Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Philippians 3:4b-14; Mark 6:30-44
The Apostle
Paul is writing to the Philippians from prison. Love this letter, because of all the joy Paul
expresses in it. He has discovered he needs nothing but his faith in Jesus.
He gives
us his credentials; he is a Hebrew, descended from the Tribe of Benjamin, and a
Pharisee, so he knows a lot about the Law. He claims he perfectly obeys the Law:
“as to righteousness under the law, blameless,” he says. What Law is he talking
about? He’s talking about the Torah,
which is the first five books of the Bible, and all the rules crafted to
interpret the Torah in daily life.
The Ten
Words (Christians call them the Ten Commandments) first define the relationship
between God and us: just as God chooses to have a relationship with us, we are
to choose to have a matching relationship with God: put God first and treat God
with reverence and respect. Then, the Ten Words define relationships between
people: treat each other with respect and mercy.
In the
end, Paul declares that being blameless before the Law is not important. What
does have value is the presence of Jesus Christ in his life. Even though he has
lost everything, Paul is content to know that he may attain resurrection from
the dead and whatever else lies ahead for him.
… In the wilderness with Jesus, the disciples and the crowd are hungry. They have been listening to Jesus for hours, and it’s time to eat. They suggest sending the people into nearby villages to find something to eat. But Jesus challenges them to feed the people themselves. The disciples are puzzled by this, so Jesus takes over.
What are
our resources? What food do we have on hand? He asks. “We have some bread and
some fish, enough for one person. That
won’t feed a crowd like this!” Jesus told the disciples to organize the crowd
into groups of 50 and 100. Then he took the bread and fish, blessed it, and
gave it to the disciples to distribute. When all had their fill, there were
leftovers.
The
Gospel writers, all four of them, include this story as a miracle. The food was multiplied by God’s blessing. Like the manna in the wilderness, there was
enough for all to be filled. I believe
God can do anything and making more food is easy, compared to creating an
entire universe. God can just snap the divine fingers or twitch the divine
nose, and poof, there is enough for all!
In
recent decades, however, some skeptical people have described the story of the
feeding of the multitude differently.
They insist that some of the folks had some food, and they decided to
share it. And that sharing was the miracle. That’s certainly an American individualistic
attitude. And it is definitely one way
to make sense of the abundance of food that day. We can apply it to our process
of developing a budget.
… It’s
easy to think of our resources the way the disciples did. It looks like we
don’t have nearly enough, but when we pool our resources, we have plenty, even more than enough. We tend to think in
finite terms. Like the disciples, we can count. There is $500 in the checking
account and bills for $495. We can pay the bills, but we can’t afford groceries.
Yet, in the mail is a check for $50, a refund for a returned item or a birthday
gift. Why did that check come on the
very day we needed it? I believe it’s God’s doing. God pays attention to our
resources and occasionally helps balance the budget.
… I saw this picture on Facebook the other day. It’s of a wine glass, half full of red wine. The caption says, “People who wonder if the glass is half full or half empty miss the point. The glass is refillable.”
As a
congregation we can think of the bank, or the food shelves, or the pews, as nearly
empty. But the emptiness is a temporary
condition. With God’s help, they can be
refilled.
Some of
you know this, and some of you haven’t heard.
A few years ago a congregation in Florida completed its mission and
closed, and their property was sold. The sale netted several million dollars
which have been set aside for grants within the Synod. The process is called
Vision to Action, or V2A.
This
first year, there is $60,000 available to give away. There have been 70
applications for grant money, out of 135 congregations. Obviously, only a few
grants will be awarded. But the side
effect of applying for a grant has been that many congregations have said the
process of applying, of crafting the application, got them so excited they
found they didn’t really need the money. They are going ahead with their
projects anyway. They discovered that their
glass had already been refilled!
… Here
are some things to ponder this week: This fall, as we as a congregation make
plans for the ministry we will do next year, how will you be part of the
abundance? Will you commit the 5 loaves and 2 fish that you already have, to share
with ULC? Will you be like Paul, content to have nothing but faith in Jesus? What
do you imagine we can do together with the gifts we have to share?
When we think that we already have an abundance, we can do so much more than we imagine. Amen
