August 6, 2017 Matthew
14.13-21 “What Do You Mean ‘Nothing Here’? ” Pastor Jacqueline Hines
How wonderful it is to be in the church this
morning. This is the house of God. It is our treasured time with God. [slide # 1 man on bench with
Jesus] God has gathered each of us for the purpose of nurturing us,
reminding us of God’s greatness and God’s divine purpose for us, reminding us
of the paths that lead to right living and warning us of the wretchedness of
our wrongdoing. This is where God particularly chooses to lavish God’s
affection upon us. Everything and anything we need can be found in God’s house.
This is a place of warm fuzzies, laughter, peace and joy, good food and fun. [slide # 2 jumping for joy]
Crowds follow Jesus today just as they did two
thousand years ago as Matthew says in verse 13 13Now when Jesus heard
this, [that is when he heard that his cousin John the Baptist had come under
religious persecution and been murdered] he withdrew from there in a boat to a
deserted place by himself. Jesus was in mourning. He was embattled. One of his
leading men, John was dead. It felt like defeat at the hands of the wicked. But
when the crowds heard the news, [that is when they heard about the religious
persecution and murder of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist] they followed Jesus
on foot from the towns to that deserted place where Jesus was trying to mourn
and have some quiet time to heal from his loss. [slide # 3 verse 13….the crowds followed Jesus]
The crowds followed. They surely understood
that when you speak out for what is true and right like Jesus did, somebody is
going to be mad at you…they might do you wrong….they might even kill you. The
crowd understood.
Word had gotten around quickly, and they did
not even have cell phones or Facebook. News travels fast in every age and every
culture. Thousands of men and women, boys and girls heard the sad news and
followed Jesus. It seems reasonable to believe that they were all Jesus-
sympathizers, that they understood how rotten it was to endure religious
persecution and that they felt compassion for Jesus in the loss of his cousin
John the Baptist at the murderous hands of Herod’s ruling government.
Evidently, Jesus had gone out on a boat to get
away and mourn because verse 14 tells us that [ slide # 4 verse 14 …he went ashore] 14When
he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; the crowd
that followed Jesus reminds me of one of those good flash mobs that get
a text message and meet at a mall and decide to surprise the public with
beautiful dance and music. Perhaps they came to surround Jesus with their
beautiful presence, words of comfort and encouragement, songs that brought
peace. Perhaps they followed Jesus in order to protect Jesus and his disciples.
The crowd also reminds me of a political rally or a revival meeting gathered
around a leader or preacher to affirm American values and prepare to assist in
a good cause, to be a blessing to those who need it most, to unite as one in
doing some act of mercy. We all have reasons for following Jesus. We all have
to ask ourselves “What are my reasons for being in this crowd today?”
When Jesus came to shore and saw the crowd,
Matthew tells us in verse 14 ”14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion
for them and cured their sick.” [slide # 5 moved with compassion]
How many of you know that compassion is a cure
for many diseases? We are like Jesus. When we show compassion, hearts are
healed, we are healed, our neighbors are healed, our friends are healed.
[slide # 6 compassion heals] Showing compassion is showing selflessness, caring, kindness,
respect. In a world where humans are caught so often doing only for ourselves
and not caring about certain people, being kind to one, but not to ourselves,
picking and choosing whom we will respect instead of respecting everyone, then
the world becomes a scary place, a broken place, and a sad place.
Even our most peaceful corner of the world can
suddenly become a place that breaks the heart of Jesus, a place that Jesus
leaves in order to be alone to mourn, to soak in enough love to help him get
through the many losses of life.
But Jesus is never far away from us. He comes
toward us wherever we gather. He notices our need for love and compassion and
he heals us. Oh how we wish we would be totally healed. That day of complete
healing will come in Heaven. For now, we must remember to give thanks for every
healing – great or small that we receive while on this earth.
After Jesus healed them, he fed them because
as the scripture tells us, the crowd was hungry. Have you ever been hungry? Do
you know anyone who is hungry at this moment? Are they hungry for food or
change or love? Hunger is often a hidden thing, a deep thing, a private thing.
Hunger - when it lasts long enough and goes deep enough - is always a sad
thing.
Jesus notices us when we are hungry. He has a
plan just like he did that day. The disciples suggested that the crowd go away
and find food for themselves, but Jesus showed the disciples how to feed the
hungry crowd. [slide # 7
bread and 2 hands] The disciples didn’t see how they could feed so many people. The
disciples saw only five loaves of bread and two fish. The disciples considered that
to be as good as nothing. Jesus looked at them as if to say, “What do you mean
there is nothing here.” In other words Jesus wanted them to appreciate the fact
as one songwriter put it, “Little becomes much, when you put it in the master’s
hands.” [slide # 8 children around
pot]
We understand that at Bethel. That is why we
care enough to open our hearts to a few little children in Sunday school and
preschool. That is why our Sunday school students brought nickels and dimes to
the Heifer project providing a goat for a poor family and we share prayers and
dollars with a little boy in Guatemala. That is why we recycle a few plastic
bottles, ink cartridges and cell phones. That is why we collect dimes for the
building fund. Little becomes much, when you put it in the master’s hands. That
is why we tithe even though it is - as one of my confirmation students said –
just one little dime for every dollar we earn. We expect God to show up when we
give an offering. We expect God to bless us in multiple ways when we submit to
being faithful and obedient. We expect our blessings to blossom when we share
even a tiny seed of something. We expect God to show up to feed us and to heal
us in ways great or small. [slide # 9 cried…lord healed me]
We are all in that hungry crowd that Jesus sees
as he approaches the shore. We all hunger from time to time to know the right
way to go or to have food or finances or something unspeakably painful or sad
to share.
At the same time, our lives overflow with more
blessings than we can count. One of my seminary professors and a Yale graduate
Ron Sider wrote a book called Rich
Christians in an Age of Hunger - Moving
from Affluence to Generosity. [slide # 10 Rich Christians –book cover] In the spring edition of our Yale Divinity
School publication called Reflections
he said:
Globally,
we have made stunning progress in reducing poverty. The Human Development Index
(an important measure of poverty) has improved 41% between 1970 and 2010. One
of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals set in 2000 – to cut in
half by 2015 the percentage of people globally living in poverty – was actually
achieved five years ahead of schedule. The percentage of people living below
the international poverty level ($1.25 per day per person) has plunged by more
than 50 percent since 1990. Central to this progress has been global trade and
widespread embrace of market economics, especially in Asia.
But it
is still the case that today about 1.2 billion people struggle to survive on
$1.25 per day. [slide # 11 about 1.2
billion…] And another 1.2 billion try
to manage on only $2 per day. We have made astounding progress, but about
one-third of our global neighbors still struggle to live on two dollars or less
per day.
The
picture in the U. S. is less hopeful. For decades the richest nation in
the world has had the highest poverty level of all Western
industrialized nations – currently between 14 percent and 15 percent of the
population. In the last several decades the middle class has declined, and
income and wealth have become more and more concentrated at the top.
My professor goes on to say that there are indeed
personal choices that keep the poor stuck in poverty, but there are also systems
and structures that keep the poor and hungry from living a decent life.
Now do we understand why Jesus insists that his
disciples feed the hungry? [slide #12 Run to feed the hungry]
Let us all be brave enough to follow Jesus in
these days of sadness so that he can give us his peace and joy. Let us all
taste of his goodness in the feast that he provides. Let us all follow Jesus
who shows us how to feed the hungry and look at others with compassion so
someone can be healed. Let us never send them away. Let us be together, united as
ONE in this mission today and always. Amen. [slide # 13 united – hands]
