What if I didn’t have those things? And even with that safety net, I know that I still make decisions guided by fear.

It’s not just a scarcity of food that drives us. We fear that there won’t be enough recognition of our good works. We fear that there won’t be enough love to go around. Maybe if we don’t secure and maintain our place in society, in the market, than someone might take it from us.

God operates at a level — and invites us to operate a level where scarcity is not the driving factor, but rather abundance.

Knowing full well that the disciples perceived scarcity, Jesus still asks them about how to feed all these people.

“Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”” (John 6.7 NRSV)

Philip focuses right on the scarcity, the fear. I have to wonder if Philip is a little angry with Jesus on this point. “Jesus, you’re the one that asked us to give up our PAYING JOBS to follow you, and now you’re asking us to host the world’s most expensive dinner?”

Although he doesn’t fully believe it…Andrew, another disciple, takes a step forward. He notices a gift in the middle of scarcity…a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish.

And then, my favorite part: in the midst of a desperate mob, in a desert of resources, in the middle of 5,000 needy people, Jesus actually takes a laughably inadequate portion of food and gives thanks. To my eyes, and probably to your eyes, five loaves of bread and two fish looks like an insult to 5,000 people. Jesus gives thanks and starts distributing, and distributing until each and every person has enough.

Jesus operates in our lives to create abundance — I believe that to be true. I have seen it again and again. But it’s not the abundance we are usually tempted to think about. When I think of abundance, I’m tempted to think of a bunch of stuff with my name on it. I think of a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds that belongs to me and supports my family. God also think of abundance — but not quite the same way. I believe that God sees abundance in this way: it’s you and I fully using the gifts we have — even if they seem insultingly small. Not abundance in accumulating more and more, but abundance in being more and more who we are called to be. Doing more and more what we are called to do.

This is the general idea — certainly the biblical idea — behind the congregation, the church. God does not measure our abundance in how large our building is, or how complete our bank account is. God promises us abundance as we channel our gifts and use our love for the neighbors around us. There is the real potential for this same kind of feeding-of-the-5000 miracle to take place through Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.

[Story about Joyce]

Our abundance will not look like a tall tower of glory reaching into the sky, but rather a broad circle of love reaching out from this point and sharing daily bread with our neighbors around us. And standing at the middle of that point is Jesus. This is who Jesus is. Jesus is abundant love.