Miracles in Our Midst
Back to School Sunday
Sunday, August 6, 2023
John 6:1-15
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?”
John 6:8-9
Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:
We often think of Jesus performing miracles and we often wonder why we don’t see miracles more often in our lives today. Some claim that miracles ceased after the days of the apostles. Others deny that miracles ever really happened at all and attempt to come up with other explanations for such supernatural stories. Still others say that miracles happen all the time, if you only have enough faith. This last thought has led to significant pain and spiritual harm to those who, like Job, appear to do everything right and still do not experience healing or wholeness in this life.
There is one thing about Jesus’ miracles, however, that we tend to overlook. Many of Jesus’ miracles depended on the involvement of others. So many of the people Jesus healed were brought to Jesus by their friends, some with great difficulty and sacrifice like the paralytic lowered through the roof of a house. Many were required to do something to complete the miracle, such as the lepers who were told to go and present themselves before the priests or the blind man who had to wash in the pool of Siloam. Before Jesus turned the water into wine, Mary told those around him to do whatever he said. Then he instructed them to fill six stone jars with water. How many of these miracles, I wonder, would not have taken place without the cooperation of others?
That brings us to today’s miracle, the feeding of the 5,000. When the disciples come to Jesus saying there is not enough food, they suggest sending everyone home. Jesus likely knew that many of those gathered already suffered under poverty and may not have had a meal to go home to. Even if they did, he was not about to send people away when they came to him hungry for something more. So Jesus responds, “You give them something to eat.”
At this point the disciples begin to sound like a typical church council. “We don’t have enough,” they say. “It would be far too expensive. It would take more than half a year’s salary to buy this much food and even if we had that kind of money, there is no place around here to buy it. It’s impossible.”
Jesus simply tells them to give what little they have and see what happens. And of course we know the rest of the story. Their 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish turned into 12 full baskets of leftovers after everyone had their fill. We focus so much on the miracle that we again miss that it required the disciples to give what they had and to step out in faith.
But John adds one beautiful little detail the other gospel writers appear to overlook. In his telling, it was not the disciples who had the loaves and fish, it was a young boy, a child. This boy is the one who is willing to give his measly little lunch if it can help someone else. He doesn’t apologize for not having enough. He doesn’t think his gift is too small. He simply gives what he has with no clue what good, if any, it will accomplish. Is this what Jesus means when he says we must have the faith of a child?
Perhaps miracles are indeed still happening all around us, but if we want to see them, maybe we better stop worrying and complaining and simply start doing what Jesus says.