Minding the Gap Rev. Don Gall Mark 6:31-44 July 26, 2015

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1 Minding the Gap Rev. Don Gall Mark 6:31-44 July 26, 2015 A woman passed by a church one day and saw a line of cars parked out front. Thinking they might be giving out food inside, she opened the door and went in. Drawn by the sound of voices, she soon discovered a group of women sitting in a circle, engaged in Bible study. After apologizing for interrupting their study, she asked if any food was available at the church and if she might receive some only to be told by the group leader that she had come on the wrong day. The food give-away was scheduled for the following week. The woman was embarrassed, but said her children were hungry and that she needed food now, not next week. The group leader said she was sorry, but that the woman would simply have to wait until the twice-monthly food give-away came around again. With a look of disappointment on her face, the woman backed out of the room and walked away empty-handed. Then the class was interrupted for a second time as two women from the group got up from their Bible study and followed the woman out of the room. They offered her what money each had in her purse, and one of them volunteered to drive her to the grocery store and then to wherever she was living. Somehow or another, in that interrupted Bible study, they heard in that distressed woman s voice more than a plea for food. They heard Jesus saying, You give her something to eat. Now I don t know what Bible passage the women were studying that day, but it could have been the same one we re considering again this morning: the story about the feeding of the five thousand. It s the only miracle story that appears in all four Gospels. That alone should tell us that there is something very special about this story that caused all four writers to include it in their narratives and why Pastor Jonathan and I agreed that we would preach on this same text two Sundays in a row. Some people regard this story as one of the great miracles of Jesus and accept it as literal fact with no questions asked. Others think it was the result of folks pulling out the food they had tucked away under their robes, turning it into one of the first great potlucks on record. Still others insist that the story is only a metaphor for Jesus as the Bread of Life, which when eaten leaves us filled and satisfied. Personally, I think it is based on a remembered event involving Jesus and a shared eating experience, but that the story is gospel truth, not history; revelation, but not biographical; and that it teaches us what is possible when we factor Jesus into our equations and allow his compassion and generosity to guide our behavior toward others. According to Mark s story, the disciples had just returned from a mission on which Jesus had sent them and they were exhausted, so they all retreated to a deserted place to get some rest. But when they got there, they were met by a crowd of people who had observed their movements. These people had not been invited they just showed up. It was an interruption that seemingly left the disciples feeling frustrated and even grumpy. Who do these people think they are? Can t they see we re in need of some rest and a little time to ourselves? Send them away, Jesus!

2 Now I don t know about you, but I don t usually take kindly to interruptions. I guess I don t multitask very well, because when I m trying to concentrate on something be it trying to balance my checkbook or something really important like eating dinner or taking a nap and someone interrupts me, I can become pretty disagreeable. Like when I was trying to get this sermon written and my wife came in and asked me to help her with some household chore. My first impulse was to react out of a sense of irritation and to insist, Not now! But luckily I realized where that would get me, and so instead I said, Yes dear, and placed my computer in sleep-mode and went off to do her bidding. I must confess, however, that I am not always so considerate, and that I often respond more like the disciples did in this story. I often lose my patience when people get in my way, frustrate my plans, or fail to respond to my great wisdom. But that was not Jesus way. Instead, Jesus had compassion on the crowd and he willfully set aside his own agenda in order to devote his time and attention to their needs. The disciples, on the other hand, were soon thinking about food and realized they were in a deserted place with no fast-food outlets nearby. And so, they urged Jesus to send the people away into the surrounding countryside and distant villages to forage for themselves. But instead, Jesus said, Uh-uh. You give them something to eat. I can almost see their eyes bulge in disbelief as they start to say: Are you serious? You want us to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? Come on, Jesus, get real! In the first place, we don t have two hundred denarii, and even if we did, where would we go to find that much bread around here? This is no time to joke around, Jesus. It s getting late send them away! The disciples were pretty clear that the welfare of this crowd was not their responsibility. They had not invited them to come. Instead, the crowd had shown up on its own and had interrupted their much needed rest and solitude. So their first impulse was to send them away. Isn t that also the way we as a society often respond to some of our most vexing social problems? We just want the problems to go away, to get out of our sight. We want to send people off to soup kitchens, food pantries, or homeless camps beyond the railroad tracks; put them in reform schools, penitentiaries, detention centers, or send them back across the border to where they belong anywhere that s out-of-view, out-of-mind and out-of-budget. Because, as The Donald, and some other politicians, plus a lot of ordinary citizens seem to think, these folks and their problems are not OUR responsibility! Their problems are THEIR problems. So send them away! But Jesus is not persuaded by such arguments. Instead, he says, You give them something to eat! and at this point on in the story something amazing begins to happen the spotlight shifts away from Jesus and falls directly on the disciples. Jesus steps off the field and becomes the coach on the sidelines, now instructing them in what they are to do and how they are to do it. How many loaves have you? he asks. Go and see. So they take inventory and report back saying, Five, and two fish. Then Jesus instructs them to gather the people into smaller groups as he blesses the bread and breaks it, after which he has the disciples distribute it among the people, reminding us of our own experience on Communion Sundays. When the disciples do as he instructs, five thousand people eat and are satisfied and there are twelve baskets of food leftover.

3 According to the story, a miracle happened that day but what we often fail to realize is that the miracle was not performed by Jesus at all, but by the disciples when they did what Jesus instructed them to do. My first real insight into this truth came to me back in the 1980s when I lived and worked in New York City. I used to ride the subway everywhere I went. I d go down into the tunnels beneath Manhattan to board the train as it rumbled into the station. Sometimes, at rush hour, it seemed like everyone in the city was trying to cram into the same car at the same time. It was then that we d hear a voice over the PA system urging us to, Mind the gap! It meant that we passengers needed to clear that space between the platform and the car and get all the way inside so as not to block the closing of the doors. The train could not leave the station until we did! In much the same way, the disciples had to mind the gap that day if the people were to be fed, because unless they did, there would be no miracle. They, who often seemed utterly clueless, were also the ones who often turned Jesus teachings into realized objectives. He not only instructed them in the ways of God s kingdom; he also expected them to be the living examples of it on earth. In other words, they were to mind the gap between what was, and what the kingdom of God on earth would be. Now, there are a lot of things in our world that obviously need changing and it should be clear to all of us by now that Jesus is not going to make those changes for us. But he has shown us by both word and example what to do and how to do it, and since there s no remote control that we can use to change the world, we re going to have to get up off the couch and change the channel ourselves. Do you remember those women in that Bible study I mentioned at the beginning? They not only saw another woman in need; they also heard the call to mind the gap and responded by moving from Bible study to doing Jesus s bidding. They got up, followed the woman out, and ministered to her with love and compassion. Perhaps the moral of that story is that if Bible study ever gets in the way of serving the needs of our neighbors, we probably ought to give up Bible study. History has shown that many Christians never get to the practical implications of their beliefs. They never quite figure out that religion and ethics are inseparable; that they can t love God without also loving their neighbor. Jesus calls us to be Gospel practitioners not pious pontificators, and he still asks the same question today that he asked the Scribes and the Pharisees long ago: Why do you not do what you say you believe? So, I want to offer three suggestions this morning for what we can do to mind the gap. The first is that we can deepen our sense of compassion for those who are in need by seeing and respecting them as persons and by reaching out to them wherever they are. When Jesus says, You give them something to eat! I believe he s referring to all those who are physically and spiritually hungry; those who are hopeless, homeless, and despairing; those who are caught up in the grips of addiction, mental illness, and despair. Our compassion must embrace all those in need and must be the driving force in our lives rather than the debilitating notion that neither we nor our resources are up to the task. We need to consider how too little can become more than enough when it is offered to a God who has a way of multiplying gifts that come from the heart. Remember: compassion is not just feeling sorry for another person or even empathizing with the other s pain. It is getting up off the couch and acting in a way that

4 helps alleviate that pain. It is factoring Jesus into the equation and filling the gap between our compassion and the needs of the other. Secondly, our compassion can lead us to personal sharing. Compassionate gap-fillers are people who are ready and willing to share what they have with others in need. How many loaves have you? Go and see. And up from the crowd pops a boy with five small loaves and two little fish and he gives it all. But optimism is quickly dimmed by the pessimism that asks, But what is that among so many? We often say similar things today: I don't have enough information. I don t have enough time. I don't have enough energy. I don t have enough money. But all of those statements are just adult versions of the dog ate my homework. It s not our job to worry over how a small amount can satisfy the needs of many. Our culture is intent on directing wealth to the few while pushing ever increasing numbers towards the food bank. Fragments of humanity and love are seemingly being lost. Our job is to get in the middle and mind the gap so that those in need may partake and be satisfied. And the third thing I think we can do to mind the gap is to be organized. Miracles rarely occur in the midst of chaos. The best criticism of the bad is to do it better. If we really believe in the values we say we believe in, then we need to put them into practice. Jesus told the disciples to get the people to sit down in small groups and then to distribute the food to each group in an orderly manner. Why would he do that? Perhaps because sitting reduces pushing and shoving, because small groups help build intimacy, intimacy increases caring, and caring promotes personal sharing. According to the story, Jesus took a huge challenge and reduced it into solvable proportions through prudent organization and management and then instructed his disciples on how to implement a plan. We need to act accordingly if we want to be effective in addressing the brokenness of our society and help meet the needs of people within our own communities. One of my all-time favorite cartoons is one by Charles Shultz. It has Linus watching TV as Lucy enters the room and demands, Switch channels! I want to watch MY program! Are you kidding? asks Linus. What makes you think you can just walk in here and take over? Lucy replies, These five fingers... individually, they re nothing, but when I coil them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold. Linus asks, Which channel do you want? In the final frame, Lucy is watching TV while Linus stands looking at his five fingers and says, Why can t you guys get organized like that? Good organization need not lead to a weapon that is terrible to behold. Instead, when coupled with compassion and a willingness to share, it can result in modern day miracles that can house the homeless, feed the hungry, and bring hope to the hopeless. We are called to mind the gap and to see that none of God s children fall through it. Can we do that? Well, we can certainly try! We re already working at it and there s a way for everyone to be involved. If it s difficult for you to help build a Habitat house, you can sign your name to one of those wall studs this morning and offer a word of hope and support to those who can swing a hammer. If standing for an hour or two recycling food at the Food For Lane County kitchen every third Monday night or dishing up food for the homeless at the fourth Sunday breakfast over at First Christian is more than you can bear, you can still donate food or money to our own Good Samaritan Pantry here at church and help someone in need.

5 And if you are not part of any of these, or our other ministries too numerous to mention here, then you can still go home and pray for all those who are so engaged, because prayer can also be a way of minding the gap and helping direct Jesus acts of power in the world that can cause even the most hardened of unbelievers to say, Now, that s a miracle I can see and believe in! Amen