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Give Or Take

John 6:1-21

The Rev. Jon Roberts

28 July

2024

Calvary Episcopal Church

Indian Rocks Beach, FL

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

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The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (La multiplication des pains), 1886–1896, James Tissot

When Jesus calls the hungry
Miracles, does he make;
But to see them depends on your point of view.
Are you on the give or the take?[1]

A devout old shepherd lost his favorite Bible while he was out looking for a wayward lamb. Three weeks later, a sheep walked up to him carrying the Bible in its mouth. The shepherd couldn’t believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the sheep’s mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and exclaimed, “It’s a miracle!” “Not really,” said the sheep. “Your name is written inside the cover.”

Sometimes we miss the miracle, when it can be right there in front of us. In 1953 the British Mathematician, John Littlewood was accredited with the definition of a miracle as something that occurs, one out of a million. Adversely, when say your odds of winning are a million to one, it means the probability is highly unlikely. To prove his point, he gave the example of a favorite British game known as Bridge. It is highly unlikely that a player will be dealt 13 cards of the same suit. One may even say it would be miraculous, as the odds are two billion to 2.4. Still, if 2 million people in England play 30 hands per week, the odds are that it will happen once per year. He further calculated that one of his mentor, who happened to be an atheist, had a million to one chance of becoming a Christian, yet he did, even so far as joining the Oxford group.
If the probability of a miracle is a million to one, is your point of view one that would give or take that odd when it comes to certain things? Would you give or take those odds of a sheep bringing a bible to a shepherd? What about the odds of feeding thousands of people with just a basket of food? That is the miracle presented today. Jesus feeds, St. John details, five thousand in all. Have you noticed how much of our attention is placed on the abundance of food or the number of people, but very little about the behavior? The disciples were obviously anxious. They did the math. There were too many people for only five loaves of bread and two fish. ‘Send them to the village, Jesus’ so that they may be fed. There was a great deal of grass, which meant it was spring. They just came out of the winter and food would be scarce. Jesus knew the odds. What was the miracle? That Jesus fed five thousand? Was this an exercise by God to show He could fill the bellies of people? What was their condition? They were hungry.

In the opening Collect today we prayed, “Increase and multiply us your mercy, so that we may pass through things that are temporal and not lose sight of things eternal.” “Don’t let us lose sight of your presence, the miraculous, that is right in front of us Lord!” But we do. We see the provision of opportunity pass before us and we must make decisions, thousands of them every day, to give or do we take. The five thousand who showed were more than physically hungry. They were ready to put aside the earthly pursuits. Sometimes that is tempting. “Dear Jesus come today!”, the Christian calls out. Fill us with your word. Yes, like sheep we come to pasture, hopefully with that precious book that you imparted your word for us to feed. If God is our protector in whom we trust, then he can do what we cannot by increasing, multiplying his mercy and grace so that we may live for eternity.

The good news about this story is that we hear again five thousand who gave their life to Christ. Written in the Acts of the Apostles, after the greatest miracle, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this number is included in the account when Peter was preaching to a mass of people, calling them to repent. They listened. They knew the odds of certain death and persecution if they believed that Jesus was their Lord and Savior. Those were troubling times, but they did not want to lose sight of His being present, right there in their lives. When a Christian, believes in a miracle, then he or she will start looking for them. But you have to be hungry. You have to be willing to play out your hand. Be willing to lose it all for the sake of your partner, the lover of your soul who intends to raise you up, as He himself showed us the way.

If you don’t believe in Jesus, that’s Ok. For now, just come and sit on the shoreline. You have heard he can heal the sick. You have heard he speaks with wisdom. But the real question is, “Can he do the same for me? Does He really know my situation? Does He know my pain, my loss, my suffering?” Now you’re talking like someone who is hungry. He wants to make the miracle in you. Will you let Him feed you? Will you carry His words in your soul?

Because when Jesus calls the hungry
Miracles, does he make;
But to see them depends on your point of view.
Are you on the give or the take.

[1] The Rev. Jon Roberts
[2] John 6:1-21
[3] Acts 4:4

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