God’s Abundant Presence

Rev. Kristi Denham
Congregational Church of Belmont
July 26, 2009

The scripture reading for today is two outrageous miracle stories. Why did the early church focus on these impossible tales – the feeding of 5000 with a handful of barley loaves and a few fish? Or Jesus walking on a stormy sea?  What is the use for us of such wild and ridiculous stories? Were people really that naïve? That literal?

Did they put Jesus on this impossible pedestal so that they could let themselves off the hook? I could never do what Jesus did, so what’s the point?

Are we just supposed to worship him and get into heaven after we die because we believed in the “right” God? Is that what it’s all about?

I don’t think so.

Our Living the Questions authors suggest that seeing these stories as literally true is a distraction – the miracle overshadows the meaning.

Perhaps first century Christians were less scientifically critical of grand miracles like these but that never stopped them from looking deeper at the meaning behind them. They believed in allegory, in links to ancient stories, in guidance for our own lives based on the mystery a miracle revealed.

Ron, my devout atheist secretary, types up the scriptures for me each week; and this week he could not resist making playful observations about both the miracles told here in John. On the feeding of the 5000 – “The real miracle is all those women behind the scenes baking all that bread!”  On Jesus’ walking on water –  “He must have been standing on somebody’s shoulders!”  A very practical man!

How do we, with our scientific disdain for the miraculous, read these miracle stories with fresh eyes? What meaning can we draw from them? How do they challenge us to deepen and grow in our faith and practice?

Two weeks ago, Paul Anderson looked at the second of these miracle stories, as found in Mark’s gospel and asked you to consider your perspective and how your location might influence your perception.

I wish I have been here to see and hear all that he had to say. If I repeat or contradict him in any way, I apologize and chalk it up to differences in our perspectives.

John’s Gospel focuses throughout on the universal and infinite nature of the God revealed in Jesus Christ. He begins not with the baptism of Jesus as in Mark, or the birth narratives as in Matthew and Luke, but with the very beginning of time: “In the beginning was the word, the Logos of God, the Christ.” So for John, every story, throughout the gospel, is a symbolic revelation of YHWH – the “I am that I am.”

Jesus is the bread of life. John links his feeding of the 5000 to his final Passover meal and to a miracle found in 2 Kings 4:42-44 in which Elisha miraculously feeds 100 with just a handful of barley loaves.

John wants his hearers to know that Jesus is greater than all the prophets that ever were, and that he creates abundance of the bread of life for his followers. And the Passover Story with its tales of liberation and freedom is all a part of this too!

Then Jesus walks on water, over a stormy sea. He says, “It is I.” But a better translation of the original Greek would be “I am the I am.” For John, the sacred and unnamable name of God comes to life in the person of Jesus the Christ.

It is grand thinking, amazing story. How would it have impacted his first century audience?

If they took the story literally, as many probably did, would it have allowed them to believe that since Jesus was God, they didn’t have to try to be like him?

On the count of trying to walk on water – probably!

But on the feeding of the 5000 -- probably not. The evidence is strong that the most outrageously significant thing about the early church, from internal records (such as Luke’s “Book of the Acts of the Apostles,” and the first century community rule “the Didache”), and from its external critics, is that Christians worked hard to practice generosity, sharing all that they had to care for one another, even when it was impractical!

Radical hospitality was the hallmark of Christian community.

I am reading a wonderful new book called “A People’s History of Christianity,” by Diana Butler Bass, that focuses on how people lived their faith rather than the usual intellectual progression of theological arguments down through the centuries. And what comes through loud and clear is that people have always taken Jesus’ challenge to love God and neighbor as ourselves very seriously.

It may well have been the miracle of generosity that spread through the crowds who gathered to hear Jesus speak -- those handful of barley loaves and fish encouraging everyone to open their bags and share what they had with others.

When everyone shares all that they have, there truly is more than enough for all. Scientists assure us that this is true globally, but we have not yet learned how to manifest it.

The Kingdom of Heaven, the Beloved Community, is truly in our midst when all receive what they need to meet their needs.

We aren’t there yet. So how are we to draw wisdom from these stories for living our day to day lives in 21st century America?

It is not enough to agree with John that Jesus was the “only son of God.” In fact, many early Christian communities might have argued with John’s theology. Who Jesus was is not so important as what he taught and how that came to be lived out in people’s lives.

Do you practice random acts of kindness? Are you generous? Does hospitality mean more to you that exchanging dinner dates with friends? Can you trust God with all your possessions and share from your abundance with others?

Do you live in the poverty of fear even if you own a home and have more than enough to eat?

Is your love of God and your neighbor really central to your spiritual practice?

Do you build on the peace and serenity of self-care by turning to the needs of others so that they too might know peace and serenity?

These are radical questions. They were radical when Jesus asked them 2000 years ago. They are radical today.

Perhaps, as we open our hearts and minds to the radical invitation to live by the law of love, we will discover miracles in our midst where before we saw only mundane daily events.

Perhaps we will begin to see the capacity for love growing in our hearts. Where there was fear and a counting of losses in a downturned economy, now we might see the gift of community that surrounds us, and opportunities to work with others to serve the wider good.

Perhaps we might notice that being challenged to love our neighbor allows us to see them as just as human and scared as we are. Instead of projecting our negative feelings onto them, we might realize “We’re all Bozos on this bus,” all doing the best we can, all in need of a bit more generosity of Spirit from one another.

Perhaps God’s love for us might give us comfort in difficult times and allow us to share that love with others who don’t realize how very present God’s abundant love really is.

I called this sermon, “God’s Abundant Presence.” It is that presence of an abundant and loving God that allows us to learn the lessons of Jesus’ example.

We too can feed the five thousand – one hungry child at a time. Have you seen the results of our Heifer Project Sale?

We too can walk on the stormy sea – if we center in the peace of God, no storm can overwhelm us.

These are miracles that can grow in our hearts as we practice our faith with loving kindness.

Notice the little miracles too: the breath of life…the smile of a child…the courage to get up in the morning…a sunrise…the capacity to forgive…the willingness to listen…to be open…to love. These are what life is really all about.

Have a glorious day. Please. Do a little walking on water! Feed somebody. Dare to live the law of love. May it be so.