First United Methodist Church



Jim Benfer

Sermo1094 for 8-2-20, White, Holy Communion

Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:13-21

God’s Provision

A man’s wife had just bought a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger. She sat in front of the mirror for what had to be hours, applying the “miracle” products. Finally, when she was done, she turned to her husband and asked, “Darling, honestly now, what age would you say I am?”

He nodded his head in assessment, and carefully said, “Well, judging from your skin, twenty. Your hair, eighteen. Your figure, twenty-five.”

“Oh, you’re so sweet!” gushed the wife.

“Well, hang on,” he replied, “I’m not finished adding it up yet.” [1]

Not all miracles are created equal. The one we read of in our scripture this morning is the only miracle of Jesus recorded in all four of the original gospel accounts. Yes, because Mark’s gospel contains a later addition of the resurrection, this was the biggest miracle written about by the gospel writers. There’s more than meets the eye to it, and it was important to the early church. Let’s take a closer look at it.

The first faith lesson is that this story captures the truth. This story captures the essence of all the parties involved; the truth about Jesus and the truth about the disciples and the truth about God. But to get to the truth we have to tell the whole story. Matthew tells us of the long day of ministry in a solitary place along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. When it grew late the disciples are concerned that the people haven’t eaten, and so urge Jesus to tell them to go into villages and buy food for themselves. Nevertheless, Jesus commands the disciples to feed them. They balk at having to share the five loaves of bread and two fish that they had for themselves with the crowds, because how in the world will that feed five thousand men, plus the women and children? But we understand that God’s provision is miraculous, and the disciples haven’t quite understood that yet.

In another act of feeding just another chapter over in Matthew, Jesus feeds four thousand people who have been following him for three days. Again, his disciples are commanded to feed them, and again they balk and question where the food will come from. This time seven loaves and a few fish feed the crowd, and again there are leftovers.

After a short journey across the Sea of Galilee the disciples discover that they have forgotten to bring food for themselves, except for one loaf of bread. When Jesus hears them talking about it he chastises them, but it’s not about forgetting food. Jesus tells them to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.

And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, asked them:  "Don't you men get it?  Don't you understand?  Are you so hard headed?  Are you so hard hearted? You just saw the feeding of the five thousand and twelve baskets of bread which were left over.  You just saw the feeding of the four thousand and seven baskets of bread which were left over.  Don't you get it about who I am and about the abundant generosity of God? 

The truth is that Jesus proved he was the Son of God. The truth about the disciples and us is that we don’t trust in God’s provision, and the truth is that God cares about our needs.

The second faith lesson is that God is waiting for us to discover the truth. The disciples in our gospel story are slow to discover the truth about Jesus and the fact is that it is the same with us. We often don’t live generously as God wants us because we are too busy thinking about scarcity. That’s the way it worked soon as the Covid-19 scare started and people started hoarding toilet paper and other goods. Listen again to a true story of abundance.

“After months of hard work and years of saving, the day came for Reb and Jackay to open their own restaurant. All that was needed was the final health inspection and the issuing of their business permit. That was scheduled for first thing that morning; then "Our Place," as they called their restaurant would be in business.

But that morning the winds and rains of Hurricane Hugo hit, unexpectedly making its way 200 miles inland to their North Carolina town. Trees were uprooted, power lines were down, homes and stores were destroyed. Reb and Jackay hurried to their restaurant. Everything was intact.

A deputy sheriff pulled up and told them that their restaurant, the fire station next door and a service station down the road were the only ones that had electricity. Reb and Jackay called the health inspector to come immediately so they could open, but because of the power outage, he couldn't get into his office to issue the permit. No permit, no business opening. With a refrigerator stocked with 300 pounds of bacon and beef and bushels of tomatoes, lettuce and bread, there was only one thing to do: give the food away.

They told the deputy, "Tell your coworkers and other emergency people you see that we'll have free BLT's and coffee for anybody who want to drop by." Soon firemen, policemen, linemen and other workers were filing into Our Place. When the couple heard that another restaurant was scalping people by charging ten dollars for two eggs, toast and bacon, they placed a sign in their window: FREE BLT'S--FREE COFFEE. Families, travelers and street people were welcomed.

Then something began to happen. People started to clean counters and sweep floors. Volunteers took over the dish washing from Jackay and helped Reb at the grill. Having heard about what was going on at Our Place from the local radio station, people from a neighboring town that had not been too badly hit by the storm brought food from their freezers. Stores and dairies sent over chicken, milk and foodstuffs of all kinds.

And so the long day went. Those first cups of coffee and BLT's had somehow stretched to 16,000 meals. The restaurant's small stock increased by 500 loaves of bread, cases of mayonnaise, 350 pots of coffee and bushels of produce.”[2]

I don’t want to take away from our biblical miracle, but I imagine this could have occurred at that secluded place with Jesus.  The miracle of community happened.  People reached out and shared what they had till there was abundance.  The disciples, through the grace of Jesus learned to lead by example.  What we have in this story is the first example of paying it forward, and it was paid forward to the point of abundance. Perhaps this is why this story is found in all four of our gospels. We need it too.

The last faith lesson is about being fed spiritually. If God had been concerned about world hunger, then all of Jesus’ miracles would have been about food, but that’s not what the gospels tell us. It isn’t that God isn’t concerned about hunger, but the miracle of community should be enough to conquer it. No, Jesus came because people were perishing of spiritual hunger, and the food miracles were evidence that God wanted people to listen to what Jesus had come to say.

The truth of God’s intentions play out in some of Jesus’ best parables. God’s provision for his children is always told as a great heavenly banquet, or in the banquet of a bride groom. These stories aren’t about food, but about the great abundance of our heavenly Father, who wants to lavish spiritual riches upon us to our heart’s desire. Psalm twenty-three speaks about a banquet set for us where our enemies are excluded, and the table God sets for us is abundant to the point that our cups run over!

Nevertheless, here we are in world where real food shortage is a problem and people die of spiritual hunger. We find ourselves in the same shoes as the disciples, and Jesus is pleading with us to wake up and trust in God’s provision. No, we can’t see it when it’s even in front of our noses either, but God is waiting for us to do something about it. We are people of the truth, and we should recognize that God wants to bless our efforts, regardless of how doubting we may be. And we have the gift of community, even beyond these walls. Do you want to see a miracle? God’s provision is waiting just around the corner for us to call upon it. How about it? If we feed some real needs with God’s help, won’t he also help us to feed them spiritually? I don’t know about you, but I would like to be a part of those miracles. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

Devotional Thoughts

• In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus teaches about not worrying about what you will eat or drink, but to trust that your heavenly Father will feed you. What is it about Jesus’ teaching that bothers us?

• Not trusting God (believing God) is sin. That sin of not believing is like the yeast that makes the bread rise. If we allow it in to our lives won’t it puff us up with self-trust?

• Whether one believes that God multiplied the bread and fish or not is not the point of this message. What would God have us learn about trusting in His provision?

• What other areas of living does our scarcity thinking keep us from sharing God’s blessing?

• In the story of Reb and Jackay, does the couple perform a miracle or does God just use their trust to create it?

• Would people in our church think our Mexico mission possible unless they had witnessed it first? What had to change before they believed it possible to share in such a generous way?

• Why does God allow people to suffer famine when adequate food is available in other places? Perhaps we should ask ourselves, “Why do we allow it to happen?”

• If famine troubles our souls, shouldn’t spiritual famine trouble us just as much?

• What would help us to believe it is possible to cure both types of hunger?

• Even though we have the stories of the disciples’ inability to grasp the great provision of God, why do you think we still struggle with the same kind of unbelief?

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[1]

[2] From a sermon by By Reverend Doctor Joseph Shore-Goss, Neighbor

Aug 16, 2012 8:55 pm PT | Updated Aug 17, 2012 11:12 pm PT

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