FRAGMENTS ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH
Psalm 145:10-18; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21
10th Sunday after Pentecost, July 28, 2024
Rev. Dr. Ritva H. Williams
Today we read and hear the story of Jesus feeding of the multitude from John’s Gospel. It includes details we don’t find in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. In the characters of Philip and the little boy we see two mindsets — a mindset of scarcity over against a mindset of abundance.
John begins by telling us that Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee which is also called the Sea of Tiberias (6:1). Tiberias was the Emperor of Rome at this time. Calling the Sea of Galilee the Sea of Tiberias points to Rome’s claim of ownership, manifested in the presence of Rome’s agents managing the fishing industry to siphon off all the profits. As a result, 90% of the residents of Galilee lived in poverty. Tiberias was also a city built by Herod Antipas, and named after his boss. The city was built over an ancient cemetery, which rendered it inhabitants unclean and unfit to worship in the Jerusalem temple. Instead of heading there for Passover, they are following Jesus into the wilderness (6:4).
In John’s version, Jesus is not overwhelmed with compassion, nor does he spend the day teaching and healing. Jesus sees the crowd coming, turns to Philip and asks, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” Jesus knows what the problem is. He does not ask if the people should be fed, but how are the people to be fed? The question is intended to test the maturity and depth of Philip’s discipleship. What has he learned? How have his core beliefs, values and attitudes changed and grown by association with Jesus?
Philip’s answer says it all, “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a little.” In other words, we don’t have enough money to feed these people. Philip thinks in in conventional economic terms, out of mindset of scarcity.
Andrew arrives with a little boy who offers Jesus five barley loaves and two fish. One preacher tells of incident a few years ago, when some friends were in a large city. They drove by a park that had numerous homeless people. Their young daughter, around 4 years old, at the time, asked about the people. The mother answered: "They are homeless. They have no place to sleep. They have nothing to eat." "Well, why don't we feed them?" asked the daughter in all her innocence." (Brian P. Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes at crossmarks.com )
The little boy in John’s Gospel is like that little girl. He has five barley loaves — single serving flat breads that are half the price of wheat bread, and two little salted or pickled fish. A child, one of the most vulnerable, low status persons in the crowd offers to share what little he has. This small child shows us what trust and faith in Jesus really looks like.
Remember Jesus’ words, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The important word here is change. Change your thinking, let go of your socially and culturally acquired ideas about social and economic scarcity. Become like a child, generous, compassionate, trusting, and willing to share what you have, even if it’s not much, even if it’s not perfect.
Jesus tells the disciples to make the people sit down, takes the child’s offering and begins distributing bread and fish to the people. Mysteriously the bread and fish don’t run out. Everyone is filled and satisfied. And still the bread and fish do not run out. Jesus tells the disciples to gather up the fragments. They fill twelve baskets with the surplus food the people can’t eat because they are too full. Did bread and fish rain from Jesus’ hands like manna in the desert? Or did the child’s generosity simply inspire others to share what they had tucked away in their pockets? We’ll never know for sure.
One thing we do know is that we live in a world where we are conditioned to respond like Philip from a mindset of scarcity. In a lot of churches you hear a constant litany of we don’t have enough money, we can’t afford to do that, we don’t have enough members, we don’t have enough volunteers. A mindset of scarcity shuts down dreams, conversations, mission and ministry projects before they can even get started.We struggled with some of that anxiety when we began dreaming of “All are Welcome — A Place for Everyone” capital appeal, building addition and renovation. The original pledges were lower than anticipated. We were told to realistically expect that up to 20% of the pledges would not be met. But in the end we exceeded the pledges by 10%. That never happens, but it did happen here. Building projects hardly ever come in under budget, but ours did.
Looking back over what we have accomplished in the last few years I think this congregation is like that little boy. We know we have something to share, even if it’s not a lot. Putting all our little bits together is enough and more than enough. Offering up what we have and who we are inspires generosity and abundance. A mindset of abundance sees every person and every resource as an asset, a blessing, that in Christ’s hands can be amplified and multiplied. A mindset of abundance inspires creative thinking, experimentation and courage. I am delighted to see that happening here at St. Stephen’s.
Faced with the challenge of feeding hungry people in our neighborhood, we worked out a partnership with HACAP. Will’s report this morning makes it clear that St Stephen’s Shelves will make a positive impact in our neighborhood, is more sustainable than the Little Free Pantry, and can provide a greater variety of healthy and nutritious food.
On July 1st we made our first mortgage payment to the ELCA’s Mission Investment Fund. Thank you to the person who paid off our old mortgage before we began the renovation project. Kudos to the Finance Team for redirecting the mortgage payments we didn’t have to make during construction into the Capital Appeal Fund. We have funds on hand as we transition to the new monthly payment of $2,700. Yes, we will need to increase our monthly revenue by $1,100 going into 2025. The good news is that in the last month facility rentals generated an additional $550. Kudos to the Council for seeing our church building as an asset to be used for the mutual benefit of our neighborhood and our faith community. The rest will be up to us.
The little child with the five barley loaves and two sardines represents a mindset of abundance, an alternative to the negativity and scarcity of the world around us. Confident that he as something to share, this child trusts Jesus to do something with it. His little bit is enough and more than enough, inspiring generosity. The unexpected abundance is important to Jesus. As Jan Richardson writes, “Jesus cares for the fragments. Jesus sees the abundance that persists even after everyone is fed. There is a feast that remains in the fragments. For Jesus, enough does not seem to be enough. There is more.”
Cup your hands together, and you will see the shape this blessing wants to take
… it cannot help but hold itself open to welcome what comes.
This blessing knows the secret of the fragments …
the wholeness that may hide in what has been left behind,
the persistence of plenty where there seemed only lack.
Look into the hollow of your hands
and ask what wants to be gathered there,
what abundance waits among the scraps …
what feast will offer itself from the pieces that remain.
[There will be more.]
(“Blessing the Fragments” in The Cure for Sorrow — a Book of Blessings for Times of Grief)
