Love Mercy - "Gathering & Gospelling" Week 6

John 6:5-14

Because we’ve been in our worship series, we’ve been hearing different texts each week, but in the Revised Common Lectionary, the gospel readings for five weeks from July 25 through next Sunday August 25 are all from Chapter 6 in the Gospel of John. This body of readings is known as the Bread of Life discourse and it begins with the reading we have today.

In his gospel, John doesn’t record miracles. Instead, the events where Jesus does the unexpected are called ‘signs’ because they point to who Jesus is. The description of what happens isn’t as important as what it says about the character of Jesus.

So, as I listened this week again to this familiar text, I tried to remember that it isn’t about a math problem – the multiplication of loaves and fish – and instead asked, “What does the sign point to?”

First, the text connects us back to Israel’s Exodus experience of being in the wilderness and receiving God’s manna. Manna was “like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. (Exodus 16:31 NRS)”. The Israelites complained to Moses while they were in the wilderness and God heard their complaints and provided them with manna that fell down and covered the ground like frost each day and they were instructed to gather only what they needed. There was enough for each person and nothing was wasted.

The second connection, as we hear Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and gave the food to the crowd, is to the meal that we gather for here at the Lord’s Table. That day, Jesus made an offering of bread and fish, but in the Eucharist or Holy Communion, Jesus makes an offering of his very own body and blood to sustain us in our life as disciples and as children of God.

The third connection is one that I hadn’t noticed before. Verse 10 says,

“Jesus said, “Get the people to sit down.” Now the men numbered about five thousand, but there was plenty of grass there for them to find a seat.”

It feels like a throw-away verse. Why does it matter where people sat?

But then, I think about when we gather for a meal in the fellowship hall, and there might be thirty or even fifty of us. The best way I know to get everyone’s attention is to call out, “The Lord be with you!” It seems like in the crowd John describes that every time you’d get one group to sit down, another likely would wander off.

And exactly where can 5,000 people sit with plenty of space? To give you an idea, Keeter Stadium, where the American Legion ball games are happening this weekend, seats 5,200. And anyone who has sat in that stadium when it’s full knows it can’t be described as ‘spacious’ when every seat is filled.

So, we know this was a big crowd and a big space. The men numbered five thousand, and the synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke- say there were women and children there too. It would have been chaotic and messy, and there was probably some grumbling happening.

But with authority, Jesus and the disciples get everyone seated on the grass.

So do you know where else in Scripture we hear about God and grass or pasture?

It’s in the psalms.

Psalm 23 says,

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures;” (Psalm 23:1-2 NRS);

Psalm 95 says,

“For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”  (Psalm 95:7 NRS); and

Psalm 100 says,

“Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3 NRS)

The shepherd made the people lie down in green pastures and Jesus sat the people down in the carpet of green grass. (The Message)[i]

Jesus is our Shepherd, Lord and King.

In John’s gospel we recognize that the same Shepherd who leads us through valleys of death is the one who leads us to places where we can rest and be fed. 

That same Shepherd provides us with our portion – just what we need – and sustains us for the journey of faith. Following Jesus, we believe that God provides abundantly for us, without any fear of scarcity. We may be tempted like Philip or Andrew, to focus on what we cannot do, how difficult a situation seems or what our limits are, but God reminds us that God is at work in the world, and discipleship isn’t about fixing people or things. It’s about being present and trusting God to be the One who we see all through Scripture. Steadfast and loving. Generous and merciful.

And then we are freed to see what else God is doing and how we can participate, how we can help others feel welcome and know that same blessed assurance of God’s abundant love.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for your Son Jesus who restores us to life with you,

and through whom we know your abundant love and mercy.

Help us watch for signs of your presence in the world and ask how we can participate in what you are doing.

Fill us with your Spirit and send us into the world to love and serve.

We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

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[i] Karoline Lewis discussing the Bread of Life discourse on the Pulpit Fiction Podcast

Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:11-18

In today’s gospel, we walk in on a conversation that has already begun. It’s like entering a play halfway through the first act, or arriving at a ball game sometime in the second quarter.

In the previous chapter of John, Jesus healed a blind man and the Jewish religious leaders were investigating the healing which had happened on the Sabbath. They questioned the man’s neighbors and parents and the man himself. They were suspicious both of the man who was healed and of Jesus.

Before we get to today’s reading, Chapter 10 begins with Jesus talking to those same Pharisees – the ones who had been examining the circumstances of the man’s healing. Echoing language used throughout Hebrew Scripture to describe both kings and Yahweh, Jesus drew a picture of a sheepfold and shepherds, and then contrasted thieves and bandits, strangers and even a hired hand to the good shepherd. His audience would have understood that he was accusing the Pharisees of failing to care for the people entrusted to them. They had not been trustworthy watchmen, they had not protected the people against evildoers, and they had become strangers to the people entrusted to their care.

In stark contrast, Jesus says in verse 11, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  And then he describes the ways that the relationship we have with the Good Shepherd, with God, is different from our human relationships. Remember, in John to believe in God is to know God and be in relationship with God. Faith and following Jesus is always about the relationship with the Holy or Divine who knows us as children of God.

Jesus says that his sheep know Him and listen to His voice; he tells his listeners that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep and then he says, “I have other sheep too, that do not belong to this fold.” (verse 16)

As much comfort as we draw from our traditions and rituals, it is Good News that there are other sheep, that God is ever increasing the size of the sheepfold. God’s love, and so, God’s kingdom, is broader and more abundant than we can understand. 

Over the past year our congregation and others have learned that the Church – the capital-C Church – is not a building. It had been said before but quarantining and worshiping apart meant we have had to learn new ways to be the Church. One of the gifts of this year is we have discovered how to worship alongside beloveds in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and Washington. Another is that we pray together from wherever we are when the daily prayer text arrives. A third is the witness of love and relationship shared in care packages with members on the prayer list.

As we resume more traditional ways of being Church, it is important to remember that we are one flock with one Shepherd (v. 16) and ask, “Who’s missing?” and “Why?”

One of the hardest things a person can do is walk into a church. There are lots of reasons people stay away from churches. Sometimes those reasons reflect a broken relationship with God. Sometimes it’s about the style of worship. But more often, the reasons are rooted in their experience of the people who are in churches. They, or someone they love, have been criticized, mocked or scorned for their appearance. They have been told they are not loved or loveable. They have been coldly ignored or smothered with attention and embarrassed. They have been made to feel like they were out of place because they didn’t have children, or because they weren’t married. Or worse, they’ve been told they don’t belong or aren’t welcome.

When we church people fail to love in the ways that the Good Shepherd loves us, we hurt people and a wounded person doesn’t often risk that kind of hurt happening again. Left outside the gate or to the wolves, they go someplace else.

But in the words of Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry, “Everybody is God’s somebody.”[i] Being one flock means that we are not whole or complete until the people who are missing are welcomed as children of God, sheep of the same shepherd.

So what are ways we can welcome all those whom God loves?

When we decided to resume indoor worship, we also decided to continue livestreaming worship. While COVID remains a concern, we also realized that, for some of God’s children, there are real barriers to physically attending worship in our building. Livestreaming means our whole flock can be together.

A couple of times during drive-in worship neighbors crossing the property stopped and listened to worship, even participating in communion on Easter morning. It was awesome to watch new people drawn in but now it also makes me wonder how moving indoors may leave some of God’s children outside the gate and vulnerable to the wolves and what we might do about it.

So, I invite you to carry the question, “Who is missing and why?” with you as you leave worship.

God’s love is infinite; it isn’t a zero sum game where inviting more people into the relationship means there’s less love or grace for those of us who are already here. So how might  our lives – our everyday words and actions, as well as our Sunday worship and prayers – tell others, “There is plenty of room for all of God’s children”?

Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for your abundant love and mercy,
for your watchfulness and protection, and for your care.
Thank you for Son Jesus who lays down his life for all of your children.
Show us how to love so that everyone would know that they are somebody to you.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

[i] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preaching during Compline, April 20, 2021. The Episcopal Church in Minnesota.