Just before our gospel reading this morning, Jesus has experienced rejection in Nazareth – his home town -- by the people who knew him best. This cannot have been easy for the human side of Jesus to process. We expect – or at the very least – we hope that those who love us best will support and encourage us. And then Jesus is told of the brutal execution of his cousin, John the Baptist. John was the one person who seemed to understand that Jesus’ power was not coming from Jesus, the man, alone, but that Jesus had been sent by God to do the work Jesus was now doing. The disciples’, thus far, have not been too swift on the uptake. He’s had to explain even the most fundamental of the parables to them. Now the one person who understood the challenges of the life of Jesus as a prophet, and the one who saw that Jesus was even more than a prophet, and had been sent by God as the Messiah, the Redeemer, John is dead and Jesus must be feeling even more alone and alienated. Two stiff blows happening one right after the other. And so Jesus retreats to a deserted, lonely place – perhaps to mourn, to pray, to sort out what happens next. But like persistent paparazzi, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.

 

Just before our gospel reading this morning, Jesus has experienced rejection in Nazareth – his home town -- by the people who knew him best.  This cannot have been easy for the human side of Jesus to process.  We expect – or at the very least – we hope that those who love us best will support and encourage us.  And then Jesus is told of the brutal execution of his cousin, John the Baptist.  John was the one person who seemed to understand that Jesus’ power was not coming from Jesus, the man, alone, but that Jesus had been sent by God to do the work Jesus was now doing.  The disciples’, thus far, have not been too swift on the uptake.  He’s had to explain even the most fundamental of the parables to them.  Now the one person who understood the challenges of the life of Jesus as a prophet, and the one who saw that Jesus was even more than a prophet, and had been sent by God as the Messiah, the Redeemer, John is dead and Jesus must be feeling even more alone and alienated.  Two stiff blows happening one right after the other.  And so Jesus retreats to a deserted, lonely place – perhaps to mourn, to pray, to sort out what happens next.  But like persistent paparazzi, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 

 

When he gets to the shore, Jesus sees the great crowd, but instead of getting back into the boat and leaving – or sending the crowd away so that he could be alone – Jesus has compassion on these people.  He heals their sick.  Jesus spends the afternoon healing and teaching. 

 

When evening came, the disciples, infinitely practical men, come to Jesus and tell him that he should send the crowds away to find food, since this place – lonely and deserted as it was – might be a great place for solitude and prayer, but lacked any amenities to feed all of these people.  This was a huge crowd – 5,000 men not counting women and children.  This is a rock-concert-in-a-stadium size crowd – not your run-of-the-mill Sunday-church-going group.  Total attendance may have been 10 or even 15 thousand total.  The disciples are shocked out of their shoes when Jesus looks at them and says, “you give them something to eat.”  The little bit that they have brought – the 5 loaves and the two fish – are scarcely enough to feed the disciples and Jesus.  But Jesus takes what they have, looks up to heaven, blesses and breaks the bread, and gives the loaves and the fishes to the disciples to distribute to the immense crown. 

 

In our lives sometimes we are in need as that crowd was in need – like many families among us here – at St. Mary’s and in our Kentucky Episcopal family.  Sometimes we need our God – as shown to us in these actions of Jesus, the Son – to show us compassion – to heal our broken lives – our bruised and battered souls.  Like this crowd, sometimes all we can do is sit down right where we are and wait for God and God’s disciples to show us kindness – to feed us.  And our God is so full of love for us that that is exactly what God will do for us.  God will enfold us within his compassion, heal our wounded lives, and feed us until we are strong enough to once again care for ourselves.

 

Other times we are called to be the disciples – God’s hands working in and among our friends and among the strangers around us in the crowd and to have enough faith to see abundance instead of scarcity.  Sometimes we have to step out in faith, handing out what we do have to those in need before we are able to discover that what we have is enough – that like the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 – our loaves and fishes have multiplied into all that is needed to care for the needs of those around us.  We have to realize that when we partner with God – instead of trying to do everything ourselves – when we ask for God’s help and God’s blessing – then we are able to do infinitely more than we can do all by ourselves. 

 

Where are you today?  Are you in need of God’s loving and compassionate healing?  Then come, come to the table and be fed, come to the altar in a few minutes and know that here, at this altar -- in St. Mary’s – we are re-enacting God’s abundant love.  There is always enough.  And the bread that we bless and break has the power to feed and nourish you – body and soul.  The bread that we share contains all the same miraculous powers as that bread that fed the 5,000 on the mountain in that lonely and deserted spot.  Make the journey from where you are to the place where you can meet God and receive love, compassion, healing and be fed.  God is always ready with open arms.

 

Are you feeling scarcity in your life?  Walk forward in faith, trusting that the God who fed so many with what seemed like so little –will give you what you need.  And remember that what we need may not look like what we think we want.  God’s miracles did not stop when Jesus died – we just have to be willing to see God acting in our own here and now – in order to see the on-going miracles that happen all around us.  You must journey forward, one step at a time, but you are never walking alone, and miracles come to us in many guises – and often through God’s disciples -- when we are open and willing to step forward in faith and to recognize miracles when we encounter them.

 

Or are you feeling blessed?  Or, at least, are you feeling willing to trust that others may be blessed through the blessings that have been given to you?  Take what you have been given and, when you see a need, step forward in faith to show compassion – to share what you have with those who are in need.  Often what is needed is material and concrete – food for the hungry, shelter, drink, clothing, school supplies, or health care, but what may help most can just as easily be an ear to hear, a kind word, a willingness to walk a while alongside another as they struggle on their own path.  God, in God’s grace, blesses us all, but in our turn, we are also called to be blessings to others. 

 

Wherever you are today, have faith, trust, that God loves you, God blesses you, and that we live in a world surrounded by the abundant bounty of God’s grace.  There is enough in the world for everyone.  In the inter-connected circle of life – look for those times when you are in need of blessing – and for those times when you can act as a blessing to others.  And may you always know the abundance of God’s continuing love and mercy.  Amen.