EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on July 29, 2018.
It would come as no surprise to any of you who have met my mother that no one leaves Mama Brooks’s house hungry.
Even today, when I go up to help my mom get to the store … or do some chores around the house, or even to pick her up to bring her to one of kids’ activities … or to come to church here at Faith … I still never leave my mother’s house empty handed.
The pickings have gotten slimmer in the passing years as my mom has become more homebound, but she is darned sure that I DO NOT leave her house without a box of cereal for the kids, or a bottle of juice, or a bag of rice she wants to send home for Shelley.
Sometimes it’s eggs, or peanut butter. … Boxes of mac and cheese. … You name it. … And many times it might be something from her monthly box of food she receives from her federal nutrition program.
… But it is absolutely certain that I am going home with food of some sort.
Knowing some of you like I do, I suspect it’s the same story with someone in your family. … It’s an ingrained lesson that so many of us learned from that generation of our parents or grandparents. … You demonstrate your generosity through your hospitality. … It’s just what you do. Share the food. Build a longer table.
And today, having only four kids and a fairly good station in life, I marvel when I look back at how my mother did it with eight of us in the house. … I’ve shared with you before that in our household there wasn’t a lot to share. … My mom as a working single parent made less than minimum wage, and often times we subsisted on the federal Food Stamp program. … But even that being the case, no one -- and I do mean NO ONE -- left my mother’s house hungry.
Our house was the gathering house for the entire south end of the entire town of Crookston. As we kids grew, and expanded our adventuring territory beyond our street and eventually even our neighborhood, we began to bring home an unimaginable menagerie of kids from the southside of town. … Given the number of the Brooks siblings, this could mean we had anywhere from 10 to a dozen kids -- on rare occasions even more -- around the house at mealtime on any given night. … And I promise you that this is no exaggeration!
We’d play and fight and make up … and play and fight and makeup some more. ... All day long. … And then inevitably dinnertime would roll around and one by one we’d saunter up to the house, stand on the crumbling cement front steps, peek in through the rickety screen door that led into our kitchen, and ask our aproned Mom, “Can David stay for supper tonight?” … “Can Larry stay for supper tonight?” … “Can Mark stay for supper tonight?”
And the progression would continue.
Each of us Brooks kids found ourselves at the door, asking Mama Brooks, “Can so and so stay for supper tonight?” … And when the “yeses” would come, there were mad dashes to the one house phone in the hallway so that the friends could call home and ask permission.
And then suppertime would come and you’d see kids splayed out all over our gravel driveway, plates and cups in hand, if it were summer, and crammed into our tiny dining room and living room if it were colder or raining.
Granted, the meals were nothing special. … Often nothing more than hot dogs wrapped in white Wonder Bread and pork and beans. … Or homemade mac and cheese, made with government block cheese. … Spaghetti. … Oh, the spaghetti we ate. By the potfuls. … And on rare occasions, it might be something as extravagant as Hamburger Helper.
But regardless of the number of kids, and despite the fact that my mother must have been bone tired after already having put in a full nine or 10-hour shift waitressing, the food -- with plenty of leftovers remaining -- was always there and served with with a generous smile by Mama Brooks.
It’s taken me 40 years to completely understand the marvel that those episodes were. … Looking back now for me, those times resemble a certain man we know as Christ, and a certain Bible story we know as “Jesus feeds the 5,000.”
In our Gospel text today, we find a similar story:
In it, Jesus has arrived on the other side of Sea of Galilee, presumably after a hard day’s traveling. And then after finally travelling up the mountain, he finds a spot to rest with his disciples. … I can imagine, after a hard day of teaching and travelling, him sitting there and thinking, “Well that was a good day’s work.” … Maybe brushing the dust off his sandaled feet. Taking a deep, restful breath.
And then he looks up and what does he see? … “a large crowd coming toward him,” our gospel writer tells us.
But unflappable as he is, rather than fret, Jesus jests with his disciples. … Or at least that’s how I imagine it. … “Oh my, Philip … Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”
Philip, being not Christ, answers back truthfully: “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
… Remember, we’re told that there are 5,000 people who have followed Jesus up that mountain. … Five thousand Jewish followers who lived under Roman rule and had little in the way of material wealth. … And this is 1st century Israel, on top of a mountain. … It’s not like there was a Hornbacher’s just down the block.
But then, just as my mother miraculously would pull out another block of cheese from here, or another pack of frozen hot dogs from there, or another box of spaghetti noodles from thin air ... and inexplicably there would be a meal available to all of us kids ... Jesus tells his disciples to bring that boy’s five barley loaves and two fish.
Predictably, Jesus’s disciples are unimpressed and filled with doubt.
But calmly, Jesus says: “Make the people sit down.”
Our gospel writer helps fill in some of the details now in this part of the story, telling us here that there were 5,000 people but that there was a great deal of grass in the place. … So the people did in fact sit, and we can presume sat comfortably and without worry.
And then, after the people were all sitting comfortably, Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. ... Next, he took the fish, did the same, and offered the people as much as they wanted.
Eventually, all of the people were fed. … In fact, our gospel writer tells us that the people had “much as they wanted.” and were “satisfied.”
Now that everyone had a full belly and was cared for, Jesus tells the disciples to gather up the leftovers so that nothing might be wasted -- another message that if you grew up in the Brooks home, you were well acquainted with.
And what did the disciples gather up? … Twelve baskets of leftovers. …
Witnessing what they had seen, then the people recognize the miracle -- or sign, as the biblical writers would have said -- and say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
It may be difficult for those of us living in these times to fully appreciate this parable. … And to be honest, four decades later, it’s even difficult for me to come to terms with the miracles that my mother performed in her own little home, with her own little cast of 5,000.
To fully appreciate both the acts in the parable and to appreciate my mother’s efforts, I think some context is important.
You see, in the 1st century, money had only been invented within the last couple of hundred years, and frankly, it was only the very wealthy who had money. … Mostly Romans and the ruling Jewish elite who served at the emperor's beck and call. … The vast majority of people, and certainly nearly all of those 5,000 who had followed Jesus up that mountain, had no money. They lived hand to mouth, and likely all of their possessions amounted to a few clothes and basic essentials to fill a stone hut.
These were a people who likely did not know what it was to eat as much as they wanted in one sitting … or to feel “satisfied.” … And they certainly didn’t know what it was like to have leftovers. … That would have been an entirely incomprehensible concept for these followers of Christ at the time.
But, yet, look what happens when they follow Christ. … They are led up a mountain, for certain, but once they are there, they find a large grassy area, one big enough for all of the people to sit comfortably, and they are miraculously fed to boot! … Fed so much, in fact, that they are full … with leftovers!
It doesn’t take a theological genius to understand the implications of the parable of Jesus feeding the 5,000. … But it does take a bit of historical understanding of the importance of what this story means to us as Christians.
For instance, it is hard for me today to completely understand my mother’s struggles raising her young family, because I’m just in another place than she was. I don’t have to worry about feeding my kids, let alone the entire neighborhood that we would drag home. …. … But, what I can understand is my faith in her. … You see, growing up, I never knew that we were poor. ... I never questioned whether I was going to eat that night, or thought about the financial strain it caused our mother to feed all of us kids all of those years.
I just accepted it as fact that I was going to eat as much as I wanted and that I would be satisfied. … And, I also knew that there likely were going to be leftovers, and that’s what us kids would reheat for lunch the next day while Mom was at work!
But isn’t that the very point of this parable? … Even though we maybe cannot put ourselves into the shoes -- or sandals, you might say -- of those 1st century Jews sitting at Jesus’s feet. … Even though we might not be able to picture what it is like to be that poor -- poorer than poor -- or to own that few of possessions, or to live under that crushing empirical Roman rule … what we can understand is Jesus’s abundance. … Because, after all, that is the true point of this story.
The gospel writer reminds us that regardless of where we are in our life, that if we place our trust in Jesus, the one who gives us the bread -- and maybe even the fish! -- of life, there will be an abundance. … There will be an abundant grassy place in which we can all spread out comfortably; there will be enough bread and fish to thoroughly satisfy our hunger; and ultimately, there will be leftovers.
With Jesus, there’s never a cap on his love. … There’s never an end to his grace. … There’s never a bar too high for anyone to come to the table. … Abundance. With Jesus there’s abundance in everything he offers: love, comfort, peace, forgiveness, friendship … the bread of life.
There will be enough, today and forever and always. … Jesus will not only provide us the bread of life in the here and now, but he’s got the future taken care of as well.
Just like Mama Brooks did. … But even better!
And that is the Good News for this week. … Amen.
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