Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

July 26, 2009

Sermon by Pastor John Marboe

The Holy Gospel according to St. John. (John 6:1-21)

Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over; so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

The Gospel of the Lord.

I hope that you are able to take advantage of some of these beautiful summer days and find your way to be beside, or even on, a beautiful body of water. That’s where I was the last two days; I was up in Alexandria, by a lake. I took the opportunity on a beautiful summer day to blow up a couple of air mattresses, my daughter Charlie and I, and we climbed on. We just floated out along the shore. As we floated, we observed what was happening on the shore as we would pass by.

A man caught my attention, an elderly man who was in his yard beside the lake, and he was raking. I realized that he was raking with great difficulty. I imagined him to be about 70 years old, but the difficulty with which he stood there and raked told me that he was very sick. He was very thin. His rake was missing most of its tines. He would stand in this one spot and he would rake and he would rake, and he wouldn’t pick anything up, he would just rake. And then he would move with great difficulty over to another spot, and he would rake a little bit over there. And then he would move to another spot, and he would rake there. He didn’t look up. He didn’t notice that I was watching him. I noticed that this was somebody who had taken pride in his yard; in his boat, which obviously hadn’t been used for quite some time; and in his house, which was showing signs of not being as well cared for, as I’m sure it had been. There he was, just raking, raking, with no real effect, no real purpose; just raking, a little bit here, a little bit there. I thought to myself, in just a year’s time this place will know the man no longer, more than likely. Very sick, at the end of his life, but with the old familiar rake in his hands, raking, without much purpose, at the end of his life.

As we floated by, I had this fantasy: I wanted to go to this man and take him by the hand and let him float on my air mattress, and let him float out into the lake and just rest, just rest; and, if I could, let him float over to maybe the other side of the lake, where, by some miracle perhaps, he might get up and feel refreshed and rejuvenated, strengthened, maybe made whole again. For surely this man was on the verge of a great crossing, metaphorically speaking, the greatest crossing of all. From here to the hereafter.

I offer you this little story. Stories are amazing things. They remind, they illumine, they tease, they disturb, they nudge us. They don’t really tell us anything directly. They just give us something to reflect on. Now, I bring this simple story to you today. Why? This man caught my attention, and he caught my attention because in many ways he reminded me of my own father. He kind of looked like my own father. At the end of my dad’s life, when cancer had eaten away most of his body, he still wanted to be able to do something, anything, to take care of things.

But it also occurred to me that the gospel story today, of Jesus walking across the sea to deliver his disciples from peril, could be a kind of a picture of the great crossing everyone must make: the crossing through life, and through death.

Stories are meant to remind us, they are meant to be remembered. That’s why we tell them again and again. Stories are created by someone or many people who have thought over time that certain stories are worth remembering. Great stories remind us of things that are important to remember and to pass on. The Gospel text today put me in mind of the great crossing over that the raking man was about to make; that my father, my mother had already made; and, of course, all of us, myself included, will make eventually.

But let’s back up and reexamine the story before us today in the Gospel, to refresh ourselves on its details. Jesus has gone over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, and a large crowd keeps following him and following him. He goes up a mountain. Then the Gospel writer adds, “It was about the time of Passover.” Jesus has crossed over a sea, a large crowd of people keep following him; he goes up a mountain, and it’s about the time of Passover. This should begin to remind of us of another older story, also from the Bible. Jesus has a dialogue with Philip. He says, “Where are we going to buy bread for all these people?” And Philip says, “Look, we don’t have enough money, even if we had six months’ wages, to buy even just a little bit for all these people.” Andrew, who plays the fool in the story, says, “Oh, look. Here’s a boy with five loaves and two fish. But what is that in the face of five thousand people?” And Jesus says, “Make them sit down here on the grass.” So five thousand people sit down, and Jesus begins by giving thanks to God. He breaks the loaves and begins to have the fish distributed. And it says that everybody eats and has their fill, so much so that there are twelve baskets left over. From five loaves and two fish, which wouldn’t even fill one basket, twelve baskets remain of the leftovers. So having crossed over dangerous water, with a large following of people, who become hungry in the wilderness, people are fed miraculously by God.

Who is Jesus supposed to remind us of in this story? Anybody? Moses of course. As if that isn’t enough to spark our memory, Jesus goes off by himself while his disciples get into a boat to cross the sea. The sea becomes rough and the wind becomes strong, and Jesus comes walking across the sea. The disciples, it says, see him, and they are terrified. But immediately they find themselves on the other shore, safe and sound. Who is it who saves his followers by bringing them across a sea, walking on foot? Moses.

The Gospel writer is telling us about Jesus in a way that should bring Moses to mind. Why? I invite your imagination to play with that question. But what occurs to me is this: That salvation is a passage through dangerous waters and requires nourishment from above; that salvation is a passage through dangerous waters, and requires nourishment from above. This is the message of the Passover story of Moses, and also the story of Jesus.

As the story continues past the part that we read today, the crowds decide to follow Jesus back across the sea. They get into their boats and they follow him back to the other side of the sea, back to Capernaum. And they find him, and they say to him, “We have been looking for you.” And Jesus says, “Look, you followed me here because you saw signs and wonders, and ate your fill of bread. Don’t be so concerned about the bread or the miracles. Concern yourselves rather with the food that endures to eternal life.” And they say, “Give us this bread.” And Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Each and every week, by the grace of God and with the help of some of our faithful members, we participate in one of the great mysteries of the Christian Church, the Holy Communion. Holy Communion. And in it somehow the saving work of Christ is made real for us. How that encounter is experienced by each, how it is felt or understood or appreciated, is as unique as each person’s situation in life. Whether you are young or old, whether you are in good health or ill, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are feeling strong or weak, whether you are feeling at peace or in distress, we are all on board, involved in a great crossing through life—a life full of dangers and uncertainties—all of us in need for spiritual nourishment.

Years ago, I used to visit a woman in the nursing home. A woman who had been part of church all her life, now in the end of her days, was beginning to slip into dementia. Sometimes she would recognize me and sometimes she wouldn’t. But each time I would go, she would want to take the Holy Communion. I remember the last time I brought her Holy Communion. We went to a little area in the nursing home that was filled with sunlight, and we began the ritual. She was with me all the way. She knew the words, she knew the responses; we said the Lord’s Prayer together. And then I handed her the wafer and said, “The body of Christ given for you.” And this time she took the wafer and said, “Thank you,” and put it in her pocket for later. At that point I said “Amen” and closed up my communion kit.

We become caught up in how exactly we understand Holy Communion to work. We can easily become caught up in how we do it. Do we do it this way or do we do it that way? But, you know, in that sense, the way she had her last Holy Communion was all wrong. It was all wrong. You’re supposed to put it in your mouth, not your pocket. And I am sure she was pretty confused in her present state of mind about what exactly was going on. But the most important thing she had exactly right, exactly right, because the most important thing is that we receive God’s love with gratitude; that we receive and recognize God’s love in gratitude. That’s what we’re about, each and every Sunday, when we come together and when would share the Holy Communion; that we are receiving, that we are sharing, God’s love with gratitude. And this is the food that endures to eternal life. This is the food which Jesus gives and about which he spoke. God’s love made edible. Amen.