Fairhaven UMC

How are we aware of God’s presence and work? Are we aware of God’s presence and power over our daily lives? Where do we see, hear, feel, and even smell, then taste the glory of God? In a beautiful sunrise over a lake? In a baby’s laugh? in the twinkle in the eye of an older friend, in a well-needed meal and blanket, in a group stalking the outside food pantry, in a hug during the passing of peace in a service? Do you feel the glory of God in a sudden moment of peace during a hectic time? Are these simply the nice sides of the world or blessings of our God? The words I read at the beginning are from Psalm 149, the response of reading for today.

I want to look into the presence of God today, specifically during events called miracles. Let’s start with the Matthew 14 verses, the feeding of the 5,000. I want to set the scene. John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, had just been murdered. Jesus goes away. He wants to have some solitude. He was unsuccessful. The crowds followed him. Massive crowd followed him. It says 5,000. Of ain’t, it says that those are only the men. Those, of course, women and children don’t get counted. Probably 10,000 or at least a huge number of people. Regardless of the actual count, there was a massive amount of people there. Jesus took compassion on the people and started to heal them. in some of the other Gospels and this story is told in all four Gospels but in some of the other Gospels he preached to them or he preached and healed them so it’s however you want to take it he was there and it was going on most of the day so he had this enormous crowd doing all this healing and teaching and gathering and meeting people and the sun was starting to fall they’ve been there quite a long time if they were dismissed they’d have a hard time going down to the village because they’re in a remote area they’d have to get to the village and see what kind of food might be available in the village that evening depending on which gospel you read either Jesus spoke to the disciples or they came to him worried about the food for those people in the remote area.

Now, in preparing for this passage, I came to understand that the world of the first century Roman Empire was marked by significant inequalities regarding food access. A small group of the higher class, the ruling class, had a wonderful array of beautiful foods and all kinds, plenty there. But the large mass of people were subsistent living, or sub-subsistent living, barely getting by without the calorie intake, without the nutritional intake that they need. The line in the Lord’s Prayer, Give us this day our daily bread, is a response to these concerns of the people of their lives. Now the Bible is clear on God’s intent and God’s will to make hungry people fed. God provides manna in the wilderness. In Ezekiel 34, Ezekiel condemns Israel leaders or their shepherds for failing to feed the sheep, the people. The prophet Isaiah declares God’s will that people share your bread with the hungry. Hunger and feeding the hungry is a theme revisited throughout the Bible.

Now as an aside in preparing this, I wondered how the disciples actually divided the bread and the fish. I mean, this is me. I’m sorry. This is the $way my mind works. Think of the scene itself. Five loaves, two fishes, 12 or more disciples. I don’t know why, but I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to imagine the event actually happening. Our Lord Jesus takes the available food, blesses it, and divides it among the disciples. Now, I’m an ex-engineer and a camp cook. How does one divide five loaves? I mean, yeah, okay, pieces and pieces. that each take a part of the loaf and a handful of fish or did some pass out the bread and some sorry that’s me when I was a child my grandfather would come to town from Uniontown and he would often bring a gift for the for his grandchildren his nor at least the most memorable gift is when he would bring a big block of chocolate I mean a big block of chocolate like one of these used for baking. First off, it wasn’t a full block. I guess he got it from bins or something and it was like broken blocks. So this block broke a block. Then as you parents know, you have to divide the block evenly between your children. And we had seven. Take an uneven block of chocolate, divide between seven kids. Sometimes dad got the odd end just to match things up. But that’s kind of rough. So how did they rip the bread and give it? Did they give evenly? Did you, know, all this, assuming that the fish was cooked or smoked, obviously. And how did it multiply? Perhaps they had their sacks. They all had traveling sacks. Perhaps they put the bread in the sacks and they passed the sacks around and then every time someone reached in, there was still bread in there. Now there’s precedence for that in the Bible, so that’s a possibility.

In verse 20 it says, everyone ate until they were full, and they filled 12 baskets with the leftovers. Now there’s a question about baskets, and there was actually a commentator that was saying that they did have these travel sacks, So it could have been the sacks, not these big baskets you see in the Sunday school pictures where they come while waddling back with these huge baskets, but a traveling sack. But still, everyone was fed, everyone was full, and there was bread left over. Okay. I’ve heard some say that this might not be a supernatural thing, but rather the overflowing of the Holy Spirit, that people found generosity and they started contributing. You know, there’s presence for that. We see it happen during an emergency, during a tornado. I was at a church this past week, and they talked about a family down the street they didn’t know who had a fire that destroyed everything. And then by that night, the church had provided clothes and items and things they needed to help reconstruct their lives. So it’s a possibility. However, the explanation does not consider the power of Christ in God. Jesus, who calmed the seas, who healed many, who walked on water, who changed water into wine, could he not provide food for a crowd? God, who provided manna for the Israelites in the wilderness, could provide food for 5,000 and for the 4,000 in this story that follows the next chapter of Matthew.

hey it’s a good deal for the Israelites they got a dinner and a magic show oh in first kings 17 the prophet Elijah was sent by God to a widowed woman for food when he came to the town gate of the widow was gathering was there gathering sticks he called to her and said would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink as she was going to get it he called, and bring me, please, a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don’t have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I’m gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. Elijah said to her, don’t be afraid, go home and do as you have said, but first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me. Then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord says. The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. So she went away and she did as Elijah told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the women and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up, and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

Miracles. Mark 9.23 says, Everything is possible for one who believes. This shows that with faith God can do the impossible. In that Mark 9, a father brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus after the disciples were unable to heal him. Jesus told the father, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. And the father responded, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. This statement is odd but deeply human. The Father confesses belief, yet asks for help to overcome lingering doubt. It demonstrates that faith is not always perfect or complete, and it is acceptable to seek God’s help in strengthening it. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Expresses a heartfelt plea for God’s assistance in strengthening faith, even amid doubt.

Now, another aspect of the feeding of the 5,000 and all the other miracles that keeps coming up is the actions taken by the disciples or those who believed. A person must step out in faith. In stories of healings, people took sometimes extraordinary efforts to even bring their loved ones to Christ and even argue with them on their faith in hopes of receiving healing. You know these stories from Sunday school. The lifting of the mat through the roof. The arguing with Jesus when he says that, oh, it falls to him. This is pearls are for, you know, not for the swine. Even the dogs take the crumbs. Persistence. As we step out in faith, we are trusting that God will walk with us and that we will receive his blessings along our way. Reverend Michael Johnson writes, I want you to pause and reflect on the significance of this miraculous feeding. Jesus shows us that with faith and trust in him, there is always an abundance, even in situations where human logic would dictate scarcity and lack. This event underscores the importance of having faith in God’s ability to provide for all our needs, no matter how impossible the situation may seem. So the next time you face a daunting challenge or feel the resources are limited, remember this verse and let it remind you of the limitless power and presence of our Lord.

Now the Romans reading today is about Paul expressing his deep sorrow for the unbelief of the Israelites in Rome. He highlights the privileges and blessings they were given as God’s chosen people. Paul says they are Israelites. The adoption of God’s children, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises belong to them. Paul is so despondent that he offers himself as a sacrifice to their faith. He says, I wish I could be cursed, cut off from Christ, if it helps my brothers and sisters who are my flesh and blood relatives. They had forgotten the blessings they had received from God, just like the Israelites who complained to Moses soon after they escaped from slavery. Once life becomes better, it’s easy to forget the God who we cling to during our times of stress. my serendipity study bible posed some interesting challenges relating to the romans passage which also fit with the praise psalm where we began it asks what are five benefits in your my spiritual life that have come to me because of where i live how might these benefits blind me to the aspects of God’s saving grace and what will I do to ensure that this does not happen We can easily get the lulled into a sense of this is every day this is expected Have I become complacent? Do I not see the miracles that God provides every day? How can I remain amazed at the presence of Christ in my life and in the life of each person I meet?

So I ask you the same questions that I started with. Where have you seen God this week? Where have you heard him? Feel his presence. Is he walking along with you? There are blessings, miracles all around us. We need to be sensitive to see them and to remember to praise God for them. Let us pray. Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings that we cannot see. Help us to open our eyes to your presence in our world. With a song of praise, we will bless your name. Amen.