A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 25 July 2021, by Rev Judy Chan . The scripture reading that day was Psalm 145:10-18, Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6:1-21.
Good
morning.
In
today’s readings, we’re now in the Gospel of John rather than Mark. And we’ll
be looking at the 6th Chapter of John for the next 5 weeks. In this
first reading, there are two miracle stories – the feeding of the 5000 and
Jesus walking on water. When I saw this, I thought, Oh, a double header. That’s
a baseball term – when you have 2 games one after the other, same venue, same
teams. Sounds fun, huh?
John’s
double header however presents a dilemma. Do I preach on one miracle or both?
Then I discovered that Mark and Matthew also have the same two stories one
after the other in their gospels. So, I figured the two stories must go
together for a reason. And perhaps John’s version as the latest can teach us
something important about Jesus, miracles and our own spiritual lives. So, come
with me as I take you out to the ball game, so to speak, and let’s see what’s
happening.
I
want to begin by saying a few things about miracles - Jesus’ miracles in
particular. For some people, the miracles in the Bible are hard to believe.
Really, they say, how could Jesus feed 5000 people with five loaves of bread
and two fish? And walking on water? Sorry, that’s just not scientifically possible.
Over
the centuries, people have tried to come up with logical explanations. The one
I’ve heard most often about feeding the 5000 goes like this. The crowd was so moved
by the little boy handing over his meager lunch, they decided to share their
own lunch basket too, thus enough food for everyone plus leftovers. Jesus
walking on water is harder to explain – maybe the water was shallow or he was
walking on top of blocks of ice. I suppose that’s marginally better than saying
the events never happened or that they were grand embellishments promoted by
the early church. But, frankly, I’m not satisfied with any of these
explanations.
Now,
whatever your position on miracles – that of course they happen or of course
they don’t happen, or somewhere in between, let me share something I learned
from my seminary professor. His name is Luke Timothy Johnson and he taught me New
Testament. I didn’t learn this in his class but from his later writings on the
topic of miracles. Prof Johnson says if we don’t believe in miracles, then how in
the world can we be a Christian? As he puts it, the most fundamental truths by
which Christians live and die involve miracles. And the two greatest miracles of all? The
Incarnation and the Resurrection. In other words, Christmas and Easter! For
what else are these festivals but a celebration of miracles?
Christmas: The miracle of God coming to us in Jesus Christ through His Incarnation.
Easter: The miracle of our returning to God through Jesus Christ in His
Resurrection. Indeed, if the Incarnation and the Resurrection are not true,
then nothing else matters. But if they are true, and Christians believe they
are, then everything else does matter.
Johnson
says the trouble with modern folks is we lack imagination. We live in our own
little bubble of reality, not realizing or even caring that there may be other
ways of knowing or being that are even better. There’s an old story, you’ve
probably heard it, about a man who was sure he was dead. His family tried to
convince him he was wrong but he insisted it was so. They sent him to a doctor.
“Doc, I’m a dead man.” The doctor said, “No, you’re not! You’re sitting here
talking to me, how can you be dead?” The man refused to change his mind. So,
the doctor had an idea. “Do dead men bleed?” he asked. “No,” replied the patient. So, the doctor
took a needle, pricked the man’s finger and out came drops of blood. “What do
you make of that?” the doc asked. The man stared at his finger. “Well, what do
you know? Dead men do bleed!”
To
understand miracles in the Bible, we don’t have to suspend reality. We don’t
have to put aside common sense and intellect. What we have to do is to imagine
a different reality. A world not defined by the limits of human knowledge and
experience, but a world defined by a relationship with the living God –
a world bursting with divine presence and power in creation. That’s the world
in which the Bible writers lived and moved and had their being. And if we can
enter that world with them, even briefly, we’ll understand better what they’re
trying to tell us. C.S. Lewis said: “Miracles are a retelling in small letters
of the very same story written across the whole world in letters too large for
some of us to see.”
So,
let’s get going. As I mentioned, these two miracles in John are also found in
Mark and Matthew. Luke only records the Feeding of the 5000. I think each
writer told the story of Jesus in their own way. They were highlighting
different aspects for different audiences. Scholars generally agree that the
Gospel of John was the last to be written, and by that time, he didn’t need to
repeat what Matthew, Mark and Luke had already said. His intention, then, is
not to recount the life of Jesus, but to tell us instead what that life meant.
John has been called the most ‘theological’ of the Gospels, and that’s not a
bad thing. For what is theology but “faith seeking understanding”?
For
me, a key to interpreting John 6 comes in a verse we may not even have noticed,
v.4: “Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.” John is the only
Gospel writer who places these miracles at the time of Passover. Remember what the Jewish Passover was about? It’s
a commemoration of the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt as told in the
book of Exodus. It’s a time to give thanks for miraculous protection from
destruction. And John, different from the other Gospel writers, connects these two
miracles of Jesus with those miracles of Passover.
How
does he do it? The feeding of the 5000. What’s the picture? Lots of hungry
people, panicked organizers, a desperate situation. Remind you of any time in
Exodus? Of course, the Israelites in the wilderness after escaping Pharaoh. “Why
did you bring us out of Egypt to let us starve out here, Moses?” they
complained. But they didn’t starve, did
they? God sent the Israelites daily bread in the form of manna from heaven.
Likewise,
Jesus’ disciples were facing a desperate situation. How were they going to feed
this humongous crowd that had followed them? “Know any good supermarkets
nearby?” Jesus asks. They look at him in disbelief. “That would cost a fortune,
Master! Have you checked our bank account recently?” I imagine at this point
Jesus kept silent, waiting to see what the disciples did next. Still grasping
at straws, they noticed a young boy with five loaves of ordinary bread and two
dried fish. A peasant’s lunch. “It’s no use,” they conclude. “We give up.” Only a miracle could save them now.
But
no one was going to see a miracle by looking at the crowd or their money bag or
a young boy’s lunch. The disciples were only going to see a miracle if they
looked to Jesus. Because that’s where God’s presence and power are most
mightily revealed – in the person and work of Christ our Savior. So, the point
of the miracle is not the food, though that’s what we tend to get fixated on.
The point of feeding the 5000 is Jesus, the Son of God. Without Him, they can
do nothing. He is the one who is even mightier than Moses. He is the one who
provides bread from heaven with His own hands. He is the one who performs a
miracle when you’ve put your trust in Him. Got that?
Now,
what about the other story – Jesus walking on water? Again, what’s the picture?
A raging sea, terrified folks, no way forward and no way back. Can you think of
another time God’s people were desperate to get safely to the other side of the
water? Yes, the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. The water in front of them, Pharaoh’s
army behind them. They were doomed. But God provided. The waters parted. The danger
was over.
In
John 6, we find the disciples equally in crisis. They had gone down to the sea
in the evening to cross over to Capernaum. The trip started well enough, but
then it became rough sailing with high winds mid-way. What could they do? It
was no use calling out to Jesus. He was somewhere off in the mountain. They were
all on their own. Or so they thought. Then they looked out and there was Jesus walking
on the sea towards them. They were scared out their minds. Was it the spirit of
a dead man? But then they heard His voice: “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” And they
believed and obeyed. And the next thing they knew, the boat had safely reached
the shore.
Again,
let’s interpret the story carefully. What do we usually focus on? Walking on
water, right? That’s remarkable in itself of course. But the real point is what
Jesus is teaching his disciples. Yes, you can do nothing apart from Him, but
He is also never far apart from you. I’m sure the disciples weren’t expecting Jesus
to come to the rescue. But when all hope
was gone, like the Israelites fleeing Pharaoh, God moved over the waters and they
made it safely to the other side. “It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
As
I said earlier, if we don’t believe in miracles, how in the world can we be a
Christian? Maybe you think if I could see those miracles with my own eyes, then
I would believe. But, you know, Jesus never performed miracles on demand. He
never performed miracles to prove He is the Son of God. Jesus performed miracles
because He is the Son of God. The God who has compassion on all who
suffer, who reveals His Kingdom in unmistakable signs and wonders. The God who
possesses power and control over the whole Universe.
The
Bible tells us many, many people witnessed the miracles of Jesus. But not
everyone became His disciple. If fact, most did not. Some doubted. Some wanted
the miracle but not the man. Some even tried to shut Him down. I think it’s
probably the same for many, many people today. But for those of you who have witnessed
the miracles of God in your own life firsthand – and I’m looking at some of you
right now – you know. You know if we have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart
to trust and obey Him, we’ll not only be happy in Jesus, we’ll have joy in this
life and the next. Thanks be to God! Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, July 25, 2021
