This is the manuscript of the ninth sermon in the series "Responding to the Living Word".
You can watch a video recording of the entire service on the Christ Church YouTube Channel. https://youtu.be/tXhDTymKDIs
Scripture Reading
Luke 9:10-17 NIV When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Text:
Luke 9:12 NIV Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
Introduction
Last week our scripture and text was John’s account of this same incident of Jesus feeding more than 5000 people with a young boy's lunch of 2 fish and 5 loves that Jean read this morning from Luke’s Gospel .
Last week we talked about Jesus taking what we have and multiplying it. Last week we talked about spiritual gifts. This week I want to talk about the material resources that God has blessed us with.
Most of us have never seen a desperately hungry person, and we don’t really know how to relate to those who are homeless unless we have been desperately hungry or homeless ourselves. Because we can’t identify with them often we lack real compassion for them. Consider, for a minute, the anguish of parents who can’t afford enough food to quiet the hunger in their children’s stomachs or provide a warm and safe place for them to sleep.
This issue is right in front of us. All we need to do is look just outside our doors. Hunger and homelessnes is a problem not only here in Los Angeles but it is really a worldwide problem. Even with all the government and non-government programs and missions and shelters many Americans are hungry and homeless right here in the wealthiest nation on earth! What are Christians called to do in a world where people are hurting? Here are some suggestions.
We could send them away.
We could start a revolution
We could share what we have
Send the hungry and homeless people away.
Although in the account that we read last week from John 6:1-15, John did not mention the suggestion of the disciples to send the people away to the villages, the three Synoptic Gospels do record it.
Matthew 14:15 NIV As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Mark 6:36 NIV Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
And our text.
Luke 9:12 NIV Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
John did note however that Philip could see no way to help.
John 6:7 NIV Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
He may have even been about ready to suggest that the people should go elsewhere for help too.
We often are tempted to send trouble down the road to find another person who will help. Like the song lyrics, "ease on dow, ease on down the road". Those of us who have plenty do not want to be reminded of the tents we see on the sidewalks, or the campers parked on our streets and under the freeway. We don’t want to see the hollow-eyed hungry people who peer at us from the TV screen, magazine advertisements, or church reports that call us to Christian response.
Mentally we just “send them away”. Often by crude suggestions that poor people are hungry or homeless because they won’t work, or that they are addicted because of their own choices, or that they just want to be there because they don't want to follow any rules, or they just want to be on the street. There was a bumper sticker, a few years ago, that read, “I fight poverty. I work.” As commendable as it is that people work, the self-righteous attitude of a person who does not understand the complexities of the problem of homelessness or hunger are revealed in that slogan. By that slogan we announce, “Send them away. It’s their own fault!” But we must not send them away because Jesus said that we must care for them.
Luke 14:12-14 NIV Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Or as it says in
James 2:2-4 NIV Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
We could send them away or we could start a revolution.
Ray Summers, in his book Behold the Lamb (Nashville: Broadman, 1979), suggests that many in the large crowd would have liked for Jesus to start a revolution against the Roman oppressors. John 6:15 makes it clear that there were men who were insistent that Jesus take up leadership and become king of the Jews in opposition to the hated foreign rule.
John 6:14-15 NIV After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Mark pointed out that they were in a “lonely,” or desert, place. Which would be ideal for a gathering of men who were intent on revolution.
Mark 6:30-31 NIV The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark also said that there was much “coming and going”, suggesting great activity caused by Jesus’ appearance.
Mark noted Jesus’ observation that the crowd was “like sheep without a shepherd”.
Mark 6:34 NIV When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So, he began teaching them many things.
This could have had military allusions, to some there, since Moses spoke of the people as “sheep without a shepherd” unless the Lord appointed a man to lead them in and out.
Numbers 27:15-17 NIV Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
The Lord appointed Joshua as the leader of Israel to succeed Moses, and this shepherd was indeed a general of the army.
Notice finally that the crowd was almost all men. In a lonely place in an occupied land like Palestine, five thousand men wanting to make the charismatic leader their king would surely present a ready-made opportunity for revolution.
But Jesus would not take the militant revolutionary way. Npw it is understandable today that some people do want tonta, take that way. They take all they can take and reach the point where they say, “No more!” They think that tt may be wise for those who have bread to figure out a way to help those who don’t, to avoid the risk of a time coming when nobody has bread or anything at all.
On the other hand Jesus, with all his compassion and appreciation for the agonies of injustice suffered by his people, knew that he could feed them. And that is exactly what He did.
Luke 9:16-17 NIV Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
But the ultimate joy and salvation didn't come with Him not becoming a revolutionary leader, He wasn’t a “bread and guns Messiah. Yes, people must have bread in fact we ask for it each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer.
But people cannot live by bread alone.
Matthew 4:4 NIV Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
We could send the hungry and homeless away, we could start a revolution or, what I believe is the best suggestion, and the one Jesus would choose, we could share what we have.
We who have so much, are called upon to share. Jesus made it clear that he expects us to feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty no matter how small and insignificant they may at first appear to us
Matthew 25:31-46 NIV “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
When we share, Jesus will hold our gift in his hands and give thanks for it.
Luke 9:16 NIV Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.
As I said last week Jesus knows how much can come from so little. We cooperate with a God who is in the business of multiplying our gifts. What was shared and then blessed was enough and more.
Luke 9:17 NIV They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Sharing is not difficult if we remember that all we have comes from God in the first place.
Psalms 24:1-2 NIV The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
Romans 11:33-36 NIV Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Mahatma Gandhi lived in the midst of debilitating hunger. Looking about him, he observed, “The earth has enough for every man’s need, but not enough for every man’s greed.” Jesus gave the boy, with 2 fish and 5 loves of bread, an opportunity to be a partner with him in feeding the hungry multitude. He gives us the same opportunity.
But as Jesus knew—as important as bread is and as necessary as it is that we share our bread—people cannot live fully by bread alone.
Matthew 4:1-4 NIV Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
We are called to share with a hungry world bread for their physical hunger and we are called to share the Bread of Life for their spiritual hunger.
John 6:32-40 NIV Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
Conclusion
I said this last week, but it is just as appropriate this week. When we share what we have and know, Jesus blesses and multiplies it and makes it enough. So, share what you have; it is all you can do. You cannot give what you do not have. Share what you have; no one else can give what only you have to give. Although what you have to share may not seem to be much or even enough, you never know what God will do when you give him what you have!
Isaiah 58:1-3, 3-9 MSG “Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side. But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ “Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
Sermon Audio
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