SermonStudio

"A large crowd followed (Jesus), because they had seen his miracles of healing the sick." Notice the crowd's condition for following Jesus. There is an angel. He was able to heal sick people, therefore they followed. There was one more reason why Jesus would have been somewhat reticent about openly sharing miracles, signs and wonders. He did not wish people to follow him simply because he was able to physically heal people. Others could do that also. So he would often ask his followers to tell no one about the miracles he had done.

The point is that Jesus already knew himself to be the Son of the living God. He did not have to prove anything. When he healed people he was genuinely giving gifts; giving of himself. There were no angels as far as he was concerned. He simply desired the people to know who he really was. He wanted them to know that he was not just some physical healer among many, but Jesus, the Christ, the humble servant revealer of God. No conditions were needed to qualify for Jesus' life-giving water. Jesus simply desired to know two things. First, did the person really want to be healed? Jesus realized that many people do not want to change and grow. Thus, they do not desire spiritual healing. Two, why me? And if the person saw in Jesus, God desiring to be that person's friend and savior, Jesus would offer himself as healer. He would freely offer spiritual food. No conditions. No angels.

So when Jesus asked Philip, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?" quite naturally, Jesus was simply testing Philip because he already knew what he would do. Of course he knew what he would do. He was God. Jesus wanted to see if Philip trusted his kingship, his sovereignty.

And then Andrew said, "There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people." And a little child fed them! There were even 12 baskets left over. This is the extent of Jesus' power and kingship.

Seeing the miracle that Jesus had performed, the people wanted to seize him in order to make him king by force. This is the point of the text, the point of the people's misunderstanding. Make Jesus king by force? Actually seize him and force him to be king? How absurd. He already was king. He rules however, not from a throne but from a cross. This is the extent of the multitudes' misunderstanding of the kingdom. So Jesus went off to the hills by himself.

Because Jesus is already king he is able to feed the following crowd that has gathered. Because Jesus is already king, the Son of God, he also empowers us, his church, to feed the masses of hungry people in the world. The resources are present. The question is, are we willing to count the cost and pay the price? Are we willing to let go of established traditions and ways of doing things and change and grow and sacrifice and even suffer on behalf of the hungry and malnourished? Or do we not desire to be spiritually healed by Jesus? That is why Jesus asked a potential follower, "Do you desire to be healed?" He asks us the same question. "Do you desire to be healed? Do you desire to be my friend? Do you see God in me? If so, come join me in my kingdom work. Let's feed the world together."

Jesus is king and desires the world to be fed with his spirit and truth. It is the selfish world which resists his kingship. Jesus is already king. He doesn't need to be seized and made king by force. And that is exactly what our sin is. We have told Jesus that we want him to rule and solve the problems of the world our way, not his way. We desire our brand of peace, not his way of peace.

A parable: The air was heavy with seriousness and Sarah faced the gathered WECON council. Realizing that this was not just a normal, regular meeting, the atmosphere in the council chamber was gloomy and dismal. There was a somberness in Sarah's voice. As chairperson of this austere group she called the meeting of the World Ecclesiastical Council Of Nations to order at exactly the appointed time.

With the echo of her gavel still ricocheting off the paneled walls of the large meeting room Sarah spoke determinedly, "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know the distances are quite great for many of you. I realize it is also difficult to get flight reservations into Geneva at the last minute. It is good to see you. May God bless you and may our Lord be with us today in our deliberations. So, why are we here? As you know, many nations during the last decade have converted their large defense budgets toward the economic preservation and assistance of poor nations. But unfortunately, the tractors and plows of the rich can do as much harm as their swords. Modern expensive trucks can do more lasting damage than military tanks. Put very simply my friends, the rich of the world are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And the poor and hungry are increasing daily. How shall we feed them? Unfortunately, we have forgotten how to talk about modern transportation that does not rely on fast cars and airplanes. Our ideas of modern health care only lift up our ability to prolong the lives of the desperately ill. We think of better education only in terms of more complex schools and teachers who possess more and more degrees. Huge industries and institutions manufacturing and producing costly products and services, which the poor cannot afford, dominate our developing nations. The poor are going hungry while their wealthy exporter agri-business neighbor plows away on his modern tractor next door."

Sarah looked over at Daniel who was kind of impetuous and always claimed he knew all the answers. "Well, Daniel, how are we going to feed the hungry multitudes of the world?" (She asked Daniel this to test him. Actually she already knew what the council must propose.)

Timidly, and without much confidence in his voice, Daniel spoke, "I don't know Sarah. The world situation is grave. In most developing countries, the population grows, and so does the middle class. But the gap between the middle class and the poor and hungry masses is ever widening. The majority of people have less food now than in 1945. And if that wasn't bad enough, there exists less actual care of the sick, less meaningful work, and less protection in the form of shelter and housing. Part of this is due to the breakdown of the traditional family and culture but much of it is caused by the production of products which only the privileged can afford. Today, more people suffer from hunger, pain and exposure than they did at the end of World War II, not only in numbers, but also as a percentage of the world population. I'm sorry Sarah, but unfortunately I don't have an answer for you this time."

"Thank you Daniel," Sarah said. "The issue is complicated. The problem is "package deals." So long as every person "needs" his car, our cities must endure longer traffic jams and absurdly expensive remedies to relieve them. As long as health means maximum length of survival, our sick will get ever more extraordinary surgical inventions and drugs required to deaden their resulting pain. As long as we desire to use school to get children out of their parent's hair or to keep them off the streets and out of the labor force, our young will be retained in endless schooling and will need ever-increasing premiums and incentives to endure the ordeal. Phillip, I see you are anxious to speak."

"Thank you Sarah. You are certainly right about packaged solutions. The needs of the world's poor have been converted to the demand for new brands and "package deals" which, for the majority of them, are forever beyond their reach. This is what I would call underdevelopment. This happens even in poor countries where the supply of classrooms, food, cars and doctors is rising. Why? Because those in power build up services and products which have been designed for the middle class and wealthy. Once they have monopolized demand, including the demand of the poor, they can never satisfy the poor majorities' needs because the poor majority will never be able to afford the high cost. So unfortunately, real needs have been turned into the demand for manufactured products. What I mean is that thirst has been translated into the needs for cola."

"I know exactly what you are saying Phillip. Thanks so much for your insight. I know of underdeveloped doctors who get training at New York hospitals for special surgery, which they apply to only a few back home. Meanwhile amoebic dysentery remains endemic in slums where 90 percent of the population lives."

Joseph spoke up, "That's the issue right here. Each car which an underdeveloped nation puts on the road denies 50 people good transportation by bus. Each merchandised refrigerator reduces the chance of building a community freezer. Every dollar spent on doctors and hospitals costs a hundred lives. If each dollar was spent on providing safe drinking water, a hundred lives could have been saved. Each dollar spent on schooling means more privileges for the few at the cost of the many. It increases the number of those who, before dropping out, have been taught that those who stay longer have earned the right to more power, wealth and prestige. I'm not talking against education here. We need more and better education. I'm talking about school. What schooling does is to teach the schooled the superiority of the better schooled."

"Thank you for your thoughts, Joseph," said Sarah. "In an underdeveloped country elementary school attendance certainly does harness the worker to the boss. The seventh-grade dropout feels his inferiority much more than the dropout from the third grade. Why? Because the school dropout is held personally responsible for his or her failure. This failure breeds the notion that it is impossible to live without being inferior to others. Some underdeveloped countries have even already passed laws doubling the years during which schooling is legally compulsory and free. From now on those who drop out under the age of 16 will be faced during their lifetime with the reproach that he or she did not take advantage of this legally obligatory privilege. Fine and dandy, but unfortunately laws such as this are passed in countries where even the most optimistic could forsee the day when such levels of schooling would be provided for only 25 percent of the young. These children, when they drop out, are condemned to marginality and exclusion from social life, in short, underdevelopment and hunger." Sarah saw that the entire assembly was looking at her for direction. Sarah boldly spoke, her words were direct, "Just think of the multiple uses for a simple can opener, whereas an electric one, if it works at all, opens only some kinds of cans and costs 100 times as much. Affluent farmers can become convinced of their need for a four-axle vehicle which can go 70 miles per hour on the highways, has an electric windshield wiper and upholstered seats, and can be turned in for a new one within a year or two. Most of the world's farmers don't need such speed, nor are they interested in obsolescent consumerism. They need low-cost transportation in a world where time is not money, where manual wipers suffice, and where a piece of heavy equipment should outlast a generation. This vehicle is not being produced by any manufacturer in the world at the present time. Most developing nations need para-medical workers who can function for indefinite periods without the supervision of an M.D. Instead of establishing a process to train midwives and visiting healers who know how to use a very limited arsenal of medicines while working independently, poor and hungry governments establish every year a new school of specialized nursing or nursing administration to prepare professionals who can function only in a hospital."

Daniel's eyes began to brighten and his posture perked up, "You are absolutely right, Sarah! That's the solution. Money is now spent largely on children, but an adult can be taught to read in one tenth the time and for one-tenth the cost it takes to teach a child. And in the case of an adult there is an immediate return on the investment, such as new insight, political awareness, the willingness to assume responsibility for his family's size and future, or increased productivity. There is even a double return in the case of the adult. Not only can he or she contribute to the education of his children, but to that of other adults as well. But too often literacy programs are pushed aside in developing nations where schools have first call on all public resources."

"I'm reading you loud and clear, Daniel," said Philip. "Even the basic supply of books, pictures, blocks, games and toys are totally absent from the homes of the really poor. These same educational items enable a middle-class child to learn the alphabet, the colors, shapes and other classes of objects and experiences which insure his or her educational progress."

"I have in mind a different kind of solution which has been largely neglected up to now as you have noted by our conversation," said Sarah. "We must call for research on alternatives to the packaged products which now dominate the market; to hospitals and the profession dedicated to keeping the terminally ill alive; to schools and the packaging process which refuses education to those who are not of the right age. A disclaimer is in order. I am not against compassion for the ill and dying. But I am advocating compassion for all who are hungry and ill and dying. Thousands of young and potentially healthy and productive people die each day because of poor drinking water, something that we take entirely for granted.

"Underdevelopment is the result of rising levels of aspiration achieved through the intensive marketing of patent, privileged products. The hungry masses of the world need to be given the spiritual gift and food of awakening awareness of new levels of God-given potential and the use of one's Godgiven creative powers to foster human life. Underdevelopment, however, implies the surrender of social consciousness to pre-packaged solutions. The only way to reverse this disastrous trend to increasing underdevelopment and hunger is to learn to laugh at accepted solutions in order to change the demand which make them necessary. Only people made free by God's love can change their minds and be surprised."

I am indebted to Ivan D. Illich's provocative thought in his book Celebration of Awareness, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970, for the dialogue in the above parable.