Wrestling
with Loaves and Fishes
Sermon preached by the Reverend Brad Beeman
July 31, 2005
Scripture:
Genesis 32:22-31 and Matthew 14:13-26
A couple
of things from last week – the responses to the sermon last
week have been overwhelming. To begin I’d like to reaffirm a
couple things I said as we head into this morning. First, I believe
that this worship service, this worship experience is vital to our
future. I would not change a thing in this service. As services of
this type go, we do it better than almost anyone. We must keep this
service alive and vibrant and look to other options in addition. I
tried to say that and said it in one brief sentence last week that
got covered by a lot of other things. Second, it was Scott who was
the first to Cora, not Steve. Scott is John Bruce’s son-in-law
and has a compassion for stuck little girls given that he has three
beautiful daughters. Scott was certainly one of the heroes of the
day. Finally, as we turn our attention toward wrestling today, I remind
us again what is to be at our center: the table of grace where we
place what we have and offer ourselves to the work of God in the world;
the cross that represents a sacrifice – that of Jesus out of
love for humanity; and the window above – Jesus standing and
knocking – not only asking to come in but asking us to come
out…now let’s move forward to this important next step.
The question
I’ll be dealing with this morning sounds simple but has potentially
deeply complex answers that can and maybe should be far-reaching.
The question asks us to respond to this question. “What is the
church’s responsibility in the community – what is our
civic duty?” It begins, I believe, with wrestling.
Let
me begin with Jacob – this heel-grabbing, incredibly self focused,
self-centered, opportunistic character we heard about in Genesis.
Yet as manipulative and self- absorbed as Jacob may have been, God
used him and made something more out of him than he ever thought possible.
Before we pick up where Chris read, let’s go back and review
a couple of things. Jacob was not the first born son. Jacob was born
second. He was born, as it says, holding onto the heel of his older
brother, Esau. So, because Esau was born first, Esau retained all
of the benefits – and there were many – of being the first-born.
The author of Genesis tells us that these two had literally wrestled
in the womb of their mother – each trying desperately to be
number one. Jacob, because he was born second spent most of his life
seeking ways to manipulate his way into the top spot. He ended up
robbing his older brother of the financial and social birthright benefits
and then the financial, social and spiritual blessing of their father.
Any time we become self-absorbed and focus on what we don’t
have, we are at the risk of robbing others, manipulating others so
that we can get what we feel we deserve. It changes the way we look
at life, at relationships and at responsibilities. But God saw something
in Jacob that was good and continually sought to bring it out in him.
It wasn’t until much later that what lay deep within him, what
was in his DNA for good…finally by wrestling, came out.
We pick up the story toward the end this morning. Jacob is now approaching
Esau in what had become Esau’s territory. Esau had conquered
it. Jacob had not seen or faced his older brother since causing him
so much harm. As a matter of fact, the last words we heard from Esau
back in chapter 27 are focused purely and succinctly on taking revenge
by killing his brother, Jacob. As we enter the story now, we don’t
know how the scenario is set. We don’t know what brings them
both to this spot. All we know is that Jacob is suddenly aware that
he will be meeting Esau in the next day or two. Knowing that the meeting
is about to take place, he prepares.
(continued...)
"Wrestling
with Loaves and Fishes" by Rev. Brad Beeman, July 31, 2005
First,
he sends his servants ahead to see what the situation is; they return
to say that Esau is coming with 400 men – what Jacob believes
is an army whose sole purpose is to kill him. Second, Jacob hears the
information and sets forth a plan based on assumptions that he is to
be killed. Third, he prays an honest prayer of contrition after some
deep and really honest self-reflection. He then separates out what he
has again with the intent to share it with his brother – yes,
out of self-protection but is ready to share it nonetheless. He then
sends what remains of his family and possessions on to a safe location.
It’s here that Jacob then finds himself alone and it is here that
he wrestles with a being.
The wrestling is also important. Jacob – at one point holds his
opponent immobile. Jacob refuses to let the opponent go until Jacob
is given a blessing again. It’s at this point that something happens.
Something changes as a result of this wrestling blessing and Jacob is
changed – not only in name but in attitude as well. Heel grabber
becomes Israel (he who wrestles with God and with humankind and prevails).
At a physical cost, Jacob now becomes more complete – again, all
because of the wrestling. At a cost physically, Jacob becomes complete.
He whether literally or figuratively faced God and not only lived but
became even more alive. We see the change in the next action.
At
this first opportunity, we see the change in Jacob now Israel. Instead
of manipulating his brother, he bows down before him. Instead of trying
to appease Esau with gifts, Jacob instead divides his family and places
them behind him – behind him. He goes on ahead – alone –
to face whatever consequences Esau may have for him. In bowing before
Esau he is accepting responsibility and asking his older brother’s
forgiveness. And instead of judging Jacob, Esau embraces and forgives
his younger brother. As Jacob faced his dilemma head on, instead of
some negative consequences, he found a miracle – forgiveness,
a loving embrace, acceptance and a whole new family. It wasn’t
until coming face to face with God in an extremely intimate way that
Jacob found out who he really was. His response is deeply significant
as we examine the question of community involvement.
Now,
hold onto that for just a minute and trust me to get to the point as
we move to loaves and fishes. As you look at Matthew 14 we find that
Jesus has just been told that he has lost his cousin and partner in
ministry through a terrible act of injustice resulting in John’s
death. Jesus tries to go off by himself to find solace yet isn’t
allowed to by the never-ending crowd that follows him everywhere. Jesus,
instead of being angry or frustrated that the crowds followed him has
compassion for them and cures those that are sick. The disciples come
to him and ask him to send the crowds away so that they may find something
to eat. Jesus turns and looks them in the eye and no doubt with great
sincerity says, “They need not go away. You feed them.”
Their response, “We have but five loaves and two fish” as
they begin to wrestle with the dilemma. Now look at the rest of the
passage.
First,
Jesus asks for what the disciples have – the five loaves and two
fish. He then looks at the crowd – no doubt holding the five loaves
and two fish – and ‘orders’ the crowd to sit down
on the grass. (It’s important to note that the way this is phrased
is exactly as a Rabbi in a synagogue would tell his parishioners to
be seated – in some kind of orderly fashion. Jesus is basically
calling them to church.) He holds the five loaves and two fish, looks
to heaven and asks God to bless them. He then gives them to the disciples
who in turn begin to give them to the crowds. Now, there is a huge missing
piece here. All we know is that after all had eaten their fill, there
was enough food left over to fill twelve baskets. This after five thousand
men had eaten and their families. The question is: what did these thousands
of people eat?
It wasn’t until Jacob owned up to his natural character that he
was able to become something more. It was only when Jesus confronted
the disciples with their belief that they were out of resources that
they were able to witness a miracle. Jacob sent his family and friends
away so that he could deal with his dilemma alone.
(continued...)
"Wrestling
with Loaves and Fishes" by Rev. Brad Beeman, July 31, 2005
The
disciples were ready to send the crowd away so that they could deal
with their dilemma alone. Why do we do that? Well, part of the reason
is we don’t want to see people suffer. We don’t want to
watch them struggle. We don’t want to contribute to their suffering
or their struggle so we send them away, look the other way and go
out of our way to avoid any of it. Instead, what we should be doing
is counting our assets. [I can’t help but think of MacGyver.
You know the show, MacGyver – based on a character who could
make a drivable car out of a tin can, some bailing wire, a little
duct tape and a couple of sticks. One of the reasons the show was
so popular and continues in syndication is to watch what this character
does with the little that he is given.] It is about recognizing our
assets.
If
we are to examine what our role is to be in this community, we first
have to determine what the needs are that confront us. Like Jacob
we have to recognize what lie in front of us but not assume that it’s
hostile. Like Jesus and the disciples we have to see the situation,
not as a problem but as an opportunity for God to work miracles. Thirdly,
we have to ask ourselves: What are our assets? What do we have to
offer? Jacob offered his flocks. Jesus offered all that they had:
five loaves and two fish. Fourthly, we have to trust. We have to wrestle
with our nature of avoidance and assumptions and reframe ourselves
to trust that God can bless what we have and utilize it for good.
God did with Jacob and God did with a measly five loaves and two fish.
Then we step out in faith. Jacob stepped from behind to in front of
his family to face his brother. Jesus told the disciples to distribute
the loaves and fish with the faith that somehow they would feed the
multitudes. It was in having the faith and taking the action that
the miracles were born. In Jacob’s case, the adversarial relationship
was transformed into one of love, acceptance and forgiveness. In the
case of the loaves and fishes – somehow these loaves fed thousands.
Whether you believe that in blessing the loaves and fish that they
never ran out or whether the crowd, in seeing that the disciples were
willing to give all that they had, each person in the crowd dug into
the secret pockets that contained their food and shared it so that
all might be filled – the miracle was that all ate and were
filled. But the situation began with the wrestling.
I
believe that there is an inherent need in the church for wrestling
particularly with our role in the community. It is in wrestling that
we can change how we see ourselves, define who we are, and as a result
change our direction from expecting and doing little to feeding the
multitudes. On the other side of wrestling is the opportunity for
miracles – but we need to wrestle. It is a part of our spiritual
DNA. The problem is that we have a tendency, like Jacob and like the
disciples that day, to try and become insular – to avoid dealing
with the issues that present themselves to us every day. We have a
tendency toward becoming self-focused, ingrown or simply responding
with money rather than all of the elements we covenanted to do. What
does it say in the membership covenant that we will support this church
with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service? Amazing,
isn’t it, how much this sounds like heart, mind, soul and strength.
We avoid doing the work of those four elements and we are at risk
of becoming like the Dead Sea – a sea that remains dead because
it has no substantial outlet. Now, don’t get me wrong. If you
look at what individuals in this church are doing, it can be said
that we are doing a lot. But let me remind you that ten or eleven
years ago this church wrestled with whether or not to build Upward
Bound House – to provide transitional housing to struggling
families or affordable housing to seniors citizens. Out of wrestling
can come miraculous ministries. I’m clear that we are still
wrestling with some of the decisions that were made and some of the
circumstances that occurred as a result of decisions that were made.
However, as you look across the street families that would otherwise
be on the street are safe, housed and being trained for things that
will carry them into the future. Senior citizens that would not otherwise
have affordable housing do in fact have affordable housing. Agree
with who they are or not – the ministry is there.
(continued...)
"Wrestling
with Loaves and Fishes" by Rev. Brad Beeman, July 31, 2005
Twenty
or thirty years before that someone had an idea – to build a
place that would house, educate and support children in this community.
The nursery school was developed and is flourishing. Now some may
not agree with the population that it serves but children’s
lives are being changed as they learn in a Christian environment the
skills that will continue to be foundational for the rest of their
lives. I believe it is time to wrestle again.
What
is the next major ministry we’re being called to take on in
Santa Monica? What might we as a full church be able to accomplish
if we again put our prayers, presence, gifts and service to or to
quote Jesus again; our hearts, minds, souls, and strength around doing
something? What is God calling us to do? If we were to take seriously
looking at this community with the eyes of Christ – if we were
to walk this community (and I mean the entire community) asking ourselves
those four questions I’ve raised before:
1. In this community, where would Jesus go?
2. In this community, what would Jesus see?
3. In this community, what would Jesus say about what he saw?
4. In this community, what would Jesus do?
How
then would we respond?
We
must respond to the needs that press in around us no more insulation
from the community. Why? Jesus at the Temple courtyard turning over
the tables; Jesus in the Temple challenging the abusive authorities;
Jesus ministering to the Roman Centurion; Jesus healing the foreign
and hated Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter; Jesus in the home
of Jairus; Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee; Jesus healing
lepers; Jesus in the city of Jerusalem over and over again; Jesus
in the city of Capernaum; Jesus in Samaria with the woman at the well;
Jesus with the prostitute; Jesus surrounded by those that were hungry,
he dealt directly with them rather than passing them off to others
in the community; and Jesus dealing directly with the sick, with the
political officials and the religious leaders. The easier question
is: was Jesus ever not dealing with or responding to those in the
community? The clear answer is: No. If we are to be followers of Jesus
or if we are to be disciples of Christ – if we are to be Christian
we must come to terms with the community that surrounds us and take
similar actions based on those four questions: in Santa Monica where
would Jesus go, what would he see, what would he say about what he
saw and what would Jesus then do?
So,
what is our civic duty? First, we wrestle, and then we move out to
face what faces us. We see with eyes that are not our own; we allow
ourselves to be changed by the one with whom we wrestle and knowing
that it well cost us something. We ask for God’s blessing and
trust in God who provides and we take action. That is our civic duty,
that is our responsibility in and for this community, and that is
our scriptural mandate.
Amen!
©Brad
Beeman , 2005. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved. |
