Proper 12
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
It is essential for the parish preacher to be aware of the meaning and purpose of Sunday for the Christian congregation, partially because the church is approaching the mid-point of the church year and the "echoes of Easter" are not quite so evident as they were earlier in the year, but also because there is diversity in the readings selected for this day. All of the first readings are different, three of the second readings have at least a different "count" of the verses appointed for the readings: the Book of Common Prayer continues reading from St. Mark, taking up this Sunday where the reading left off last week, because Mark's version of the feeding of the five thousand "men" was the second part of last week's Gospel for the Day. It becomes clear that the miracle of feeding the multitude created a crisis in the public ministry of Jesus Christ, and that this resulted in his decision to go "up to Jerusalem" - and to certain rejection and death. Because he was raised up from the tomb by God, it is now evident that the risen Lord is able to - and does - feed his body, the church, with his word and, especially, the sacrament of the Table. He keeps us spiritually alive and joined to him, enabling us to celebrate his death and resurrection, as we await his second coming by serving him in the world. It is this "feeding" with the "bread of life" that is responsible for the five-week diversion from Mark into John 6, the "bread" chapter of St. John.
The Prayer of the Day
The collects and prayers assigned to this Sunday by the various churches support the con-tention that multiple "prayers of the day" are needed to speak to the theme and thrust of the Gospel for the Day. The Lutheran Book of Worship appears to have "thrown in the towel," in this respect, particularly on this Sunday when the prayer is a simple rewording of the classic collect. It alters the theology of the prayer from "Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servant" to:
O God, your ears are open always to the prayers of your servants. Open our hearts and minds to you, that we may live in harmony with your will and receive the gifts of your Spirit; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This prayer could result from reflection on the Gospel of Jesus' feeding the five thousand.
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 114 (E) - The conclusion of this psalm "speaks" to the Gospel for the Day and to the fearful reaction of the disciples when they see Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee: "Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob...." God, according to the psalmist, demonstrated his control over nature when he brought his people Israel out of Egypt. He opened the sea so they could pass through, "turned back" the Jordan when Elijah (and after him, Elisha) struck the water with Elijah's mantle, and split open a great rock to create a "flowing spring." God does indeed have power over his world and everything in it, and he uses that power to bless his own people.
Psalm 145 (L); 145:10-11 , 15-18 (R) - Portions of this psalm were used on the Fourteenth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-fifth Sundays in Ordinary Time, Year A of the Roman Catholic Ordo, as well as the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, in the Lutheran Book of Worship III. The entire psalm is appointed for this Sunday, Year B, in the LBW (portions of it in the Ordo) because it "accommodates" the Gospel of the Day so well: "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.... The Lord is loving to everyone and his compassion is over all his works. All your works praise you, O Lord, and your faithful servants bless you." The compassion of God parallels the Gospel for the Day (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Common, and, to a degree, the Episcopal) at verses 16 and 17: "The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature." The final verse appropriately responds to the goodness of God: "My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever." The "portions" of the psalm that the Roman Catholic Church has selected highlight some of these verses, especially verses 16-18.
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
In the spirit of the psalm and the Gospel, the church may pray:
Loving Father, you are faithful in your promises and tender in your compassion. Listen to our hymn of joy, and continue to satisfy the needs of all your creatures, that all flesh may bless your name in your everlasting kingdom, where with your Son and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, now and forever.
The readings:
Exodus 24:3-11 (L)
This selection was made because it contains an experience similar to the experience of the five thousand who were fed by Jesus Christ. The story relates how Moses came down from the mountain after his meeting with God, wrote down the words of the Lord, built an altar, sacrificed animals there, and threw half of the blood on the altar and the other half on the people of Israel. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders" went up to the foot of the mountain and the altar, "and they saw God.... they beheld God, and ate and drank." The people whom Jesus fed also "saw God" - in Jesus - but neither they nor the disciples really knew it.
2 Samuel 12:1-4 (C)
This pericope consists only of the little parable with which Nathan confronted, tricked, and trapped King David in his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and in his dastardly plot for the murder of Uriah. By contrasting the rich man and his numerous flocks and herds with the poor man, who had only one "little ewe lamb," which the selfish rich man took and slaughtered to feed a visitor to his home, Nathan related the story of David and Bathsheba in the language of the shepherd, which David should have comprehended. In the part of the story immediately following the parable, Nathan said to David, "You are the man" - and this led to David's confession and repentance before the Lord. It should be noted that the parable does not tell the whole story; it does not (cannot) deal with David's attempt to make Uriah the scapegoat for his perfidy, nor with his plot to murder him.
2 Kings 2:1-15 (E)
In this pericope, the story is told of Elijah's assumption into heaven by the horses and chariots of fire and of Elisha's elevation to his role of the "prophet of the Lord." The two men made a rather long journey from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho and, finally, to the Jordan, where Elijah took his mantle, struck the water, and they were able to cross to the other side on the dry river bed. Before he left the earth, Elijah asked Elisha, who had been as faithful to Elijah as, later, Ruth was to Naomi, what blessing he would like to receive. When Elisha asked for a "double share of your spirit," Elijah told him that if he saw his assumption, he would receive such a blessing, but if he did not see Elijah depart from the earth, he would not receive it. Elisha saw Elijah's departure, and when Elijah was out of sight, he took Elijah's mantle, said a prayer and struck the river with the mantle; the water parted. He went over to the other side, where the men from Jericho came out and greeted him as Elijah's successor, and Elisha began his work as a full-fledged prophet of God.
2 Kings 4:42-44 (R)
In this, the second miracle performed by Elisha after he returned to Gilgal during a terrible famine, the prophet received a gift of twenty loaves of barley and a sack full of grain and gave orders to his servant to give this to the men that they may eat. The servant asked, "How am I to set this before a hundred men?" The prophet answered him, "Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left'." The servant did as he was told, the men ate their fill, and just as Elisha had said, "there was some left over." The parallel to the story of Jesus' feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two small fish - and having twelve basketsful of crumbs left over - is striking.
Ephesians 4:1-6 (R); 4:1-7, 11-16 (E, L)
After informing the Ephesians about the unity that exists between Jew and Gentile in Jesus Christ, "Paul" gets to the theological basis of the unity that is theirs. It is a gift of God through the Spirit, therefore there can be only one body just as there is only one Spirit, "one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all." And so, as he usually does, "Paul" exhorts them to live out that unity as a gift of God, so that through the various functions assigned to the members, the body of Christ might be effective in witnessing in the world, growing in faith, and being built up in love. If the function of worship is, on one hand, to praise and thank God for his gifts in Jesus Christ, the other side is to build up the body of Christ so that the church will be prepared to complete its mission in the world.
John 6:1-15 (R, L, C)
The parallel to Elisha's miraculous feeding of the one-hundred men at Gilgal is obvious in this incident that took place on a mountain side overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples could not escape from the great crowds of people who were eager to hear what he had to say and, especially, to see what he could do to alleviate pain and suffering and heal people of their diseases and disabilities. With the compassion of the God who is described in Psalm 145, Jesus realized that the people must be hungry and have had nothing to eat. First, he asked Philip how they might buy enough bread to feed the great crowd. Second, Philip told him that they don't have enough money to buy a supply of bread sufficient to feed the people. Third, Andrew told Jesus that a boy is present who has five barley loaves and two fish, but five loaves will not feed five-thousand people. Fourth, Jesus told the disciples to make the "men" sit down. Fifth, Jesus took the loaves, blessed them, and distributed them - and the fish - to the people, "as much as they wanted." Sixth, when they had finished eating, he ordered the disciples to pick up the left-overs. They filled twelve baskets with the crumbs from the bread. Seventh, the people reacted to all of this by declaring, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." Reacting to his perception of what was about to happen, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." He realized that he could not permit that to happen and change the course of his God-given messianic ministry here on earth; he was a king, but a shepherd king, who had to save his people at any cost to himself, even if that cost were his life. John, of course, saw a connection in this "feast" to the eucharist and to the eschatological/messianic banquet that is yet to come. Most of the actions of the eucharist are here - taking the bread, blessing it and giving thanks, and distributing it to the people; only the "breaking" of the bread is missing from the actions of this meal.
Mark 6:45-52 (E)
In this Gospel reading, which continues from the point where last week's Gospel concluded (after the five-thousand people were fed and twelve baskets of "broken pieces and of the fish" were collected), Jesus sent the disciples back across the Sea of Galilee and then dismissed the crowd, sending them back to their homes. Aware of the crisis, which the miracle of the loaves and fish had created for him, he went into the hills by himself to pray. Later, he saw that the disciples were having a rough time rowing against the wind; apparently, they had made little or no headway and were nearly exhausted. In the middle of what must have been a moonlit night, the disciples saw this ghost-like figure walking on the water - and, quite naturally, they were scared out of their wits. But on hearing their cries of fear, Jesus called to them, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." He got into the boat and, to their further amazement, the wind immediately ceased. But they still didn't comprehend the meaning of the meal or the appearance of the Lord walking on the water of the lake. Mark says, "But their hearts were hardened." He seems to be saying that they just didn't believe what they had witnessed and experienced, either in the feeding of the multitude or in the miracle of walking on the water. Only one person could do such things, they realized after his death and resurrection, and that one was - had to be - the beloved Son of God.
A Sermon on the Gospel, John 6:1-15 (R, L, C) - "The Boy Who Made a Mfracle Possible."
It happens every summer all over our country and wherever there are children who are budding entrepreneurs. Business-minded youngsters, aided and abetted by mothers and babysitters, go into business for themselves and set up curb-side tables, hoping to sell cups of Kool-Aid or lemonade for a nickel or a dime. Most of these enterprises are short-lived - a few days, or a week or so, at the most, and they are gone. These mini-business ventures help to break up the monotony of what might be a long, hot summer - and sometimes the children actually make a little money. Now and then, one encounters some junior business people who go a bit further; they offer cookies for sale along with the lemonade. I saw such a venture the other day and, believe it or not, they had attracted a larger group of customers than I had ever before seen at one of these make-shift stands. These kids were making a real go of it, and while their mothers might be losing money on the cookies, they were amassing something that must have seemed like a small fortune to them. They had it made - as long as the lemonade and the cookies held out.
I've often wondered about that boy who was in the crowd of people listening to Jesus. What was he doing with five loaves and two small fish? Was he going through the crowd, selling his wares, and this was all he had left when Andrew spotted him? Doesn't it seem that Jesus simply confiscated the loaves and the fish without any recompense to the boy? Part of the story has to be missing, doesn't it? Jesus wouldn't be party to something like that, would he? Why didn't John tell us more about the boy, about how Jesus acquired the loaves and the fish which he blessed and gave to feed the five-thousand people? No doubt, the reason is that he was absolutely fascinated by the accounts of the miracle that he had heard. The miracle itself overwhelmed some of the details of the story and, perhaps, how Jesus obtained the loaves and fish from the boy had been forgotten. But there would have been no miracle, if that young boy (young businessman, perhaps?) had not been there that day. Jesus took what he had and fed five thousand people with those loaves and the fish; the people's hunger was completely satisfied and twelve baskets of left-overs were gathered up.
1. The boy with the loaves and the fish was there that day, so was the God who fed the people of Israel in their forty-year trek to the Promised Land. He, at the bidding of Christ, worked the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish which made the feast possible. The boy provided the basic ingredients, but God - through Jesus - multiplied them and fed the multitude. (And who doesn't want to know the rest of the story about that boy? But he just disappears as the miracle takes place.)
2. The people, who should have been grateful to God for this miraculous meal, ought to have recognized him as a prophet, at least, because only the prophets of the Lord could work extraordinary miracles like this. Jesus was no mere magician working magic tricks upon the crowd. He came with the very power of God and he used it for the good of the people. Instead of welcoming him as a prophet, they wanted to make an earthly king out of him, so that he might restore the fortunes of Israel. What a king he would have made with that kind of power!
3. Jesus had to turn away and get away from the people with almost a "get thee behind me, Satan" reaction - like his retort to Peter when he tried to dissuade Jesus from going to his terrible destiny in Jerusalem. Crises of that sort put people in positions where they have to make important critical - and difficult - choices, don't they? What seems to be the easiest and most promising way is the one that we usually choose. Thank goodness that Jesus didn't give in and simply let the people's intentions direct his fate!
4. Oddly enough, not only is part of the boy's story missing, but the gospel writer gives no indication - beyond the desire to make Jesus into a king - of the gratitude of the people Jesus fed. That's always where real worship and the work of the kingdom begin. It is that missing ingredient that had given its name - the eucharist - to the Sunday worship service of the Christian church. Jesus has worked a miracle on our behelf, and we have the opportunity to complete the story in our thanksgiving and loving service to God and to other human beings.
5. A young boy made a miracle possible because he was there and had the ingredients for a miracle-meal. I like to think that he simply gave them to Jesus - but it was Jesus who, through the power of God, worked the miracle. That's the way it happens in our ministries, too, for he takes what we have to give in loving service and turns those things into miracles of the kingdom.
Mark 6:45-52 (E) - "The 'Water-walker.' "
1. Embarkation order: Jesus "made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side [of the lake]." He stayed behind, dismissed the crowd, and went to pray.
2. Either there was a very short prayer or an extremely strong wind, because the disciples made no headway at all rowing against what must have been a powerful gale. Jesus decided to walk - on the water - instead of going to Bethsaida by boat.
3. The "water-walker" looked like a ghost when the disciples spotted him passing by. They cried out in fear and might have abandoned ship had he not calmed their fears, "Take heed, it is I; have no fear." For the second time that day they saw something they had never seen before.
4. Once again, they did not understand what they had seen; they just couldn't believe their eyes, any more than they did when five loaves fed five-thousand people. They were not ready to say what God had said at Jesus' baptism, "This is the beloved Son of God." They couldn't say that - despite the evidence that was piling up - until he came forth from the grave.
5. Where does that leave us, those who have only read or heard about the loaves and the fish, as well as the "water-walker"?
A Sermon on the Ffrst Lesson, Exodus 24:3-11 (L) - "Moses, Man with a Mission."
1. It began on a mountain where Moses met God and received the terms of God's co*nant with his people.
2. It continued at the foot of the mountain where Moses built an altar to the God of the covenant, sprinkled it and the people with the blood of the sacrificial offerings.
3. It resulted in a revelation for the leaders of the people who "went up" with Moses and "saw the God of Israel."
4. God fed them. "They beheld God, and ate and drank." He always feeds and quenches the thirst of those who believe in him and trust him enough to worship him. So it is, even today.
2 Samuel l2:1-4 (C) - "The Piercing Parable."
1. It had all the ear-marks of another little entertaining tale - harmless, but full of pathos
- but it was piercing and barbed. It could not easily be extricated from one's consciousness after it was heard.
2. Nathan's story of the rich man who took the poor man's lamb and used it for his own purposes got David's attention. In fact, it was so real to him that he decreed that the man should be punished and make restitution for his offense. (The preacher has to go be-yond verse 4, if the meaning of the parable is to be built into the sermon.)
3. A cruel, but necessary, confrontation took place. Nathan said to David, "You are the man," and David suddenly realized what he had done and was driven to his knees.
4. King David was forgiven for his terible crime - which makes a case for showing mercy to repentant criminals, whatever their crimes might be - but he paid the price for his perfidy for the rest of his life. Sin always has its price, which has to be paid, even by the forgiven sinner.
2 Kings 2:1-15 (E) - "The Spectacular Ascension."
1. Elijah was no ordinary prophet and when the course of his life was completed, his exit from the earth was spectacular. Fiery horses and a chariot could have been some kind of a space ship, some contend. But it was spectacular - the proper conclusion to that unique prophet's ministry. It was also a preview of Jesus' ascension after his resurrection.
2. Spectacular ascents into the heavens had become quite common place until the American space shuttle Columbia blew up shortly after take-off in 1986. What goes up with a "fiery blast" must come down - but Elijah didn't; God took him up to himself. He was gone forever - at least, he was gone until Jesus was transfigured on a mountain many centuries later. Jesus, the risen and ascended Lord, has said that he would, in time, return.
3. Elisha, ambitious in his desire to serve the Lord, immediately took over and repeated one of Elijah's actions - not riding up and out of this world in a fiery chariot, but doing a more mundane thing - he used water to quench the flames, opening the Jordan with Elijah's mantle so that he could walk - not fly - to the other side of the Jordan and back to Bethsaida.
4. The new prophet, Elisha, had his feet solidly on the ground of tradition and accepted practice - and the people who perceived that acclaimed him as a prophet of the Lord. He took his place in that long line of people who prepared the way of the Lord in the world.
5. God couldn't have gotten along without Elijah and Elisha and the other prophets to call the people back to himself and to assure them that he would send One who would restore the covenant and the people to God. That One, too, has left the earth, but we know that he will come back, as he said.
2 Kings 4:42-44 (R) - "Precedent for a Miracle."
1. Elisha performed a real miracle by feeding over one hundred men with twenty barley loaves and a sack of grain. There was even some left over!
2. His miracle established a precedent for Jesus' feeding of the five thousand. It wasn't simply a situation in which Jesus thought, "If Elisha could do it, I can, too, because, after all, I'm more than a prophet; I am the beloved Son of God." Rather, it was his communion with the Father that prompted him to use God's power to feed the people.
3. The scenes were similar: someone had food, but not enough to go around, Elisha and Jesus directed that the food should be distributed to those present, and there was more than enough to go around in both situations.
4. Some people must have laughed at Elisha, and they might have laughed at Jesus too, when they saw what he intended to do. They doubted that he could do it. Both of them risked looking foolish, but both trusted in God, and it was those who scoffed who looked foolish in the end.
5. Isn't it always that way when people attempt to do impossible things for the Lord?
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, Ephesians 4:1-6 (R); 4:1-7, 11-16 (E, L) - "The Plea of a Prisoner."
1. The prisoner "for the Lord" has his work cut out for him - to worship and serve the Lord as one who is totally committed to Christ - because the prisoner can do nothing else.
2. All who are called to Christ are really his prisoners. With "Paul" they are to live out their faith in a life that is consonant with their professions of love and devotion to the Lord.
3. The unity in Christ which all believers have - one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all - combines the efforts of all people in the work of the Kingdom of God.
4. Christ is working, through the Word and the Spirit, to build up the church in his truth and love, not only so that people may worship the Lord "in the beauty of holiness," but so that the church will be equipped to do its work in the world.
5. The plea of the prisoner is that all Christians will be open to the prompting of the God who is shaping them for himself and his purposes in life.
Ephesians 3:14-21 (C) - "A Preacher's Prayer for the People."
1. That God will strengthen his people spiriturally through his Holy Spirit.
2. That Christ may dwell in human hearts through faith.
3. That the faithful will be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend - with all of the faithful - the dimensions of God's love.
4. That people will know the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge and which fills people with all the "fullness of God" and satisfies the longings of the human heart.
5. Such is the preacher's prayer - "Paul's prayer" - now, as then.
The Prayer of the Day
The collects and prayers assigned to this Sunday by the various churches support the con-tention that multiple "prayers of the day" are needed to speak to the theme and thrust of the Gospel for the Day. The Lutheran Book of Worship appears to have "thrown in the towel," in this respect, particularly on this Sunday when the prayer is a simple rewording of the classic collect. It alters the theology of the prayer from "Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servant" to:
O God, your ears are open always to the prayers of your servants. Open our hearts and minds to you, that we may live in harmony with your will and receive the gifts of your Spirit; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This prayer could result from reflection on the Gospel of Jesus' feeding the five thousand.
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 114 (E) - The conclusion of this psalm "speaks" to the Gospel for the Day and to the fearful reaction of the disciples when they see Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee: "Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob...." God, according to the psalmist, demonstrated his control over nature when he brought his people Israel out of Egypt. He opened the sea so they could pass through, "turned back" the Jordan when Elijah (and after him, Elisha) struck the water with Elijah's mantle, and split open a great rock to create a "flowing spring." God does indeed have power over his world and everything in it, and he uses that power to bless his own people.
Psalm 145 (L); 145:10-11 , 15-18 (R) - Portions of this psalm were used on the Fourteenth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-fifth Sundays in Ordinary Time, Year A of the Roman Catholic Ordo, as well as the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, in the Lutheran Book of Worship III. The entire psalm is appointed for this Sunday, Year B, in the LBW (portions of it in the Ordo) because it "accommodates" the Gospel of the Day so well: "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.... The Lord is loving to everyone and his compassion is over all his works. All your works praise you, O Lord, and your faithful servants bless you." The compassion of God parallels the Gospel for the Day (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Common, and, to a degree, the Episcopal) at verses 16 and 17: "The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature." The final verse appropriately responds to the goodness of God: "My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever." The "portions" of the psalm that the Roman Catholic Church has selected highlight some of these verses, especially verses 16-18.
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
In the spirit of the psalm and the Gospel, the church may pray:
Loving Father, you are faithful in your promises and tender in your compassion. Listen to our hymn of joy, and continue to satisfy the needs of all your creatures, that all flesh may bless your name in your everlasting kingdom, where with your Son and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, now and forever.
The readings:
Exodus 24:3-11 (L)
This selection was made because it contains an experience similar to the experience of the five thousand who were fed by Jesus Christ. The story relates how Moses came down from the mountain after his meeting with God, wrote down the words of the Lord, built an altar, sacrificed animals there, and threw half of the blood on the altar and the other half on the people of Israel. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders" went up to the foot of the mountain and the altar, "and they saw God.... they beheld God, and ate and drank." The people whom Jesus fed also "saw God" - in Jesus - but neither they nor the disciples really knew it.
2 Samuel 12:1-4 (C)
This pericope consists only of the little parable with which Nathan confronted, tricked, and trapped King David in his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and in his dastardly plot for the murder of Uriah. By contrasting the rich man and his numerous flocks and herds with the poor man, who had only one "little ewe lamb," which the selfish rich man took and slaughtered to feed a visitor to his home, Nathan related the story of David and Bathsheba in the language of the shepherd, which David should have comprehended. In the part of the story immediately following the parable, Nathan said to David, "You are the man" - and this led to David's confession and repentance before the Lord. It should be noted that the parable does not tell the whole story; it does not (cannot) deal with David's attempt to make Uriah the scapegoat for his perfidy, nor with his plot to murder him.
2 Kings 2:1-15 (E)
In this pericope, the story is told of Elijah's assumption into heaven by the horses and chariots of fire and of Elisha's elevation to his role of the "prophet of the Lord." The two men made a rather long journey from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho and, finally, to the Jordan, where Elijah took his mantle, struck the water, and they were able to cross to the other side on the dry river bed. Before he left the earth, Elijah asked Elisha, who had been as faithful to Elijah as, later, Ruth was to Naomi, what blessing he would like to receive. When Elisha asked for a "double share of your spirit," Elijah told him that if he saw his assumption, he would receive such a blessing, but if he did not see Elijah depart from the earth, he would not receive it. Elisha saw Elijah's departure, and when Elijah was out of sight, he took Elijah's mantle, said a prayer and struck the river with the mantle; the water parted. He went over to the other side, where the men from Jericho came out and greeted him as Elijah's successor, and Elisha began his work as a full-fledged prophet of God.
2 Kings 4:42-44 (R)
In this, the second miracle performed by Elisha after he returned to Gilgal during a terrible famine, the prophet received a gift of twenty loaves of barley and a sack full of grain and gave orders to his servant to give this to the men that they may eat. The servant asked, "How am I to set this before a hundred men?" The prophet answered him, "Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left'." The servant did as he was told, the men ate their fill, and just as Elisha had said, "there was some left over." The parallel to the story of Jesus' feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two small fish - and having twelve basketsful of crumbs left over - is striking.
Ephesians 4:1-6 (R); 4:1-7, 11-16 (E, L)
After informing the Ephesians about the unity that exists between Jew and Gentile in Jesus Christ, "Paul" gets to the theological basis of the unity that is theirs. It is a gift of God through the Spirit, therefore there can be only one body just as there is only one Spirit, "one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all." And so, as he usually does, "Paul" exhorts them to live out that unity as a gift of God, so that through the various functions assigned to the members, the body of Christ might be effective in witnessing in the world, growing in faith, and being built up in love. If the function of worship is, on one hand, to praise and thank God for his gifts in Jesus Christ, the other side is to build up the body of Christ so that the church will be prepared to complete its mission in the world.
John 6:1-15 (R, L, C)
The parallel to Elisha's miraculous feeding of the one-hundred men at Gilgal is obvious in this incident that took place on a mountain side overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples could not escape from the great crowds of people who were eager to hear what he had to say and, especially, to see what he could do to alleviate pain and suffering and heal people of their diseases and disabilities. With the compassion of the God who is described in Psalm 145, Jesus realized that the people must be hungry and have had nothing to eat. First, he asked Philip how they might buy enough bread to feed the great crowd. Second, Philip told him that they don't have enough money to buy a supply of bread sufficient to feed the people. Third, Andrew told Jesus that a boy is present who has five barley loaves and two fish, but five loaves will not feed five-thousand people. Fourth, Jesus told the disciples to make the "men" sit down. Fifth, Jesus took the loaves, blessed them, and distributed them - and the fish - to the people, "as much as they wanted." Sixth, when they had finished eating, he ordered the disciples to pick up the left-overs. They filled twelve baskets with the crumbs from the bread. Seventh, the people reacted to all of this by declaring, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." Reacting to his perception of what was about to happen, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." He realized that he could not permit that to happen and change the course of his God-given messianic ministry here on earth; he was a king, but a shepherd king, who had to save his people at any cost to himself, even if that cost were his life. John, of course, saw a connection in this "feast" to the eucharist and to the eschatological/messianic banquet that is yet to come. Most of the actions of the eucharist are here - taking the bread, blessing it and giving thanks, and distributing it to the people; only the "breaking" of the bread is missing from the actions of this meal.
Mark 6:45-52 (E)
In this Gospel reading, which continues from the point where last week's Gospel concluded (after the five-thousand people were fed and twelve baskets of "broken pieces and of the fish" were collected), Jesus sent the disciples back across the Sea of Galilee and then dismissed the crowd, sending them back to their homes. Aware of the crisis, which the miracle of the loaves and fish had created for him, he went into the hills by himself to pray. Later, he saw that the disciples were having a rough time rowing against the wind; apparently, they had made little or no headway and were nearly exhausted. In the middle of what must have been a moonlit night, the disciples saw this ghost-like figure walking on the water - and, quite naturally, they were scared out of their wits. But on hearing their cries of fear, Jesus called to them, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." He got into the boat and, to their further amazement, the wind immediately ceased. But they still didn't comprehend the meaning of the meal or the appearance of the Lord walking on the water of the lake. Mark says, "But their hearts were hardened." He seems to be saying that they just didn't believe what they had witnessed and experienced, either in the feeding of the multitude or in the miracle of walking on the water. Only one person could do such things, they realized after his death and resurrection, and that one was - had to be - the beloved Son of God.
A Sermon on the Gospel, John 6:1-15 (R, L, C) - "The Boy Who Made a Mfracle Possible."
It happens every summer all over our country and wherever there are children who are budding entrepreneurs. Business-minded youngsters, aided and abetted by mothers and babysitters, go into business for themselves and set up curb-side tables, hoping to sell cups of Kool-Aid or lemonade for a nickel or a dime. Most of these enterprises are short-lived - a few days, or a week or so, at the most, and they are gone. These mini-business ventures help to break up the monotony of what might be a long, hot summer - and sometimes the children actually make a little money. Now and then, one encounters some junior business people who go a bit further; they offer cookies for sale along with the lemonade. I saw such a venture the other day and, believe it or not, they had attracted a larger group of customers than I had ever before seen at one of these make-shift stands. These kids were making a real go of it, and while their mothers might be losing money on the cookies, they were amassing something that must have seemed like a small fortune to them. They had it made - as long as the lemonade and the cookies held out.
I've often wondered about that boy who was in the crowd of people listening to Jesus. What was he doing with five loaves and two small fish? Was he going through the crowd, selling his wares, and this was all he had left when Andrew spotted him? Doesn't it seem that Jesus simply confiscated the loaves and the fish without any recompense to the boy? Part of the story has to be missing, doesn't it? Jesus wouldn't be party to something like that, would he? Why didn't John tell us more about the boy, about how Jesus acquired the loaves and the fish which he blessed and gave to feed the five-thousand people? No doubt, the reason is that he was absolutely fascinated by the accounts of the miracle that he had heard. The miracle itself overwhelmed some of the details of the story and, perhaps, how Jesus obtained the loaves and fish from the boy had been forgotten. But there would have been no miracle, if that young boy (young businessman, perhaps?) had not been there that day. Jesus took what he had and fed five thousand people with those loaves and the fish; the people's hunger was completely satisfied and twelve baskets of left-overs were gathered up.
1. The boy with the loaves and the fish was there that day, so was the God who fed the people of Israel in their forty-year trek to the Promised Land. He, at the bidding of Christ, worked the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish which made the feast possible. The boy provided the basic ingredients, but God - through Jesus - multiplied them and fed the multitude. (And who doesn't want to know the rest of the story about that boy? But he just disappears as the miracle takes place.)
2. The people, who should have been grateful to God for this miraculous meal, ought to have recognized him as a prophet, at least, because only the prophets of the Lord could work extraordinary miracles like this. Jesus was no mere magician working magic tricks upon the crowd. He came with the very power of God and he used it for the good of the people. Instead of welcoming him as a prophet, they wanted to make an earthly king out of him, so that he might restore the fortunes of Israel. What a king he would have made with that kind of power!
3. Jesus had to turn away and get away from the people with almost a "get thee behind me, Satan" reaction - like his retort to Peter when he tried to dissuade Jesus from going to his terrible destiny in Jerusalem. Crises of that sort put people in positions where they have to make important critical - and difficult - choices, don't they? What seems to be the easiest and most promising way is the one that we usually choose. Thank goodness that Jesus didn't give in and simply let the people's intentions direct his fate!
4. Oddly enough, not only is part of the boy's story missing, but the gospel writer gives no indication - beyond the desire to make Jesus into a king - of the gratitude of the people Jesus fed. That's always where real worship and the work of the kingdom begin. It is that missing ingredient that had given its name - the eucharist - to the Sunday worship service of the Christian church. Jesus has worked a miracle on our behelf, and we have the opportunity to complete the story in our thanksgiving and loving service to God and to other human beings.
5. A young boy made a miracle possible because he was there and had the ingredients for a miracle-meal. I like to think that he simply gave them to Jesus - but it was Jesus who, through the power of God, worked the miracle. That's the way it happens in our ministries, too, for he takes what we have to give in loving service and turns those things into miracles of the kingdom.
Mark 6:45-52 (E) - "The 'Water-walker.' "
1. Embarkation order: Jesus "made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side [of the lake]." He stayed behind, dismissed the crowd, and went to pray.
2. Either there was a very short prayer or an extremely strong wind, because the disciples made no headway at all rowing against what must have been a powerful gale. Jesus decided to walk - on the water - instead of going to Bethsaida by boat.
3. The "water-walker" looked like a ghost when the disciples spotted him passing by. They cried out in fear and might have abandoned ship had he not calmed their fears, "Take heed, it is I; have no fear." For the second time that day they saw something they had never seen before.
4. Once again, they did not understand what they had seen; they just couldn't believe their eyes, any more than they did when five loaves fed five-thousand people. They were not ready to say what God had said at Jesus' baptism, "This is the beloved Son of God." They couldn't say that - despite the evidence that was piling up - until he came forth from the grave.
5. Where does that leave us, those who have only read or heard about the loaves and the fish, as well as the "water-walker"?
A Sermon on the Ffrst Lesson, Exodus 24:3-11 (L) - "Moses, Man with a Mission."
1. It began on a mountain where Moses met God and received the terms of God's co*nant with his people.
2. It continued at the foot of the mountain where Moses built an altar to the God of the covenant, sprinkled it and the people with the blood of the sacrificial offerings.
3. It resulted in a revelation for the leaders of the people who "went up" with Moses and "saw the God of Israel."
4. God fed them. "They beheld God, and ate and drank." He always feeds and quenches the thirst of those who believe in him and trust him enough to worship him. So it is, even today.
2 Samuel l2:1-4 (C) - "The Piercing Parable."
1. It had all the ear-marks of another little entertaining tale - harmless, but full of pathos
- but it was piercing and barbed. It could not easily be extricated from one's consciousness after it was heard.
2. Nathan's story of the rich man who took the poor man's lamb and used it for his own purposes got David's attention. In fact, it was so real to him that he decreed that the man should be punished and make restitution for his offense. (The preacher has to go be-yond verse 4, if the meaning of the parable is to be built into the sermon.)
3. A cruel, but necessary, confrontation took place. Nathan said to David, "You are the man," and David suddenly realized what he had done and was driven to his knees.
4. King David was forgiven for his terible crime - which makes a case for showing mercy to repentant criminals, whatever their crimes might be - but he paid the price for his perfidy for the rest of his life. Sin always has its price, which has to be paid, even by the forgiven sinner.
2 Kings 2:1-15 (E) - "The Spectacular Ascension."
1. Elijah was no ordinary prophet and when the course of his life was completed, his exit from the earth was spectacular. Fiery horses and a chariot could have been some kind of a space ship, some contend. But it was spectacular - the proper conclusion to that unique prophet's ministry. It was also a preview of Jesus' ascension after his resurrection.
2. Spectacular ascents into the heavens had become quite common place until the American space shuttle Columbia blew up shortly after take-off in 1986. What goes up with a "fiery blast" must come down - but Elijah didn't; God took him up to himself. He was gone forever - at least, he was gone until Jesus was transfigured on a mountain many centuries later. Jesus, the risen and ascended Lord, has said that he would, in time, return.
3. Elisha, ambitious in his desire to serve the Lord, immediately took over and repeated one of Elijah's actions - not riding up and out of this world in a fiery chariot, but doing a more mundane thing - he used water to quench the flames, opening the Jordan with Elijah's mantle so that he could walk - not fly - to the other side of the Jordan and back to Bethsaida.
4. The new prophet, Elisha, had his feet solidly on the ground of tradition and accepted practice - and the people who perceived that acclaimed him as a prophet of the Lord. He took his place in that long line of people who prepared the way of the Lord in the world.
5. God couldn't have gotten along without Elijah and Elisha and the other prophets to call the people back to himself and to assure them that he would send One who would restore the covenant and the people to God. That One, too, has left the earth, but we know that he will come back, as he said.
2 Kings 4:42-44 (R) - "Precedent for a Miracle."
1. Elisha performed a real miracle by feeding over one hundred men with twenty barley loaves and a sack of grain. There was even some left over!
2. His miracle established a precedent for Jesus' feeding of the five thousand. It wasn't simply a situation in which Jesus thought, "If Elisha could do it, I can, too, because, after all, I'm more than a prophet; I am the beloved Son of God." Rather, it was his communion with the Father that prompted him to use God's power to feed the people.
3. The scenes were similar: someone had food, but not enough to go around, Elisha and Jesus directed that the food should be distributed to those present, and there was more than enough to go around in both situations.
4. Some people must have laughed at Elisha, and they might have laughed at Jesus too, when they saw what he intended to do. They doubted that he could do it. Both of them risked looking foolish, but both trusted in God, and it was those who scoffed who looked foolish in the end.
5. Isn't it always that way when people attempt to do impossible things for the Lord?
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, Ephesians 4:1-6 (R); 4:1-7, 11-16 (E, L) - "The Plea of a Prisoner."
1. The prisoner "for the Lord" has his work cut out for him - to worship and serve the Lord as one who is totally committed to Christ - because the prisoner can do nothing else.
2. All who are called to Christ are really his prisoners. With "Paul" they are to live out their faith in a life that is consonant with their professions of love and devotion to the Lord.
3. The unity in Christ which all believers have - one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all - combines the efforts of all people in the work of the Kingdom of God.
4. Christ is working, through the Word and the Spirit, to build up the church in his truth and love, not only so that people may worship the Lord "in the beauty of holiness," but so that the church will be equipped to do its work in the world.
5. The plea of the prisoner is that all Christians will be open to the prompting of the God who is shaping them for himself and his purposes in life.
Ephesians 3:14-21 (C) - "A Preacher's Prayer for the People."
1. That God will strengthen his people spiriturally through his Holy Spirit.
2. That Christ may dwell in human hearts through faith.
3. That the faithful will be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend - with all of the faithful - the dimensions of God's love.
4. That people will know the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge and which fills people with all the "fullness of God" and satisfies the longings of the human heart.
5. Such is the preacher's prayer - "Paul's prayer" - now, as then.
