Sermon by Dr. George B. Wirth

October 5, 2008

“Is There Enough To Go Around?”

Scripture: John 6:1-14

INTRODUCTION

I was there just a month ago on the Sea of Galilee in a place called Tabgha. It’s not named in the Bible, but tradition says and most Biblical scholars and archaeologists think that Tabgha is the place where the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the Feeding Of The 5,000 happened. I have a book here that I brought home with me which pictures the church and the Benedictine monastery, right there in Tabgha, and displays the symbol, the mosaic, that goes back to the 6^th century A.D. of the two fish and the basketful of loaves.

Our group of Holy Land pilgrims stood on the shore of the Galilean Sea at Tabga and read on a Wednesday morning the stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke and the one we just read from John. They’re almost identical except for one thing. In the Gospel of John there’s a boy. He’s not mentioned in the other three gospels. In fact in the other three gospels, Jesus is the one who tells his disciples, “You go and feed all those people.” But in John, Jesus takes the loaves and the fish from the young boy and performs the miracle.

Now I’ve heard some seminary professors and theologians actually say that it really wasn’t the miracle that we think it was, but rather that it was a matter of just sharing - that Jesus helped to get the people in such a good mood that day that they all wanted to share their food with each other. But I think John is closer to the truth. I think the miracle really happened by the Sea of Galilee and it’s a miracle that was performed by Jesus Christ as he called that little boy to come forward and to share the gift that God had given to him. The Bible says that everyone was fed, and did you see at the end of the story that there was still enough left over?

I

So I guess that raises the same question they asked back then that we’re still asking today, and it’s the title of this communion meditation. Is There Enough To Go Around? Jesus believed there was and he performed a miracle with the gifts that had been provided. With that said, I am wondering this morning - human nature being what it is, are we prone toward generosity or are we inclined toward selfishness? Generosity or selfishness?

A little girl in the Fellowship Hour some months ago was eating a chocolate chip cookie. She had the chocolate all over her hands and her mouth and she was enjoying the cookie, so I bent down and looked at her and said, “Thank you so much for bringing this cookie to me.” She looked at me startled, and she said, “Mine!” and then she walked away. Are we prone to generosity or selfishness?

A young boy was sitting in the living room of his home with a preacher who had come for Sunday lunch. The parents were in the kitchen making preparation, so the preacher tried to start a conversation. He said to the young boy, “What do you think we’re going to have to eat?” The boy said, “Buzzard.” The preacher was surprised. He said, “What do you mean?” The boy said, “Well preacher, this past week my mother and father, as they were thinking about inviting you to come, my mother and father were talking and she said to him, “I think it’s time that we had that old buzzard for lunch.” Are we prone toward generosity or toward selfishness? What do you think?

II

Jesus called forth the best out of the hearts of the people who were there that day. The boy, the disciples and more than 5,000 gathered there and they participated in the miracle which enabled and empowered them to open not only their hearts, but also their hands to share with each other. And Jesus still calls us to do that today, because there is enough, more than enough to go around.

You say, “Preacher have you had your head in the sand over the past few weeks? Don’t you know that the stock market went down? Don’t you know that some of the banks failed and were gobbled up? Don’t you know that in the Senate and the House of Representatives they finally voted for a bailout, but it doesn’t seem to be helping? Don’t you know we’re in financial disaster here?” And I guess that brings up the second question from this text today. In comparison with the rest of the world, even though we’ve taken a hit, isn’t there still enough to go around?

Jeffrey Sachs thinks so. Do you know who he is? Jeffrey Sachs teaches at Columbia in New York City. He used to teach at Harvard and he wrote a book about three years ago entitled “How To End Poverty.” Time Magazine did a cover story on him and he believes that there are enough resources in the world, especially in the West, if we will share and let that miracle Jesus performed continue to inspire us to care for people who are in dire straights.

Jeffrey Sachs says that we can give more in this country today and I try to

remember that as I keep a picture close to me that I’ve shown to you before. It’s a little boy in the Ethiopian desert. He was traveling with his family and others who belonged to his tribe but he fell down out of starvation, and he’s dying with his face to the ground. Watching nearby to him is a buzzard, a vulture waiting to devour this child. That should not be. It shouldn’t happen, and Jesus says to us as he did to his first disciples, “You need to feed them. You need to help them. To those whom much is given of them will much be required.” And I believe, and this church believes, that Jesus was talking about us.

There’s a legend about a person who died and was carried by an angel into the afterlife. The first stop was a large room with a huge banquet table and around the table were sitting all of these people and they were gaunt and they were starving to death like this child. They had splints on their arms and their hands, wooden splints, and the person said to the angel, “Where are we?” The Angel said, “We’re in hell, because they can’t get the food on the banquet table into their own mouths.” Then they went to another place, another room, the same exact scene, a huge banquet table laid out and they had splints on their arms and their hands but they were all healthy, they were smiling, they were eating and they were full of joy. The person said to the angel, “What place is this?” And the angel said with a smile, “This is heaven and in heaven we’ve learned to feed each other.”

CONCLUSION

The final question is “Do we have to wait until we get to heaven”? Jesus said to his disciples, “You take care of them. You feed them.” And he still says that to us on World Communion Sunday as he continues to perform the miracle of sharing and caring through all of his churches around the world. There was and there still is enough to go around. So the question that we need to ask as we come to this table is this: “Are we ready, are we willing, and are we able to make a place at the table for all of God’s people on earth?”

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.