Deuteronomy 15:9-11; Mark 6:31-44
I’m convinced we quite
often see, experience and welcome unexpected happenings that our human minds
cannot explain. Yet faithfully
acknowledging these as miracles comes
kind of slowly to many of us. We can all get so caught up seeking scientific
proofs and logical conclusions. It can
be hard to give space in our heads and hearts to honor holy mystery. It can be hard to accept that what we are
experiencing is powerful ongoing evidence of God’s life-transforming love. If
only we all could step back through time and stand beside Jesus when he was
fully with us in the flesh. We wouldn’t
miss one miraculous moment! Just imagine
what the event we just heard about from Mark’s Gospel would have been like to
experience …
The first disciples had
been working very hard for Jesus. So
much so, Jesus decided to give them a break so they could all relax and have a
bite to eat amidst all of their blessed busyness. They headed out by boat, intending to land
in an uninhabited spot. But they’d been
spotted leaving. Great crowds ran on
foot and arrived at that very spot before the Jesus boat arrived. So great were the demands of God’s suffering
children! As Jesus and crew pulled into
shore, it was immediately clear that there was no fatigue within Jesus deep
enough to turn off his holy compassion for all of them. He resumed his teaching.
It grew darker. Nobody had eaten. The disciples decided to tell Jesus that He
should send the crowds away. The
disciples thought it best the crowds go home to find nourishment for
themselves. Telling people to go take
care of themselves, however, wasn’t at all what Jesus had been teaching. So he quickly corrected his closest
students by commanding them to give all five thousand hungry folks some
food. But the disciples had only
brought enough food for themselves – five loaves and a couple fish.
They didn’t get a chance
to protest the command based on logistics.
Jesus immediately instructed them and the entire gathering to sit
down. Then He lifted up words of
thanksgiving and broke the bread. And
before anyone could blink, an enormous bounty of desperately needed nourishment
lay before them all. Absolutely everyone gathered around the Lord
had plenty to eat. So much so, there
were leftovers. Symbolically enough, there were twelve baskets
of leftovers for twelve disciples. The
message was clear – keep feeding the hungry.
Practically speaking, I
wonder what they did when it all became day old food. Was it still miraculous? And given the Thanksgiving holiday this week,
it’s a good time to ask -- what becomes of the leftover bounty from our homes
and our local supermarkets? Can this
food still be a miracle for someone in need?
Bible scholar Tom Wright
has an excellent, relevant point about this miracle story. He reminds us that we are meant “to make the
connection between Jesus’ compassion for the crowds and his action with the
bread and the fish. God’s kingdom is not
simply a matter of power, but also of overflowing love, and the two here go
inextricably together.”[i] Rev. Wright goes on to say that through
prayer and faithful action, these “strange acts” of Jesus were “signposts” on a
world awaiting God’s kingdom. Our
sacred responsibility is to point to these signposts of Scripture and do more
of the same until Jesus -- the Risen Lord, the true King of ancient Israel,
whose grace and mercy truly does reign over all people and powers of this world
-- has fully achieved His eternal mission.
One vital way we can do this
for our Lord is by finding faithful purpose for the nearly 100 billion pounds of wasted food in the
United States each year. I’ve also read that an estimated 25 – 40% of
food grown, processed and transported in the US will never be consumed. And I
understand more unused food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other
municipal waste, where it then converts to the potent greenhouse gas
Methane. These stark facts sit next to
the unjust reality that nearly 50 million people in our country – 1 in 6 –
faces hunger.[ii]
Praise God that our FPC
partnership with the Open Cupboard Food Pantry in Clinton continues Jesus’
miraculous feeding of the multitudes. This is no isolated location where disciples
only feed themselves. It’s where two
loaves and a couple frozen fish, among lots of other good items, are blessed
and given to neighbors in need. It’s
where the inexhaustible compassion and living presence of Jesus continues to
teach and heal. I stopped by this past
week for a tour and conversation with staff and volunteers. Now, I’m not one to name drop to bolster my
reputation. But I couldn’t help
dropping the name of one dedicated volunteer – our own Angela Mannion!
An average of 460 – 500
hungry neighbors with need of economic support visit the Open Cupboard every
month. They are then able to choose
from items donated in many ways. There
are those given with your support of the miracle box we have out in our
sanctuary narthex. There are those
gathered and given by way of other churches as well as schools, scouting
groups, various clubs, and compassionate individuals. Plus food gifted through children’s birthday
parties. These are in addition to minimal government
supplies, grocery items sent from the local Shop-Rite, and refrigerated food
bought with funds raised through the thrift shop and special events. And in any given week, if the Open Cupboard
has healthy leftovers, they donate them to other food pantries. Our imaginative step back into Mark’s
miracle story becomes much more real when we step into fruitful places such as
these.
If you want to explore
the stewardship of food at greater and a bit more radical depth with family and
friends, consider viewing and discussing a documentary film called “Dive.” I’ve only read about it in Christianity
Today magazine, but I do plan on doing as I suggest. It’s the story of a group of folks who
regularly go about “dumpster diving.”
We may gag at the thought, but they find so much still good stuff gets
tossed that can be fed to their families as well as homeless shelters,
distribution centers, and such. This
particular group finds that Trader Joe’s in the L.A. area are a great
resource. This action is also a
signpost of solidarity and social justice.
We can participate in
the spirit of this. Not by idly waiting
for Jesus to return, but by understanding that food isn’t an automatically
renewable resource for everyone. We
don’t have to necessarily dumpster dive, but we can question local grocery
stores about how they dispose of “expired” food and offer to take it or suggest
an alternate distribution plan such as sending it to the Open Cupboard.
Nineteenth century American
author Willa Cather has a character in her book Death Comes to the
Archbishop who expresses this related thought –
“Miracles seem to me to
rest not so much upon healing power suddenly near us from afar but upon our
perceptions being made finer, so that, for a moment, our eyes can see and our
ears can hear what is there around us always.”
I like this reminder to
focus our faithful perception, to strive to see and hear as the Body of Christ
in this world. Our Lord didn’t send
food down from the sky to feed thousands that miraculous day long ago -- he
multiplied and freely gave out what was right in hand.
As we come forward to
Christ’s table today, may your perception be made finer through prayer. There is much more than a morsel and a dip
here. It’s an eternal feast offered to
all God’s children hungry and thirsty for righteousness and salvation. Jesus stands with us at this table. Jesus feeds us. Jesus sends us out from it to feed the world
with Good News words and actions. We are all His disciples, carrying out baskets
of blessedness with the same love for our neighbors as we ourselves desire. Amen.
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