Sermons from St
Faith's
Trifles
Fr John Reed, Sunday 29th July, 2018
On the Sunday before the Vicarage garden party this is
a very fitting Gospel reading. Over many years of
parish ministry one of the first things I have learned is
that one of the fundamentals of church life is the shared
meal. Secondly there is a fair amount of anxiety
around the question of making sure that no one leaves
feeling hungry. There are several approaches to
alleviate this anxiety, involving signing up on lists,
or requiring the purchase of tickets (Brenda has some
today), and then there is the Methodist Faith tea. You
are all expected to bring something with you, and God
willing there is more food than anyone can possibly
eat. This was the standard way of doing things in New
Zealand churches and it worked well, and woe betide anyone
who didn’t leave with some food at the end.
But if you suggest this approach with loyal Church of
England folk, someone is bound to ask the question, what
happens if everyone arrives with a trifle? More
anxiety!
But on the scale of anxiety Philip had a colossal
amount. five thousand Men, and if there were 5000 men
there were women and children in the crowd too. They had all
followed Jesus seeking more teaching and healing. This
story appears in all 4 Gospels but in Mark and John which
unusually seem to follow the same details before the
teaching begins the miracle happens. And Jesus asks Phillip
to feed them all, What! says Phillip who obviously had an
eye for figures, we would need 200 days wages to fed this
lot. And then Andrew introduces and the small boy with
5 barley loaves and two fish. A boy’s packed lunch and
five thousand plus hungry people, naïve to say the
least. But maybe it takes a child’s faith to turn the
world of many right thinking serious grown ups upside down.
In the prayer at the Eucharist we use this morning which is
based upon scriptures accounts of the last supper we will
take bread, just as Jesus took that bread. We will give
thanks just as Jesus gave thanks that day with the five
barley loaves and two fish. And we will break it so it can
be distributed. And it is from the Greek word for
fragment we will find the word used by the early church for
the bread we distribute at the Eucharist.
That day it was distributed among 5000 men and their
dependants, it’s a parable of God's extravagant generous
love. Everyone had sufficient and still there is
enough left for 12 baskets, and for those who like
significant numbers one for every tribe of
Israel. There are stories of miraculous feedings
in the old Testament, Manna and quails in the wilderness,
the prophet Elisha feeding the starving widow and her
son. And yet the one we have in Kings today is about
Elisha walking 60 miles from a miracle to find a group of
starving prophets, one of the servants is sent to gather
herbs and they develop food poisoning, Elisha heals them,
but still they hunger. And then a faithful worshipper
of God arrives, a man who has walked a considerable distance
to fulfil his religious obligation and present the first
fruits of his harvest to the prophet. The
servant complains there is not enough, and God again ensures
there is far more than they can eat. The worshipper
must have felt greatly appreciated. And Jesus was
greatly appreciated, so much they tried to make him
King. In ancient Rome those who ruled lived in
constant fear of the mob. One Emperor had a philosophy
that seemed to work, it was arranging elaborate circuses to
entertain the crowds and to provide bread for the hungry to
eat. Jesus could have provided loaf upon loaf, and yet
he chose to slip away.
Both John and Mark follow the story of the feeding of the
5000 by calming the storm. Again we have anxious
disciples but this time imperilled by a storm. And
this is in an area that most of the disciples would have
felt at home in, they were fishermen. And Jesus walks
on the water, the Spirit of God literally dances over the
stormy water during the story of creation. And when God
speaks the water is confined in its place so the land can
appear. And when Jesus speaks the waves and the wind
are stilled. It is no accident both evangelists put
these two stories together. A Roman Emperor can easily
provide food for the mob. Only the Son of God can
provide food for everyone to eat, left overs for everyone
else, and as God did in Creation can still the waves.
The second miracle dwarfs the first in scale.
And when Paul in Ephesians asks us to pray for the power to
comprehend what the love of God. He realises that in
the face of a God shown to us in Jesus we have a God of
unimagined extravagant generosity. And there is so much love
it will take some understanding, and so he goes into 3
dimensions unlike the page we look at in a book, he talk
about height, depth, length and breadth.
When you put your hand in the hand of the man who stills the
water you will begin know about love, but never think you
will know it all, there is far more than you can
comprehend. And when you take that fragment of bread
which is part of a feast for everyone who hungers for to be
rooted and grounded in Gods love. Know you are rooted in
love and give that love away. You will never run out
because with Jesus there is always more.
LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance
in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.
'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'
Love said, 'You shall be he.'
'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.'
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
'Who made the eyes but
I?'
'Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them: let my shame
Go where it doth
deserve.'
'And know you not,' says Love, 'Who bore the blame?'
'My dear, then I will
serve.'
'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat.'
So I did sit and eat.
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