RCL Year B (Proper 20) - September 20, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 20) - September 20, 2009

Proverbs 31:10-31

Psalm 1
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Mark 9:30-37

Be Somebody!
Just do IT!
Life is short!

Let’s party all night long and take in our fill… we ALL deserve it! You have to MAKE it to the top in life to be successful! I am stronger than YOU are!

Don’t let your co-worker stop you… just use them as a stepping stone!

Go ahead and get to the Top… that way you will look good! So… take on that extra responsibility! If offered the chance, move into that corner office with a view!

It doesn’t matter what peon you had to step on to get there. Make more money, get a bigger house (with a bigger mortgage)! Buy a new car! Get that extra credit card! Or better yet… Just “claw your way to the top”

At this point, you are saying to yourselves… Wait a minute Ken…

But, I am here to tell you… That yesterday, today and tomorrow… That imagery in our society is REAL…. And it’s scary! There is so much pressure in this world to do just that! And it causes us ALL anxiety!

So… This morning - the question is… What ARE the disputes among YOU? Where do they come from? Family?, Work?, Church?, Money?, Power?… You want something and cannot have it… You covet something and cannot obtain it…

Our modern society puts so much emphasis on obtaining positions of false power and authority…

I even heard a young mother just the other day saying to her young child, “when you grow up, one day you aught to be president!” I even think that MY mom used that one on… That may be ok for a kindergartener, but what happens if that level of aspiration is forced?

You’ve got to BE a Doctor… BE a Lawyer… Be Somebody!… Don’t get me wrong… There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having a successful life, or aspirations for success accomplished with hard work, but too many folks see it as a “zero sum game.” Where there is a “winner”… there must be a “loser.”

Therefore, we do everything that we can to “Claw” our way to that top position of power sometimes at the expense of others… and as the peak of the Mountain gets smaller and smaller on the way to the top there is less and less room for us to stand, but one finally emerges… victorious! What anxiety that produces… It is no wonder that one in ten young people in the United States today have a diagnosed anxiety disorder.

This isn’t completely unlike what is going on in our readings today. We were very carefully warned at the beginning of the service, as the collect so plainly tells us… “not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly!” Anxious? – about earthly things? – Who us???

NOW… that statement even makes me anxious! Anxious about being anxious!

Anxiety and Society are friends… And our Society LOVES Anxiety!!! And anxiety is created in all types of situations… How will I get that job and a corner office with a view??? I have been a faithful employee for YEARS!... I deserve more responsibility – AND – MORE MONEY! Will I be accepted????

Or even better yet…

Lord, who will sit at your right hand in the place of honor? Lord, you said you had to die… do you think when you are gone, I can be in charge? Lord, don’t you like me better than him?

Can you imagine what the anxiety level is of the disciples? In their society, that is what they know… They lived in a world where honor and status had extreme value… Their obsession with positions of power rendered them totally incapable of understanding, or even accepting what Jesus is trying to teach them.

Even though Mark’s account of this incident says that they were silent when they hit Capernaum, (on their way to Jerusalem) Jesus knew something was going on… Jesus tried to teach them along the way, as he told them over and over - That “the Son of Man is to be betrayed, killed, and then risen in three days… But the scripture says that they continued to not understand… and they were anxious…

They were all caught up within the struggles for power of their world, arguing with one another about who was the “greatest" and who would sit at his right hand… Jesus, like so often before, uses the opportunity to try to teach them more… He tells them, “Whoever wants to be first… must be last of all and servant of all?”

I can only imagine the responses…

but Lord, I left my job and my life and followed you… I have listened to your teachings… I believe that you are the ONE that has been sent by GOD into the world… You ARE the Messiah, the Christ!

We can only imagine…

I am ready to run with the ball… Put ME in coach… I am ready to play!

The disciples were anxious… and yet they still did not understand… and at this point… they were getting more and more anxious…

So… In the midst of their anxiety and them not understanding… Jesus goes a step further… Jesus takes a little child in his arms… A little child, who was considered to be the weakest and most vulnerable member of their society… A little child, with little or no status and the least among those within the community or family… And Jesus said to his followers…


“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

In one phrase, Jesus collapses the whole power structure that his disciples were climbing and disarms their understanding of the way things work in society. They learn quickly that they need to put it back together and reassess things in their heads and in their manner of life VERY differently.

They must welcome the child… Because when they welcome the child… they welcome GOD! They must come off of their “high horse,” forget about their quest for personal greatness, and completely HUMBLE themselves... Completely Humble themselves and show a radical hospitality to even the weakest member of their society…

And this is a very difficult thing for them to put into practice… This is very difficult for ANYONE to put into practice

St. Benedict, the abbot of Monte Cassino, lived in the 6th century. He wrote a famous “rule” to govern Monastic life. Part of that rule included 10 steps of humility… After listing all the steps he says, “after ascending all these steps of humility, the monk will quickly arrive at that perfect love of God which casts out fear. Through this love, all that he once performed with dread, he will now begin to observe without effort, as though naturally, from habit…”[1]

Now - We are NOT Monks in the 6th Century. However, we must show welcome like Jesus says, but, not just to each other… We need to welcome the lowest of the low… we must cast down our personal delusions of power, and redefine in our lives what it means to be “great.” We must HUMBLE ourselves… and through our acts of personal humility and welcome, God will casts out our fears, and remove our anxieties…

In our gospel story, Jesus will not be among his disciples for very much longer… He has told them that he will die, they are scared… and they are anxious… because they don’t understand. But, we have had 2000 years to figure it out… We know the rest of the story… We can look beyond the cross to the glorious resurrection… We know that the saving act of Jesus has been done… But we are still anxious about earthly things…

So, as we approach the table this morning, let us humble ourselves… let us put aside our personal power, and our rank and status, and let us get rid of our personal feelings and realize that we are NOT better than anyone or anything that happens to kneel next to us…

Let us understand that we don’t have to be “successful” by the world’s standards to inherit the kingdom of heaven… let us not be anxious…

Don’t be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly…

[1] Benedict’s Rule 7.67

RCL Year B (Proper 18) - September 6, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Christ Episcopal Church

Cleveland, NC 27013

RCL Year B (Proper 18) - September 6, 2009

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

Psalm 125
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17

Mark 7:24-37

Today we kind of get bombarded from all directions!

The scripture readings are bring us full circle, calling us to a self-awareness, generosity, good works, humility, and dignity as God’s redeemed people. The lesson from James is a sermon in itself; therefore, I am not going to preach that one again.

It is something that we should probably meditate on. It is as direct as it gets with a call to action for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How appropriate is it to hear this lesson of a call to action on this weekend that we honor those that labor? After all, we are a redeemed people, our sins are forgiven, and in response to that forgiveness, we should desire to go out and do those good works and show the Christ that we experience to the world.

But this morning, I want to focus on the healing miracles that we just heard about in the Gospel reading.

Jesus is going (somewhat haphazardly) from town to town, trying not to be noticed too much, for fear of drawing a large crowd and too much attention to himself… at this stage he has found himself a sojourner in a strange land, depending on the hospitality of strangers in order for him and his rag-tag caravan of followers to survive.

His mission at this point, is to preach repentance and redemption to the children of Israel. They have found themselves in the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is pretty far north of their normal stomping grounds around the sea of Galilee.

This was up near Mt. Lebanon, along the sea coast of the Mediterranean. It was most definitely Gentile territory. Not a good place for a Jewish boy to roam.

Word had obviously spread in the region about all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing… the healing & the casting out of demons… He was developing quite a reputation. Jesus shows up, and all of a sudden all things are made well. He comes for a visit and suddenly the mute are speaking, the crippled are walking, and the blind are seeing.

No wonder he can’t get a moments peace! We have to remember that this is ancient Palestine... In a time when there were no hospitals, no ambulances, and no pharmaceuticals – Compared to what we are accustomed to, this is an extremely harsh world with sickness and pain and death… until Jesus shows up!

The grape vine of communication is quick, and a Syrophoenician woman immediately hears of the great healer that has come to town. She has a daughter who has an unclean spirit, so she goes to Jesus… and in an act of pure humility, this non-Jewish woman, bows down at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to help heal her daughter.

Not surprisingly, Jesus tried to dismiss her. He actually seems rude and insults her, calling her a dog (which was pretty commonplace for a Jew to say to a gentile – most times much worse)… Jesus’ words were, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Ooooo… you can almost feel the tension in the air, as this woman (who should have never addressed a man in public), claims her dignity and get’s very bold. She doesn’t return the derogatory remark, but remains humble in her dignity… She answers, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Jesus acknowledges her, and tells her that because of her statement, she can go – her daughter had been made well.

It is amazing that we get the images of humility, dignity, and restoration all in the same short story of an encounter with Jesus. It almost seems that we have heard it before? Maybe we have?

One of the things I miss most about the Rite I liturgy in the Episcopal Church is the prayer that was usually said after the Agnus Dei, before the bidding to the table called the Prayer of Humble Access…

If you will indulge me for a moment and open your Prayer Books to page 337 – find that prayer at the bottom of the page and let us read it together… slowly. And, if you have never done it before, this is the time to pay attention and think about the words…

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

Does it seem familiar? It is a prayer that is older that we can imagine… it was taken from the Old Latin Sarum Litrugy and was translated to English in by Thomas Cramner for the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549.

It is a way of approach… A way to approach Jesus, who is present with us in the bread and wine of the blessed sacrament. Suddenly, in this prayer, we are in the mindset of complete humility, putting ourselves behind the place of even the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospel lesson, by claiming that we are not even worthy even to gather up the crumbs under the table.

But the prayer also claims our dignity, the dignity that we receive in our baptism as followers of Christ, as we are admitted to the table to eat and drink the body and blood and be nourished, restored, and ready to go out and proclaim the risen Christ!

But hold on!

That’s where we need the second part of the Gospel lesson that we heard… We know how to approach Jesus, now what do we do when we get there?

A deaf man with a speech problem was brought to Jesus. Jesus takes him away from the crowd and then in the crudeness of form, puts his fingers in his ears and spits and touches his tongue and says “Be Opened” – Opening his ears and loosening his tongue… So that he can hear and speak plainly.

Jesus meets us, right where we are in the crudeness of our humanity. He is present with us and wants our ears to be open to listen to his holy word, and he wants our tongue to be loosened so that we can proclaim it to the world. We approach in humility, and we are restored to dignity then we go forward into the world and proclaim what we have heard…

These two stories of healing are very real to us in our journey of faith… we come to Jesus from different places, through different circumstances, and Jesus meet us right where we are.

We experience his real presence in our lives through the Eucharist, and then we leave in dignity, forgiven and restored, ready to proclaim the gospel to others… And we are also ready to do all those good works that James is talking about!

So take this with you this morning… humble yourself and come to the table, receive the body and blood of Christ… Take in His “real” presence in the Eucharistic elements and let your souls and your bodies be nourished. Be restored to the wholeness that only Jesus can give you and then go fourth into the world to proclaim the gospel with your life and do the good works that Jesus has given us to do… Amen!

RCL Year B (Proper 15) - August 16, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Christ Episocpal Church

Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 15) - August 16, 2009

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

I once knew an Italian man that lived in our small neighborhood back in Delaware. This man owned the local restaurant on main street and freshly baked all of the bread that he served. The small restaurant was always full of the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread… You know the smell… It seemed absolutely heavenly! He would even make those little Italian “bread knots” which are tied pieces of dough painted with mixture of garlic butter and herbs. I can see him behind the counter now, adding just the right amount of ingredients, mixing it up, kneading the dough… All of the things that he made were just perfect and extremely delicious…

We were frequent visitors in that small restaurant, we often went there several times a month and sometimes, several times per week. Once we left Delaware, Kelly and I caught ourselves comparing other restaurants to that tiny little hole in the wall we found in Delaware with the wonderful fresh baked bread.

We continuously notice ourselves looking for that perfect bread. Even thinking of that little restaurant today makes me extremely hungry. We had found other breads in our travels, but we are still hungry for that fresh baked bread by that Italian man in that little restaurant in Delaware.

Now, I know that bread has been around for a very long time… But, it is hard to imagine that they had bread that good 2000 years ago. We have to remember that bread was THE staple food it was a major part of every meal, it was made from scratch and it was a big part of everyday life. Bread required a lot of work to prepare.

The “good” bread (often called ‘clean’ bread) was mostly eaten by the rich, and it was was made with sifted flours which were milled at night. It took over three hours just to prepare. Then it was baked in an outdoor oven.

As good as this bread must have been, this wouldn’t have been the bread that Jesus was talking about in today’s Gospel lesson. The bread that Jesus was speaking of wasn’t the “good” bread – eaten by the rich… nor was it the modern fresh baked bread made by that wonderful little restaurant in Delaware, it isn’t even the bread of our ancestors which was the “manna” provided by God to the Israelites who were roaming around in the wilderness. But – it is the bread of everlasting life!

So – what is this bread of everlasting life?

And why are we all now so very, very hungry for it??!?

The crowd that Jesus was teaching was completely full! – or were they? This passage occurs just after Jesus had just fed them all – over 5000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, then the disciples filled up the 12 baskets with the leftover scraps.

Now, it’s the very next day and the Jews are still following him around waiting for more signs. He tells them that they are working for the wrong bread. They are working for bread that causes death, when they should be working for bread that gives eternal life. Then Jesus tells them that they they must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man in order to have everlasting life.

Jesus once again turns the understanding of Jewish law on its head. The Jews had strict laws about how blood was to be handled. Blood was the life-force of the Hebrew people and therefore had an essential role in sacrifices which were fundamental in Hebrew society. Drinking it would have been completely repulsive and an abomination against God and God’s law. Ritual purity of the food had to be kept!

The clean animals were prepared so that all of the blood was drained a certain way. So – if they had all these rules governed animals… Eating the flesh of a human was completely unheard of… And yet, now they are being told by Jesus to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

People back then – and even for people today, found this is very hard to listen to and even harder to understand. “Eating Flesh? and Drinking Blood?” Yuck! We just don’t get it!

Like the Jews we are still looking for “real” bread instead of focusing on what Jesus wants us to learn. And this is a far cry from the restaurant containing all of that wonderful baked bread. But we should understand that there is much, much more to eating flesh and drinking blood…

This play on words today helps us understand the true humanity of Jesus – Because Jesus was fully human, complete with a body of flesh that could be broken and blood that could be spilled… Yet, at the same time it explains the divinity of Jesus – Unlike the manna that came down from heaven in the wilderness, He now is the bread that has come down from heaven, and offers all those who eat of it - eternal life.

Only the physical body of an animal, in this case, the human being of Jesus Christ, has flesh and blood… and it is the physical incarnate life and death of Jesus that is our life-giving food… and then Jesus give up his life, his human existence, for the life of the whole world… Jesus offers forgiveness of our sins and new life… His life for our life… Only God can do that!

His flesh is to be broken and blood is to be spilled… and we are to be nourished with this awesome gift of Jesus’ self…

Little did the Jews know what Jesus was preparing himself for. Jesus was preparing himself to suffer death, death on a cross, and offer himself as a whole, complete and sufficient sacrifice for the whole world.

So, what are we to do now? How can we get this life-giving bread?

At a meal with his disciples in the upper room the night before he was taken to the cross, Jesus took bread, and after he had given thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said “Take, eat, this is my body that is broken for you, eat this in remembrance of me.”

And after they ate he took the cup of wine, after he said the blessing, he gave it to his disciples saying, “Drink this all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant that is poured out for you, drink this in remembrance of me.”

We all need this food that Jesus is offering… it’s not just merely some optional gift that we all can ignore, because apart from the life that Jesus offers us… we are all dead. We come to the table in this Church week in and week out in order to share a meal of the body and blood of Jesus. We call it a Sacrament (a principal sacrament) because it is to us, the most prophetic, of the outward and visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace that we receive from Jesus.

Taken, broken, poured out and given to us freely…

Not because we did anything in this world to deserve it, but because God loves us unconditionally – so unconditionally that God gave us his only Son so that we could believe, be forgiven of our sins and have a chance to be reconciled to God.

We are all hungry… Not for the fresh baked bread of this world from some bakery in Delaware, and not for the manna that our ancestors ate in the wilderness, but for the bread of everlasting life that only Jesus can offer us.

I encourage you to come forward to the table this morning and feed on that spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of God’s Son, our savior, Jesus Christ. and be filled with life… but not just life, life everlasting…

RCL Year B (Proper 13) - August 2, 2009

Kaytlynn Saunders (Age 16)

Christ Episcopal Church

Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 13) - August 2, 2009 [Youth Sunday]

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Psalm 51:1-13
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:24-35

Make us peacemakers, O Lord, that we may be called children of God and joint-heirs with Christ. May we never suffer calamities, never fear temptation. When the struggle is over, may we rest in the peace of God, the peace of utter tranquility, through our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Being the youngest of three children, I have often found myself in situations where I wasn't allowed to do something that my brothers were allowed to do. I wasn't supposed to use big kid scissors, or ride my bike without training wheels. I had to wait until I was big enough, or I had enough experience riding that bike without falling over.

But like all children, I was always thinking of ways to make myself seem older, taller, or smarter. Once, when I was 3, I even talked Kyle into taking off those training wheels. I had it in my mind that if I could show mommy and daddy that I could ride a bike, they would let me do what my big brothers got to do. Need less to say, that didn't go so well. I ended up head over heals over the handlebars and face-planted into the concrete.

Even though I got in trouble for doing all of these things, I knew that my parents still loved me. They taught me that I should be patient and wait for what is to come, instead of just rushing ahead and getting hurt.

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus' followers seemed about as patient as I was. They were looking for the material things in their life that showed them that Jesus was the son of God.

They were so focused on the bread that filled their stomachs, that they ignored the true reason why Jesus was there... to teach them, and to show them that God is always there like a mother or father to love them – unconditionally.

When they found Jesus on the other side of the sea, Jesus tried to explain to them why they had come looking for him. Like any impatient child the people asked question after question. Even after Jesus had tried explain it all to them, they still needed proof. They needed something that they could see and understand from experience.

Just like me, trying to understand why I couldn't do the things that my brothers did. It was Jesus that helped them understand. Jesus explained to them that God was the one that gave their ancestors manna from heaven, not Moses. And it is God who gives them the true bread now, that bread being one that sustains life... Jesus... who God delivers to the world for all of us.

After the people had heard what Jesus said they believed him and asked for that bread always. Jesus says to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

If we are patient and believe that Jesus will feed our minds, bodies, and souls, with the bread of life, then we can open our eyes to many things.

We have an opportunity today to come receive the bread of life in communion. Jesus gave us this gift so that we would never be hungry... And so we wouldn't be concerned with what we should do to make ourselves seem something that we are not. He gave us this bread so we could be more focused on getting others to the feast so they will not be hungry.

RCL Year B (Proper 12) - July 26, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Christ Episcopal Church

Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 12) - July 26, 2009

2 Samuel 11:1-15

Psalm 14
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

“As this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and then, when gathered, became one loaf, so may your church be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom.” (Eucharistic Prayer in the Didache aka The Apostolic Teaching)

There was this little boy whose mother packed him lunch every day of school for 7 years! Every evening, she methodically put it all together… And he could usually count on about the same thing day after day / week after week… A bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread… (sometimes peanut butter and jelly) Some kind of fruit… A bag of some kind of chips… And some kind of dessert.

Ok… This was well balanced nutrition for the 70s…. And this little boy was me… I would go off and do my school thing during the day, not worrying too much about what I would get for lunch, because I knew that I had brought it with me and that it was mine! My mom made it!

A little boy and his lunch!....

Things haven’t changed too much… We are not quite sure how old the little boy in our Gospel Lesson was… But we do know that possibly it was his mom that packed him a lunch so he could go to the outskirts of town and hear a wonderful teacher.

We know that the areas outside villages and cities in the Mediterranean region were places of chaos… Meals did not normally take place there. In the first-century, people in this part of the world did not go on “picnics.” Proper care had to be taken when preparing food to insure its ritual purity. But there on the outskirts of town assembled 5,000…

The Gospel mentions men, but does not to mention the women and children. (women and children were not included in the count) This would have been larger than the population of most urban settlements in that area. AND That was a bunch of people!

To give you an idea of how large this crowd could have possibly been, I did some checking. As of 2008 – Cleveland, NC had a population of 838. That divides up into about 410 males and 428 females. That just wasn’t nearly enough so I went wider… and found out that if you take the entire population of 5,484 folks living in the 27013 zipcode and the folks down the street in Woodleaf (the 2,646 folks) living in the 27054 zipcode and you gathered them ALL together in some remote location, you still probably wouldn’t have the magnitude of the crowd that the scripture is talking about.

Now we have all these people together…

And Jesus asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” I don’t think that the question to Philip was searching for information… This was the way Jesus taught his disciples. The Gospel says that “He said this to test him…” I think we can all relate to Philip and his short speech on the economic situation before them… Philip was the logical choice for Jesus to ask. He was from Bethsaida, which was the nearest town. Philip would know the local resources. So, Philip gives Jesus a very logical answer. He tries to rationally figure out how much money he would need to buy enough bread for each to have a little taste. The price that comes to his mind is 200 denarii – (a denarii being a days wage for a working man) this would be about 6.5 months wages. This amount would appear ENORMOUS to man like Philip.

But Philip could have gone much further… He could have pointed out to Jesus all the logistical problems associated with obtaining and transporting such a large quantity of bread. Even if they took up an offering and were able to come up with enough money to go buy bread, where would they go and find that much bread already prepared (enough to feed these thousands and thousands of people) How many ovens would be required? How many bakers? How much flour? How long would it take for the dough to rise? And to bake? And how would they transport thousands of loaves of bread? And what about water… you can’t eat bread without something to wash it down with…

Philips answer was very logical… but not very faithful…

And then Andrew come along and tries to offer a frail solution… He offers Jesus the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish… Just a little boy’s lunch! but then joins Philip in his doubt – “What are they among so many.” This wasn’t even the good bread. This was barley bread. This was an inferior bread usually eaten by poor people. And the fish were probably small, meant to be a side dish for the bread which was after all the main course.

what if the boy were unwilling to share his lunch? What if he were to say, “I need this to take care of myself!” or – “my little bit won’t make a difference, So I am going to keep it!” The story might have been much different.

But - In a gesture, much larger than that little boy, the lunch is offered to Jesus upon request. Then Jesus had the disciples make the people sit down on the grass.

Jesus didn’t jump up and proclaim, “I AM GOD” and then make manna rain down from heaven… He didn’t make palm-trees spring up in the middle of the desert and feed the people with a grand banquet.

In a very bold gesture for a man with so many mouths to feed and so little food… He “took” what was given to him, He “blessed it,” He “broke it,” and He “gave it” to all the people who were seated on the hillside in the wilderness… He gave it until they were satisfied.

However, that isn’t the entire story… Unlike some conjuror, who would say I can do this again, and again… Jesus takes care of what is given to him and instructs the disciples to “Gather up the fragments left over… So that nothing may be lost.” And they filled up 12 baskets…

This was a little boy’s lunch! His lunch was not much, But it was ALL he had to offer. Jesus transformed that little bit into plenty for thousands.

Jesus Christ needs what we can bring him. We may not have much to bring, but he needs what we have. Bring Jesus what you have and he will multiply the quantity.

Regardless if you say, “I need this for myself!” or “my little bit won’t make any difference,” Jesus takes what we offer and it somehow becomes enough. But not just enough, it becomes overflowing.

We live out a little taste of that wonderful story today, just like we do each and every Sunday. Jesus takes what we offer and uses it to feed all of us. Every Sunday is our turn to sit down on the mountainside in the grass and join that great crowd. What happened there, happens here! Don’t ever forget that the bread we share this morning comes directly from one of those 12 baskets, as Jesus continues to feed us and provide for us…

Come to the table and be satisfied!! There is always enough!!