July
29, 2012
9th
Sunday after Pentecost
2
Kings 4:42-44, John 6:1-21
The
Rev. Jo Miller
The
reading, the planning, the thinking, the birthing of a homily can take a number
of twists and turns. This homily started on one tangent and then it took a
U-turn and started over again. Why, you may ask. I stopped my thinking and
started listening to what I had read. I listened to others around me. I
listened to the spirit of the words written thousands of years ago.
2
Kings 4:42-44 is a short reading and it speaks for itself. A man came to Elisha
the prophet bringing food from the first fruits of his crops, 20 loaves of
barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha, who was taught to listen to
God for guidance and wisdom, said “give it to the people, let them eat for the Lord
says ‘They shall eat and have some left.”
Our
pericope in John with the feeding of the 5,000 resonates with the passage in
2nd Kings. Commentaries and sermons for probably centuries have quibbled over
this section as being strictly a miracle story of God increasing the small
amount of food. Others have felt that the miracle was members of the crowd
adding some of the food they brought to that which was being passed out so that
all may have something to eat. But, there is something more than the miracles
in both stories: Elisha listened to the voice of God and Jesus listened to the
voice of God and then they responded with an open gesture of stewardship and
hospitality.
Last
Friday a small task group of women (a.k.a. the Wild Women of Resurrection) were
discussing the ways in which the community of Resurrection can minister to the
varied needs of the individuals of the community here at Resurrection. We also
talked of the needs of others who attach themselves to Resurrection but do not
participate. The words stewardship and hospitality were mentioned a number of
times on that Friday afternoon. The passages in our readings kept coming to
mind.
Our
reading in 2 Kings talks about the life of a community gathered around the
power of God. It offers the qualities that define the life of that community:
stewardship, hospitality, and an expectation of abundance. Know this,
historically at this time of the story there were wars between Syria and Israel
and scarcity was the rule of the day. “DO CERTAIN THINGS EVER CHANGE? Out of wars and scarcity we have the story of
stewardship, hospitality, and an expectation of abundance.
This
is how it works in this story: The man from Baal-Shalishah offers to God’s
people not only his best, but also the initial product of his labor, trusting
there will be more for himself and his family. He displays thanksgiving, faith,
and a listening heart. From this act of stewardship springs a life of
hospitality. Hospitality is the act of caring for one another either out of our
abundance or out of our pittance. These acts are the life force that creates
community and from these acts of stewardship and hospitality flows the
abundance of God.
Look
at the story in John. When Jesus sat on the hill and saw the large crowd that
had followed him. Jesus said, how are we going to feed the crowd? Andrew brings a boy who has five barley
loaves and two fish. He offers his pittance. Jesus offers thanksgiving and with
faith has the food passed around in an act of hospitality and they end up with
an abundance. Question: In these two
stories could God’s abundance been demonstrated without the acts by the people
involved?
Now
I am going to add one more word here, distribution. What does distribution
mean? Without distribution God’s abundance cannot be perceived by the most
needy. Currently, the Christian Church in America is under siege by the
politicizing of a small part of the Bible. As Christians we are not called to
follow a particular political fad or trend and try to make it sound Christian. We are called to follow Jesus. Through Jesus
and the prophets we can see that God takes up the cause of the most vulnerable
in society- those who are most in need, who are most neglected by the powers of
this world. God’s power effectively calls into question the unchecked powers of
the mighty upon these vulnerable ones.
As
Christians we are called to follow Jesus, not the current powers in our nation.
Jesus said ‘What ever you do to the least of these you do to me.’ We are called
to follow Jesus by doing what Jesus did, caring for what Jesus cared for, by
doing. At Resurrection we are doing a good job. We do reach out as a community
to help the greater community. We are beginning to respond to the serving of
Sunday breakfast. Tell me more of the things we are doing and could be doing
for the others in our community that show we are following Jesus.
Perhaps
the biggest part of our being able to follow Jesus in caring is the way we
renew ourselves spiritually. Again, following Jesus we see over and over that
he withdraws from the public limelight to reflect in solitude on his ministry.
Faith communities also need to balance periods of intense social ministry with
times of internal reflection on God’s call. In the middle of his three week
vacation, Fr. Brent will spend a week at a monastery for reflection and soul
care. This will enable him to continue to do the work before him. There is much that can be done in which God’s
abundance can be seen and felt but we need to take the time to listen and just
be in the community.
We
need to take care of our own inner self where the spirit of the living Christ dwells.
What we are told is that God’s abundance is capable of appearing in the midst
of our needs. In the case of 2nd Kings and John the human agents of God’s
working are one person’s generosity and one person’s faithful vision.
We
are challenged to be present in the midst of human need and with our own generosity
and faithful vision seek to meet that need. Sometimes our need is for silence,
prayer, reflection, worship, companionship and in these times God’s abundance
can also be seen. There are times when we need someone else’s stewardship and
hospitality of time and love. We follow Jesus both ways.
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