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| Jesus' Feeding of the Five Thousand was not about giving sustenance for a moment or the morning, but for a life-long mission |
August 4, 2024—The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost—Proper 13B
Psalm 51:1-13
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:24-35
© 2024 Seth Olson
This sermon was given at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles in Hoover, AL — a video of it may be found here.
Holy God, let my words be your words, and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
Would you rather be right, or would you rather be kind? This is a question that has permeated my life over the last decade and a half. Often, I know how I want to answer this question—that I want to be both right and kind—but my actions belie my best intentions. I mean that in my attempt to thread the needle of being both right and kind, I bungle the whole thing, and I end up being neither kind nor right. I know you may be shocked, but your priest is human.
Jokes about my humanity aside, you may be surprised that in seminary, students spend time discussing this question during pastoral theology class. It’s helpful for me to remember that one of the underpinnings of good pastoral care practices is figuring out how to best approach the quandary, would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?
My phenomenal professor, the Rev. Dr. Kathleen Russell was quick to point out that sometimes, even the very best of us miss the mark. All of us at times are both wrong and mean. Through her blunt, Western New Yorker approach to educating, I observed my beloved teacher challenging me to see that the work of a pastor, preacher, and priest is not simply to espouse Godly wisdom in a harsh, critical way for the sake of sharing the Truth. No, the role of a clergyperson is to lovingly hold up a set of mirrors to a congregation, a community, and a world in need. These mirrors do help us to see the truth of who we have been, who we are, and who we becoming, but as I share these reflections, I am and we are to do so from a foundation of loving kindness.
This sort of reflective work is delicate to say the least. Still, here in this tender space of wondering how to be—and how to be kind—and how to share what is right—here on this holy ground of taking a truthful look in the mirror, I know that God is with us, just like how God was with the Ephesians in the Epistle we just heard.
Today’s portion of Saint Paul’s Letter to the Church in Ephesus is an all-timer! It’s so chalked full of goodness that it’s hard to know where to begin, but let’s start at the top of this passage. This Early Church evangelist and letter writer, Paul, here reached a climactic moment in his correspondence with the Ephesians. For three years, Paul lived among this community and in this note he was writing to them from prison in Rome. For three chapters, Paul shared the Good News of God in Christ Jesus and how it applied not simply to the People of Israel, but to Gentiles—meaning all people. Then, here in Chapter Four, Paul pivoted to exploring how this Gospel had an implication in the Ephesians’ lives—he was holding up a mirror for this church to understand the Truth in Love!
Saint Paul displayed kindness in how he shared the Truth though. In this passage he did not demand, he did not ask, instead he begged them to lead a life worthy of the calling they had received. Perhaps hastened by his own imprisonment, Paul was desperate for this missionary church, which he helped start, to get this message. What was this truthful message, Paul was striving so hard to relay gently?
That they were one. They were united in the Spirit, in a bond of peace. And because of this union, they would be wise to act with humility, gentleness, and patience. For the truth is they were, and we too are of “one body and one Spirit,” we have “one hope of [our] calling,” we have “one Lord,” we share in “one faith,” and there is “one baptism,” into which we are all baptized. There is “one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” This is the ultimate Truth. There’s one God and that one God is both above all things and in all things. If your head is spinning, I hope your heart is not. I hope your heart is full because this is really good news! But, before you think this is all some attempt to blur us all together in an amorphous blob, we get to this crucial phrase, “But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
All of us have received giftedness through God’s grace—favor undeserved, unearned. You can do nothing to earn more of it, you can do nothing to mess it up, it’s pure gift. Of course, if we are too consumed with other things, we may not see the gift right in front of us, or rather right within us. You may be wondering, what it means for each of us to receive this giftedness within us?
There’s a short list of who we may become through God’s gifting. Paul laid out, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Well, here at Holy Apostles all of us are apostles—which means ones who are sent—all of us are sent out to tell others of the Good News of God’s love for us. Some of us additionally are prophets—not ones who predict the future, but ones who tell the Truth in Love. Some are evangelists—not street corner preachers or televangelists grifting folks out of their money—but heralds of Good News, like how Mary Magdalene on Easter Morning shared the story of the Resurrection with the other disciples. Some are called to tend to others as pastors—not the Good Shepherd, but one who works for Him. Others are ones who are to teach how to live out our Faith in God. This list is not exhaustive. There are many more roles that all of us play, and what truly matters is what comes next in Paul’s letter.
All of us are called to live into our calling as members of the Body of Christ. Each one of us has a role to play. We are to build one another up as we equip the saints—and all of us are saints, just as all of us are apostles. You may already know this: our Bishop Glenda and a wonderful team are actively working to prepare our diocese for the next chapter of our shared ministry—they are calling this capital campaign, “Equipping the Saints.” That’s exactly what we are meant to do as a church in the Way of Christ.
We are to kindly share the truth of how we can grow in God’s grace as we mature into the full stature of Christ. We do this together as the Body of Christ. And yet, each of us has an important part to play as individual members. We work both in a particular area and as interconnected members of a larger body.
As we go, we are sustained not simply by the food of this world, but also by the living bread, which feeds us not just for a moment or a morning, but for a mission—a life-long journey to reflect how God dreams this world can be. What’s that look like?
Paul put it this way, we must speak, “the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.” We must work together to grow in love.
In our Gospel story, love looks like abundant, spiritual sustenance in the form of a continuing and glutenous (not gluttonous) passage. You may recall that last week’s lesson described how Jesus turned five loaves given by a young boy into enough food for five thousand men, which probably meant closer to ten thousand people including women and children. The power of this good news is not only that God in Christ Jesus could feed the masses, but that a little child was willing to share his food with others. One interpretation of the feeding of the five thousand portrays others seeing the boy’s example and following suit. Can you imagine? Here a child held up a mirror showing the way the world could be!
All of us are indeed to go and be these sorts of members of the Body of Christ. In just a moment, we will recognize one such member, and I imagine she does not like that I am singling her out. Julia Sanford, who’s been a long-time member here, is headed off to Sewanee’s School of Theology to be formed as a priest in the Episcopal way. Julia, like that boy during the feeding is offering up what she has so that God may bless and multiply it.
As she goes and as we go, may we strive to not only be right—especially in this election season, but may we also aim to be kind. May we hold up loving mirrors to one another. May we be like Paul trusting that we are all called. May we be like the Ephesians, faithfully striving to accept our call as members of the Body of Christ. May we be like Julia and the boy from the feeding of the five thousand, offering our lives up to be taken, blessed, transformed, and gifted back to us by God. And, when all else fails, may we seek Jesus like the crowds flocking after him, so that we are fed not just for a moment or a morning, but for a mission that will take exactly one lifetime. Amen.
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