Fish Sandwiches by the Sea

Sermon Text for September 17:
Mark 8:1-10

This is a wonderful day for Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. All of the Sunday School classes have begun for the Fall. Attendance is high and there is a feeling of expectation in the air. Somehow we know that God is going to do great things with us during this new church year. Among the things that you have to look forward to in 2007 is the arrival of your new pastor. He or she will arrive with energy and excitement that will be contagious, and all of you will be energized too. I get excited for you just thinking about it.

A few weeks ago in the church newsletter, “The Covenant Connection”, I shared a phrase that has been running around in my mind, it was, “Let’s make a miracle together”. I admitted that this phrase is not theologically correct because only God can make a miracle. But I discovered that I like the idea, I have made it into a masthead for our bulletin, for the stewardship season. I am hoping that the phrase, “Let’s make a miracle together” intrigues some of you too. And I am going to ask you to join me in prayer for a miracle here at PCOC. If we are looking for a miracle then prayer is essential, because we cannot make a miracle by ourselves.

Many of us are skeptical about miracles. If there ever were such things they seem to belong to another age and not to ours. But others of us firmly believe in God’s ability to intervene powerfully in human lives. Early in the summer we received a prayer card during worship asking us to pray for a miracle. A family was eagerly awaiting the birth of a first grandchild, but one of the grandmothers was dying from cancer. The doctors gave her no chance of living until the child was born. We prayed for a miracle, and a few weeks ago she had the joy of holding her dear little grandchild in her arms.

We have been praying for God’s blessing on this congregation, for at least as long as I have been here, and the miracle is already taking shape. You are alive with a sense of expectation as you wait to see what God will do next. I feel this sense of expectation almost every time I walk in the door. There is vibrant life here. God is creating something new within you. Your part of the miracle is to offer yourself for transformation; to ask God to change doubt into belief and weakness into strength, and worry over scarcity into a vision of God’s abundance. Then you simply wait to see how God will honor the Covenant. That is what our New Testament lesson teaches us.

In this lesson Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd of seekers who have been following him for days. According to the Bible there are about four thousand followers in the crowd. Jesus sees a need and gathers his disciples around him and says, “I have compassion for the crowd for they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes they will faint – and some have come a great distance.”

This story is alive with energy and expectation. People are trying to get near to Jesus, hoping to hear something that will transform their lives. Expectation is in the air. The people sense that with Jesus anything can happen and excitement grew until the whole crowd was buzzing with anticipation. They knew that something was going to happen. But when the miracle occurred I think that everyone was surprised. Miracles are like that. They do not come made to order or even on our schedule. Christianity 101 tells us that. God does what God wants to do, when God wants to do it. This way none of us can get all puffed up by how well we pray or how close we are to God.

In this story Jesus has compassion for the people because they have no food. I don’t think it took the disciples too long to guess what he wanted them to do. Can’t you just see the disciples rolling their eyes and talking to themselves, “Oh no! He wants us to feed the people.” And they were right, and they protested. “How can we feed the people with bread here in the desert”? It would be as impossible as healing lepers, calming storms, raising people from the dead, or walking on the water. No rational person thinks it can happen. But Jesus wasn’t very concerned about what can’t happen.

"How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked, and they answered ‘seven’” They might as well have said, “We don’t have anything.” Or “We don’t have enough.” Each of which is true for all intents and purposes. But Jesus is not concerned with scarcity because he sees the abundance of God. They had seven loaves of bread, added to the compassion and power of Jesus. And no one in any situation needs more than that. Jesus gave thanks, and then just kept breaking the bread until everyone had enough. And the same thing happened with a few small fish.

We can’t program God or schedule miracles. And miracles cannot be demanded, they can only be gratefully received. I know that when we look toward the future some of us feel like we are one of the disciples faced with feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread. Some of us look at PCOC giving from the past, and we know that it is not enough to carry us very far into the future. Some of us have personal or family issues that make us feel empty and impoverished. But the clear message in our gospel passage is that God’s abundance can overwhelm our scarcity.

That day in the wilderness the disciples stood before Jesus and confessed their helplessness and inadequacy, and Jesus responded with a meal. It wasn’t filet mignon, it was fish sandwiches, but the meal was filling and nutritious. This morning let us stand before God, and tell God where we feel inadequate in our faith and life. Let us offer God our fears and weakness. Let us give God our few loaves and fish. Perhaps God will make us fish sandwiches. If I could order up the miracle it might be filet mignon, but fish sandwiches will be nutritious and might be exactly what we need. Friends as we enter into this new Church Year let’s Covenant with God and each other and, “Let’s make a miracle together."

Copyright © 2006 by Dwight R. Blackstock