By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
v11Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. v12When they were all full, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste a bit.” v13So they gathered them all and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.
….v16When evening came, Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake, v17got into a boat, and went back across the lake toward Capernaum. Night came on, and Jesus still had not come to them. v18By then a strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water. v19The disciples had rowed about three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming near the boat, and they were terrified. v20″Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told them, “it is I!” v21Then they willingly took him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached land at the place they were heading for.” (Read: John 6:1-21)
The gospel lesson appointed this Sunday is John’s account of two miracles also recorded in the other gospel accounts. The miraculous feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle performed by Jesus recorded in all the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) while the second miracle where Jesus walks on water was recorded by the three except Luke. These two miraculous acts of Jesus answer two important questions. First, when does 5 + 2 x 1 = 12? Mathematically, never. But in the story of the feeding of the 5,000, the multiplication formula works just like that: five loaves of barley bread, plus two small fish, times Jesus, the one man who is in control, equals twelve baskets of leftover bread. The key ingredient in that multiplication formula is Jesus, who when we give up control to him, works multiplications, wonders, and even miracles. Give Jesus what you have, and he can miraculously make much more than you can imagine out of it. How does this miracle of multiplication happen? It can happen if and when we remember Jesus is in control.
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Second, how can we be saved from those things in life which overtake us, overwhelm us, or otherwise threaten to undo us? When the storms of life threaten us, we can turn to the one who is stronger than we are and stronger than the storms themselves. We can’t avoid the storms. They come to the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Just like God doesn’t promise to keep us from the valley of the shadow of death, God doesn’t promise to eliminate storms from our lives. On the other hand, God does promise that we can get through life’s valleys and storms if we trust that Jesus is in control.
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That’s the message of both stories in John 1:1-21. In the first story, the feeding of the 5,000 people, Phillip was faced with what appears to be an unsolvable problem. Seeing the large crowd, Jesus asks him, “Where do we buy bread for these people to eat?” Jesus, the apostles and at least 5,000 people were out in the hill country just north of the Sea of Galilee with no towns nearby. They had not eaten for a long time. The question before Phillip seemingly has no answer. Then another one of the apostles, Andrew, made a statement that sounds like a totally inadequate solution. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” Then he said what everyone nearby must have been thinking: “But what are they among so many people?” Control — who is in control here? Not Phillip, not Andrew, not the hungry people, not the little boy with the lunch his mother packed up for him before he left home. Jesus is in control. (sermons.com)
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There is an old story that has often been re-told, in especially the Eastern Orthodox part of the church. According to the tale, a devout abbot from a monastery decided to take a prolonged spiritual retreat in a small cabin located on a remote island in the middle of a large lake. He told his fellow monks that he wanted to spend his days in prayer so as to grow closer to God. For six months he remained on the island with no other person seeing him or hearing from him in all that time. But then one day, as two monks were standing near the shore soaking up some sunshine, they could see in the distance a figure moving toward them. It was the abbot, walking on water, and coming toward shore. After the abbot passed by the two monks and continued on to the monastery, one of the monks turned to the other and said, “All these months in prayer and the abbot is still as stingy as ever. After all, the ferry costs only 25 cents!”
There are so many jokes about walking on the water that it is hard to take the whole thing seriously. But we need to do that, and a good first step is to remember, one more time, that Jesus didn’t do miracles to show off. There was always context and meaning and purpose to them. The point of the story is that it’s amazing how easily we may sometimes miss the significance of something that is right in front of us. We think we know the meaning of this incident of Jesus’ walking on the water, but do we really?
‘…when they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming near the boat, and they were terrified. v20″Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told them, “it is I!” Jesus is in control.
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Christian life is by no means plain sailing and we often find ourselves billowed by the storms of life in circumstances that come our way. Left to our own resources we can find no calm in the raging waves. To keep going we need an assurance that we are nor alone in our lives and that God is with us helping us to carry our crosses, rescuing us from every predicament that befall us with the Lord’s assuring words, “It is I, do not be afraid.” He is in control.
The gospel also points out that we have such a help in Jesus who is the Bread of Life. He brings each of us just what we need to sustain us on our pilgrim journey to God. Jesus is our heavenly bread, medicine for the sick soul, nourishment for a wounded spirit, light and strength for a weary mind, the source of new and eternal life, whose presence and power strengthen us. He is the living Bread which came down from heaven, the unique source of life.
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To understand about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is to realize that what we do at the Holy Mass table has to do with the same power, the same majesty, the same love, the same presence that both the crowd on the mountain and the disciples in the boat knew and saw.For here our Lord feeds us — and the heart of that feeding is not the gift of bread — but the gift of Christ himself, a gift that is never withdrawn, never lost, never left behind, never overpowered, and never conquered.
To understand about this miracle is to realize that whatever fears we may have can be met by the love we are given from our Lord; it is to realize that whatever powers are grinding us to a halt can and will be met by an ever-greater power, and that whatever journey we are on will be ended safely.
The miracles let us know that whatever situation, dilemma, problem or storm we face, wherever we may be, Jesus is within easy walking distance, and he will make the trip-and we are not alone.
The disciples saw that Jesus was with them — and they were very surprised, and they were frightened. We are called to expect the Lord to be with us, no matter what, and to take heart — because we can understand these two miraculous acts. Jesus our Lord is in control.
Let us pray.
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom
nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon
us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may
so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things
eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen. (Proper 12 Collect, BCP)***
