Jesus Plan for Adequacy

July 30, 2006 - John Wesley United Methodist Church, Falmouth, Massachusetts

John 6:1-21 - (Ephesians 3:14-21)

"…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." –Ephesians 3:19b

A PRAYER, AND A STORY

The lesson from Ephesians is a prayer Paul prayed for the church there in Ephesus. In that prayer the apostle asks that God will not only live in the church, but that the church will be filled with God's power and love, filled to overflowing. Then he adds that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly even more than we can ask or even think. It is a prayer for adequacy.

The gospel lesson seems to have no connection whatsoever to this grand prayer. But it does! It is probably dangerous to do theology out of stories; that is, to take a story and then define doctrines from them. But stories wonderfully illustrate good doctrine. And the gospel passage is about Jesus being there when we need him- and that is adequacy,

NO ONE EVER SURPRISES JESUS

The gospel lesson today has two parts. The first begins with the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

This was such a remarkable miracle that all four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, include it in their version of the story of Jesus. It is interesting to read them all and see the little variations. But one thing comes through clearly, there were a lot of people and not very much to feed them with. Some of the disciples said, "Send them home!" But Jesus had other things in mind. (verse 6 "(Jesus)… had in mind what he was going to do.")

As I said, all four gospels tell the story, but only John tells us where they got the five loaves and two small fish. John tells us that it was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, who said, "There is a lad here… with five small barley loaves and two small fish… but what are they among so many?"

Andrew noticed a small boy, and brought him to Jesus. We only see Andrew a couple of times—Peter his brother got all the headlines. But every time you see Andrew in the Bible he is bringing someone to meet Jesus!

Everything we do for Jesus is part of a team effort. That is the way it is. That is the way it is supposed to be. Andrew couldn't feed the 5,000. He didn't have ANY food. But he could look around and encourage someone who DID have food to be a part of the plan. The little boy with the loaves and fishes couldn't possibly feed the 5,000. But he could and did give his lunch to Jesus! Jesus COULD have called down bread from heaven- BUT HE DIDN'T! AND HE DOESN'T! But Jesus could, and did, take what Andrew and the lad brought to him, and there was enough! No- actually—there was MORE than enough!

We don't know why the young lad had five loaves and two fishes there- or what he had intended to do with them. But there they were- gone! True, he had a meal. But if he had been supposed to have some left over—well—Jesus told the disciples to gather up the fragments. "Don't waste any good food!" And the disciples gather up twelve baskets full!

The boy had as much bread and fish as he could carry, and yet there was more!

What is the 'theology' of this story? It would seem to me that you can't go wrong in giving what we have to Jesus. We can trust him with our treasure.

Maybe I shouldn't bring it up here, but this reminds me of a different kind of story about giving. In the 5th chapter of Acts there were two disciples that wanted to make a show of their giving. No one told them they should give, or that they had to give- but they saw how others were bringing gifts, so they pretended to give a gift 'so big,' but they really gave for show, and held back most of the profit.

Their names were Ananias and Sapphira, and they lied by pretending to be big givers when they were not. The end of their story was tragic. But I'll bet you never heard a sermon about them!

JESUS HAS LOTS OF SURPRISES FOR US WHO LOVE HIM!

The second part of the lesson began when Jesus sent the disciples back across the lake by themselves. Evidently Jesus still wanted to have some quiet time alone, so he sent them back across the corner of the lake to Capernaum, their home base, where Peter lived.

Now it is important to remember that the disciples were doing their best to obey Jesus. The disciples went because Jesus sent them. He told them to go. But while they were obeying, what started out to be just a little sail in fairly calm waters became a 'very interesting' session with very fresh wind and rising seas. Even though they were doing what Jesus told them they were in a big storm!

Meanwhile, Jesus had finished his prayers and decided he would walk back to Capernaum. Only instead of going around the lake shore ten miles or so he decided to cut straight across, maybe four or five miles. ACROSS the lake.

It must have been a full moon behind the storm clouds that night, or maybe there was actually some sort of glow around Jesus as he walked because there was enough light for the disciples to see this form striding through the storm, catching up with them- and starting to go past. It scared the living wits out of them!

"Don't be afraid!" It was that familiar voice. "It is I!" Jesus knew where they were, and soon everything was back to whatever normal is supposed to be. (Matthew also tells of the adventure of Peter, who dared to try water walking for himself!)

How about the 'theology' of this part of the story? What I'm getting is that even when we obey Jesus as best we can we are not exempt from the storms that blow. But we can and do have the assurance that Jesus knows where we are. And Jesus is with us! He will not abandon his own!

SUMMARY

A PRAYER FOR OVERFLOWING FULLNESS

In the epistle lesson (Ephesians 1: 15 – 22) Paul's prayer for them, the Ephesian Christians, and for us here today, is that we might find that overflow- the twelve baskets of fragments- that richness of spirit that comes from belonging lock, stock, and barrel to Jesus. We all have only five loaves and two fish—and if we hang on to them—or even if we give them away one by one as we think best- in the end not much will happen.

But I believe with all my heart that when we do our part in God's scheme—whether it is like Andrew simply saying to Jesus "There is a boy here!" or to the boy or girl or neighbor, "There is a Savior here!" Or whether it is bringing our lunch to Jesus, or to someone who needs it in Jesus' name—when we do our part in God's scheme we will begin to know how Jesus works.

Nothing ever surprises Jesus! He knows what he intends to do!

We can all have the fullness of God's blessing if we really want it! This prayer cannot be frustrated, except by our own carelessness or sin. The fact that we all have burdens, or hard times, or challenges cannot keep us from being God's people.

We've all been through storms of life. I don't like them! When I'm in a storm I pray for God to help me through. And maybe sometimes the worst storms are when you care about a loved one, or feel a brother or sister's pain and don't think there is anything you can do. But when the storms come, watch out! Jesus surprised the disciples in that storm on Galilee.

And Jesus never stops surprising his own! As St. Paul wrote in another letter: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"- 1 Corinthians 2:9

Amen. Let us pray: