More Than Enough
John 6:1-21
Last weekend our family moved out of our house in Birmingham. We did all the packing ourselves. But the movers provide this handy service of wrapping things in what I would call industrial plastic wrap to protect it and keep drawers from flying out willy nilly. Toward the end, we ran out of boxes and the final things were being packed in laundry baskets, or tubs without lids, or trash cans. We had one laundry basket of extra sheets and towels that we were planning to keep with us since everything else was going into storage until we find a permanent house here. Before I knew it, one of the movers grabbed the basket, wrapped it in plastic and was headed to the truck with it! “Wait! That one is not going!” They were thorough! If it wasn’t in the “Not going to storage” pile, it was wrapped and packed and on the truck!
THIS reminded me of a story I heard from someone telling about their moving experience. In their case, the movers were packing everything for them. One mover, working in the kitchen, was extremely thorough. The items were all wrapped, placed in boxes, labeled KITCHEN, and loaded onto the truck. Later, all these things were unloaded into their new house and the family was left to unpack and put everything away. As they were unpacking, right there beside the S & P shakers and the placemats, the dad found a half-eaten PBJ sandwich wrapped perfectly in industrial plastic wrap. About that time, his 8-year-old son walks through the room and says, “they packed my sandwich?! Awesome! I’m starving!”
Gives new meaning to ‘packing your lunch.’ If you’re hungry enough, you’ll eat a leftover PBJ hot off the moving truck. (That lunch box will not fit in your backpack!)
Today’s gospel lesson features a multitude of hungry folks. But before we get to the BIG PICNIC, let’s look at the THIS that verse 1 is talking about when it says, “After this..” “This” is referring to a heated and lengthy exchange between Jesus and his adversaries. He has been interrogated about working on the sabbath and from whom he gets his authority, identity, knowledge of the scripture and of God. So, what does he do? Crosses the Galilean Sea to get to the other side… far away from the religious interrogators. He withdraws to reorient himself to the One who has called him to this work; to reorient himself to his Abba-Parent. He doesn’t owe it to his critics to answer their “loaded questions. He doesn’t have to justify himself to them. [ I love] that Jesus walks away from these men who expect him to stay and engage on their terms.”[1]
And this is where our story begins. All the way on the “other side” of the sea, the crowd persists. They pursue him with “unapologetic fandom.”[2] Jesus and the disciples are gathered on the side of a mountain. Maybe their stomachs are growling, and they are looking through their backpacks for what they have and its looking like a half-eaten PBJ. So, how in the world will they host this crowd headed up the mountain?
Jesus asks Philip for suggestions for how they were going to feed these people, not what but how. Verse 6 says that Jesus already knew what he was going to do. Philip’s response that it would cost a small fortune to feed this crowd is accurate but unhelpful. Andrew’s solution is to introduce a little boy and his lunch box, which should have been unhelpful. But turns out 5 loaves and two small fish given to Jesus was enough, more than enough.
The way John shares this story is purposeful and chocked full of meaning. Remember this is happening when it is almost time for Passover. Jesus asks the disciples to ‘make the people sit down’ on the grassy hillside that becomes their gigantic picnic blanket. In the language and images of the Lord’s supper, John writes that Jesus TOOK the bread, GAVE THANKS, and Distributed (BROKE) it to those who were seated. Then he did the same with the fish. And everyone ate their fill. And afterwards, he instructed the disciples to gather up all the leftovers and there were TWELVE basketfuls.
Jesus is sharing more than a meal. He is nourishing them with something only he has to give, himself. Jesus is the Bread of Life. THIS is the good news in John chapter six that we will hear revealed over and over the next few weeks.
What is the miracle here?
● That a hungry little boy shared his lunch?
● That 5 barley loaves (the grain of the poor) and 2 sardines is multiplied into 5000 lunches??[3]
● That everyone decided one nibble was enough?
● That one child’s generosity begets the generosity of others to contribute the half-eaten PBJs (or Little Debbie cakes, or apple slices, or trail mix) they had in their backpacks? Culminating in a feast?
I phrase all these as questions because I believe any of them qualifies as a miracle in this stingy old world. “It’s not a story about culinary magic,” one writer says. “It’s a story about abundance.”[4]
What are the promises made in this beloved story?
● Our resources, though small, when placed in God’s hands, grow!
● Our gifts, though inadequate, in God’s hands become something the world needs!
● With a hungry world to feed, we might feel helpless like Philip and Andrew, but we can do what the boy does and contribute what little we have and in God’s hands, it will be more than enough.
● Anytime people manage to create something together that is greater than the sum of what they could do on their own, God is Present.
● In all our worries, in all our struggles, there is more than enough Grace to get us to the other side.
Jesus is concerned that nothing would be wasted. This is important. He will soon be talking about himself as the Bread of Life and everything that he is and has will be shared with us. Not a word, not a touch, not a prayer will be wasted. He will offer it all for our sakes, so that we can know the abundant life that God imagines for each of us.
And just as importantly, when Jesus says, “Gather up the fragments leftover, so that nothing may be lost,” he is saying that any leftovers offered in Jesus’ name are precious. That the crumbs that fall from the master’s table are worth something. That even our useless acts of love aren’t useless; our wasted efforts are not wasted. It is out of our emptiness, our perceived scarcity, that THEN there is ROOM in which God can move, act, to perform the miraculous.
When we go into every situation having calculated every detail, item, and dollar that is needed, who needs God? When we have gathered every supply, checked everything off the list, thought of everything ourselves, who needs God?
Several years ago, Allan and I went to Nairobi Kenya with Passport (a youth camping organization) and in partnership with Africa Exchange. Students from churches in the US gathered for a cross-cultural experience with students from churches in Kenya. Together, one day, the group went to a community center to work and serve. The center was in the middle of an extremely densely populated area (7 miles in diameter) where thousands (probably tens of thousands) of people lived in tiny lean-tos side by side.
The preparations for the day of service had been made months in advance. The students had activities and games, songs and stories for the children who came to the center. The center provided lunch for the 50 children who might come. The students and adults had each been provided a sack lunch by the camp where we were staying.
Our vans and young, smiling faces attracted a lot of attention driving into the Center’s gates. Children came from all over the neighborhood to see what was going on. The staff and adults in our group began to count the number of children streaming into the center’s grounds to participate in the fun. There were nearly 200 children who had come.
How were we going to feed them? What were we going to feed them?
The adults panicked… And then, quickly volunteered to give up our lunches that came with us from the camp. Word got around to the students about the situation we were in. One by one, they eagerly, and generously, offered to contribute their lunches so that more of the children could have something.
It was a modern-day loaves and fishes kind of moment. Not only did every child receive something to eat, but there were a few lunch bags leftover.
Take all you have and put it in God’s hands. All of it.
Take all that you are and put yourself in God’s hands. Your whole self.
When we put everything in God’s hands, there will always, always be more than enough.
[1] Harader, Joanna “Delighting in the Story” Christian Century August
[2] Harader
[3] Garnaas-Holmes ‘Unfolding Light” https://unfoldinglight.net/2009/12/01/ot-17-pe-9/
[4] Garnaas-Holmes