Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 0-186 (Sermon)

INSTANT REPLAY (John 6:1-15)

John 6:1-15 – an instant replay of

1) Man’s miscalculation 2) God’s providence 3) Man’s management of resources

It was a strange thing for which to be ejected from a baseball game. A close call at 2nd base prompted the usual argument. Umpires will most often let a player speak his piece, but each umpire has a trigger. Say that one magic thing and you’re out of here! With former Major League Umpire Ken Kaiser, the magic words that will get a player an early shower is INSTANT REPLAY. Two players were ejected when they asked Kaiser to look at the INSTANT REPLAY of a disputed play.

There’s no escaping it–instant replays have become such a part of our lives that attending a game without one of those million dollar TV screen scoreboards leaves you looking by habit for the INSTANT REPLAY.

Today’s text, the feeding of the 5,000, is both an instant replay and a display of what God does every day in feeding a hungry world. Today’s text was a test for the first disciples. It is a lesson for us today 2000 years later.

First, we’ll see that it is an INSTANT REPLAY of man’s miscalculation.

This story is the only miracle recorded in all 4 gospels. The Holy Spirit must have thought it very important for us. Jesus gives the disciples a test to see if they understand Him, now that he has been with them for a year now. He may be doing the same thing with you and me more often than we realize. Those difficult times in your life, those days when you’re at your wits end, they may be an INSTANT REPLAY of this day when Jesus scheduled a “pop quiz” for his disciples.

A large crowd has been following Jesus for some time. This large crowd is now hungry. The disciples want Jesus to send them away. We say today that “supper is on your own.” They wanted the people to buy food in the nearby villages. But Jesus had another plan. He tells them: “You give them something to eat.” They said, “That would take 8 months of a man’s wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give them something to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Five and two fish.”

Master Teacher that he is, Jesus sees that he has to go back to square one with the disciples. They had already seen his miracle of changing the water into wine, but they hadn’t yet learned to apply it to their everyday lives. They give AN INSTANT REPLAY of man’s ongoing miscalculation. Worry is always a miscalculation of God’s power and of God’s love.

Martin Luther describes the disciples and us when he says: “They can calculate well (they can figure out how much food it will take to feed so many people), but they will not BELIEVE AND SEE WHAT A MASTER THEY HAVE IN CHRIST.” We have an instant replay of the same lack of faith whenever there’s trouble and we stumble over ourselves worrying because we just can’t see the way out. J.B. Philipps reminds us–whenever you worry, whenever you depend only upon human resources to solve a problem, YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL.

The story is told of the legendary college football Coach Woody Hayes. He said, “The first time I stood in the middle of the OSU Stadium, with its 86,000 seats staring down at me, I was shook up. My young son was with me and had hold of my hand. He must have felt my reaction, for he said, ‘But Daddy, the football field is the same size.’ “

No matter what your worries, God is the same size, God’s love is the same; God’s power hasn’t changed. Peter Marshall put it well in one of his prayers: “Lord, help us to do our very best this day and be content with today’s troubles, so that we shall not borrow the troubles of tomorrow. Save us from the sin of worry, lest stomach ulcers be the badge of our lack of faith.”

Now Jesus shows us how he provides for our needs and more. John writes: “Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about 5,000 of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they all had enough to eat, he said to the disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ “

Please remember that there are no parables in John’s Gospel. John often uses a miracle story to teach the way a parable does in the other Gospels. Here we see, in one great symbolic act, an unforgettable INSTANT REPLAY of some Old Testament miracles. In this one symbolic act, Jesus reminds us that He fed the Israelites in the desert for 40 years. God used the ravens to feed Elijah twice a day. Then there was the time when Elijah fed the widow and her son through God’s sustaining hand. The barrel of flour never got empty and the bottle of oil never ran out.

The worries of the disciples were an instant replay of our worries and the times when we try to be own god. When we worry, we are taking God’s burdens of providing for us upon our own backs. It’s a part of our work righteousness, actually. We’d much rather do it ourselves, rather than rely upon God’s grace, mercy and helping hand. Just as we are saved only by God’s grace through a living faith in Jesus, just so are we cared for and have our needs provided only by God’s grace. “The eyes of all wait upon you, 0 Lord, and you give them their food in due season, you open your hand and you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

Paul reminds us in Rom. 8: “God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us, he will also along with him, graciously give us all things.” God cared enough to send the very best, God sent His own Son. Surely this God, who went to so much trouble to take care of our sin problem through Jesus’ cross, will take care of our other needs as well.

It looked like an impossible situation that day. Jesus not only gave an instant replay of God’s care and keeping, but it was also a preview of the future. Don’t forget what we learned in the Creed: “I believe that God made me and all creatures; that he has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members and still preserves them; that he richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.”

There’s one more thing–Look at what happened after the feast was over. Jesus told them, “Let nothing be wasted.’; “So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”

But now the question comes: How are we doing with waste management? How are we doing when in minimizing waste? It’s good to see restaurants and stores helping the needy by giving to such organizations as Second Harvesters so that food otherwise wasted can be used by the needy.

It happened at Green Acres Elementary School near Santa Cruz, California. One of the trees bore a strange fruit–mostly sandwiches, but sometimes a cookie, a cupcake, an apple or an orange. It came from a seed planted by two teachers who were appalled at the large quantities of uneaten sandwiches discarded by the children. They suggested that wrapped sandwiches be placed under what children began to call the free-food tree; they would place them there for students who had come without a lunch or for those who had lost or forgotten theirs. The idea caught on. Some children asked their mothers to pack an extra sandwich, so they’d have one to put under the free-food tree.

And it’s not just food–it’s time, it’s caring, it’s compassion. Jesus said: (Matt 10) 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Linda Clare writes: My long hours working as a childcare provider often tempted me to complain about my job. Although I didn’t know what work God wanted me to do, I was sure it must be something other than “just” babysitting. Then one day, a father who came to pick up his toddler commented, “You taught Kasey to pray. She says grace at home now, and my wife and I are thinking of attending church.” God’s direction suddenly became clear. Now, when others ask what I do for a living, I smile and say, “I ‘just’ babysit for the Lord.” (In “Heart to Heart,” Today’s Christian Woman.)

Jesus said: Whatever you have done for others, you have done for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.