9th Sunday after Pentecost/Year B
July 25, 2021
Ephesians 3: 14-21; Psalm 14; John 6:1-21
Opening prayer: Creator, we give you thanks for all you are and all you bring to us for our visit within your creation. In Jesus, you place the Gospel in the centre of this Sacred Circle through which all of creation is related. You show us the way to live a generous and compassionate life. Give us your strength to live together with respect and commitment as we grow in your Spirit, for you are God, now and forever. Amen.
(gathering prayer from a disciple’s prayer book)
In the next several weeks, we will be hearing a lot about bread, the living bread, the bread of life, that we come to know as Jesus, as revealed to us, in the gospel of John, chapter 6. We will have the opportunity to re-focus ourselves and our lives on the true bread of life, that feeds us and nourishes us and strengthens us, when we once again are reminded to place Jesus, the gospel, in the center of all our gatherings here in the church, either in-person or on zoom, and in all that we do, as the church, as the body and living bread of Jesus, outside our buildings…in the community at large.
In today’s gospel reading, we have a wonderful story about the amazing things that are possible, and can happen, when the focus is on Jesus, on what God can do through him, and us. It extends an invitation to us to enter into this story, to taste and see that God is good…That’s what jumped out at me when I listened to the story the first time.
As I re-tell this story for the 2nd time, I invite you to put yourself into the story…and ponder what God, what Jesus, is saying to you…
Let me begin by saying,
We have some pretty spectacular summer weather in Sitka…especially when the sun is shining for days on end. On these days, I make sure I get in some extra time to walk…and also some time to just sit. I often sit outside on a bench across the street from the church, facing Crescent harbor and beyond…There is always so much to see from there….
As I was recalling one of these spectacular sunny days, my thoughts turned to today’s gospel reading…imagining myself being present with Jesus, his disciples and the crowds…
I began with imagining that I was sitting on the bench with Jesus, who had just crossed over from the other side of the ocean…hoping to get away from the crowds to rest a bit…But a large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs, the healing, he was doing for the sick.
Then Jesus decided it was time to move on again, in hopes of finding a place to rest and talk with his disciples. So, we headed up a mountain to sit down. But, just as Jesus looked up, the crowds were coming again.
This time, Jesus must have noticed that the approaching crowds were hungry and he asked Philip – “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”
Philip seemed to be a bit bewildered by his question, and started talking about dollars and cents and clearly doubtful of how they would ever feed the crowd that was now gathered with them on the mountain.
Andrew hesitantly brings up an idea that seemed a little far-fetched – and one could only imagine the look on Phillip’s face when he says this: “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”
I suppose the rest of us had a puzzled look on our faces too…all those people – and five loaves of bread and two fish?
We all turned and looked at Jesus again, to hear what he now had to say…
Jesus simply said, “Make the people sit down.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in this place, so they sat down…about five thousand in all.
Five thousand people – double/triple the amount of extra people we see in Sitka on cruise ship days….A lot of people…only five barley loaves, and two fish…and Jesus simply begins by saying… “Make the people sit down.”
All eyes and ears were fixed on Jesus now…what is he going to do with those five barley loaves and two fish?
This is what we saw him do:
Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated and he did the same with the two fish – and gave the people as much as they wanted.
Everyone was satisfied, everyone’s hunger was satisfied. All who came, were filled…All who had been wandering, all who had been roaming, all who had been restless, lonely, longing for something, perhaps to belong…all who were yearning for days of fullness…all who came and shared in this circle of love and fellowship, and the sharing of a meal…were filled, they were satisfied…with Jesus…and in community with one another…there was more than enough for everyone..
When it appeared as though all were done eating, Jesus told the disciples to gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost…
So they went around, amongst the crowd and gathered up, from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, and they filled twelve baskets. Twelve baskets of the fragments left behind…
When the disciples placed the baskets in front of Jesus...and for all to see…there was a stunned silence…there was a sense of profound awe…How could this be? There was an overflowing sense of deep gratitude that filled the air around us…pure and complete joy… as we realized… surely, we were standing on Holy ground here, surely, we were witness to the presence and the power of God’s love, and grace and mercy…revealed to us…in the One who was with us…Jesus…
The one who simply asked us….to sit down…..to sit down for a moment and just be with him…listen to him, learn from him, be fed by him, be filled with the fullness of God’s love through him….and be nourished and fed for the work of going out into the world to share this love and this bread of life with all we meet…
When the people gathered saw the sign that Jesus had done, they began to say, “Indeed, this is the prophet who has come into the world.”
Indeed, in today’s gospel reading, we can see that amazing things are possible, and can happen in our own lives, and the lives of all God’s people, when the focus is on Jesus, on what God can do through Jesus, and us.
We gather today to celebrate the Eucharist…to give thanks...to remember the One who has indeed, come into the world to reconcile us to God, to one another, and all of creation…
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we are given a glimpse, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, the beloved community – where all are invited and welcomed at God’s table, all are fed, and satisfied…we gather together to taste and see that God is good…
Then we are sent out, strengthened and nourished by the bread of life, to go back out into our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our communities, our families, to proclaim the Good News of God’s abundant love and goodness, revealed to us, in the breaking of bread, in Christ Jesus…
There’s a lot of hungry people in the world right now…hungry for love, hungry for kindness, hungry for compassion, hungry for fellowship and belonging…hungry for the good news of God’s love for all people, at all times, and in all places…
I invite you to read this gospel a third time this afternoon….if you can…
And think about… “What is Jesus, the Gospel, calling you to do?
And then go… go and invite others to come and to taste and see that God is good.
Rev Julie Platson, Rector
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK
Hymn after sermon - WLP - #761 All who hunger gather gladly
All who hunger gather gladly;
holy manna is our bread.
Come from wilderness and wand’ ring.
Here in truth we will be fed.
You that yearn for days of fullness,
all around us is our food.
Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see that God is good.
All who hunger, never strangers,
seeker, be a welcome guest.
Come from restlessness and roaming.
Here, in joy we keep the feast.
We that once were lost and scattered
in communion’s love have stood.
Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see that God is good.
All who hunger, sing together,
Jesus Christ is living bread.
Come from loneliness and longing.
Here, in peace, we have been fed.
Blest are those who from this table
live their days in gratitude.
Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see that God is good.