Lent 4 March 22, 2020 The Sunday of Feeding the 5,000
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Lent 4 Laetare
John 6:1-15
March 22, 2020
“The Multiplier”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Is there such a thing as a “normal” life? I’m grateful to Sue of our congregation because this week she sent me a note just along this line and it helped me to clarify some thoughts. What would be a “normal” life anyway? Is there a certain way that life should be? The ideal life?
Some have read this account from Acts chapter 2 of the earliest Church and said, “That’s how life is supposed to be. Just like the first Church was doing after Pentecost.” And they’ve thought that Christians should try to re-create that perfect and best society and life. So remember what we heard there in Acts 2. They were all worshipping together. Breaking bread together. Praying together. And they had everything in common. They were selling possessions and giving it to support one another as they had needs. They were receiving their food with glad and generous hearts.
Sounds dreamy, right? So we need to find one of our members here at Trinity who owns a good chunk of farm ground. Then we’ll all move out there together and build a new church building. Then we’ll build big dormitories for everyone to live in around the church. And we’ll share everything. Share the work. Share the worship. Share the wealth. It will be great. The true normal life. A great community. Or I think we usually use a different word for that—a great commune. Yikes.
Oh, yes. That commune thing has been tried, hasn’t it? Countless times. And now some want to try just another version of it even in our country—socialism. Will that bring us a great and normal life for everyone? No, it won’t. But, of course, nothing will. Because there is not such a thing as a “normal” life. The point of Acts chapter 2 isn’t to show us the ideal society. There’s something much more going on there than that.
So first of all, we’ve established there is no such thing as “normal” life. This crown-virus has shown us that big time. This virus has thrown us off and I, like many of you, have been longing for everything to get back to normal. I want a normal Palm Sunday and Confirmation and Easter and a normal grocery trip and a normal day of visiting with people. But how quickly we forget that, in truth, there is no such normal. There’s only God. He’s our normal. Jesus is our normal. And the normal is just what He gives us today. Not yesterday or tomorrow. But today. And God will make the very best of this day that He gives us.
Take the Israelites in the Old Testament reading from Exodus 16. They wanted their “normal” lives back. They hated this camping trip in the wilderness and said, “We just want to go back home to Egypt where everything was normal.” And we’re scratching our heads going, “But you were slaves back in Egypt and it was terrible.” And they say, “Yeah, but it was normal.”
No, God says, it was bad for you. I’m giving you something much better. And He says, “Let’s just focus on today. I’m going to give you your daily bread. A ton of it. I’m going to give you so much manna on the ground that it will be amazingly hard for you to not hoard it. You will want to hoard it like crown-virus people are hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer. You won’t want to trust that tomorrow will be okay and I’ll take care of you again. But I will.”
And for them, every day was something new. There wasn’t a normal. But that was good. Because every day God was showing them more and more grace and mercy and multiplying things for their good more and more. Until eventually, of course, He sets them up in the Promised Land and even there it turns out there’s no normal except God. He’s the same yesterday and today and forever.
God doesn’t do our normal. In the Gospel reading from John 6 they need to feed more than 5,000 people. And Jesus says, “Hey guys, what are going to do?” And they’re thinking all their boring, normal ways of feeding 5,000 people. They think about money. They think that McDonalds is too far away. That it’s not Friday and there aren’t any Fish fries going on. They think that Sam’s Club wouldn’t even have enough on the shelves to feed all these people.
But God doesn’t do normal. It says that Jesus was testing them. He knew what He was going to do. Of course He did. And I’m sure you’ve all realized that He is also testing us right now and testing in many ways all the time. He knows what He’s going to do. He knows how far He’ll let crown-virus go. He does things like this all the time to strengthen our faith. So that we will trust Him right now and not look for this pretend normal where we can get back to forgetting about Him.
So Jesus knew what He was going to do. Aha, here’s a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. But what are they among so many? Jesus says, “It’s plenty. All just do a normal blessing here and we’ll all eat. Have everyone sit down to say the common table prayer.
So I want to give you a name to remember for Jesus here today on this Fourth Sunday of Lent in the middle of crown-virus life. Jesus is The Multiplier. He’s the multiplier. Here He takes just what they have, five loaves and two fish, and multiplies it to feed everyone. But this is just a sign of something that He’s already doing all the time. He uses this for the rest of the 6th chapter of John to teach us that He is the “bread of life”. He’s the normal of life. He’s the one who gives us everything we need to live each and every day. He’s the one who multiplies grace to us so that we can make the very best of this day that God is giving us.
Working out at Jerry’s flooring and cabinet store I’ve learned all about multipliers. I wasn’t too familiar with them before. When you get a price from some company it will be some astronomical amount—like $5,000 for a cabinet. But then each dealer gets a certain multiplier and it might be .2. So you multiply that times the astronomical price and you get a halfway normal price.
But Jesus is a multiplier in the opposite direction. First of all, He’s a multiplier of grace. We think, “Oh God, I just need a little grace. Just a little forgiveness. I just need a little help and mercy. My sins aren’t too bad but I’m not perfect.” And Jesus turns around and says, “How about this? You need more than just a little grace. I’ll give My perfect life for you on the cross and my flesh and blood will multiply for you for endless grace for all your sins (way more than you think you have) and for the sins of all the rest of the world as well.
You think you just need a little forgiveness? Multiply that by infinity. Jesus is your normal for every day then. The only thing normal about each day is that you will sin again. And again. And again. And again. And here is Jesus to multiply grace to you again and again and again. Here He is at the altar multiplying His body and blood for the forgiveness of all Christians everywhere.
Jesus is the Multiplier of grace and forgiveness for each day. He’s your normal. Then comes the other part of Jesus’ multiplying. He also takes whatever gifts God gives to you each day and multiplies them for the blessing of others. That’s really what was going on in Acts 2. God was multiplying their gifts. He was showing them His grace and then they were giving back to Him and He was multiplying it to take care of others.
I want to give you a small demonstration of this that happens every Sunday here at Trinity. Right behind me here is our credence table. It’s the table where the element for Communion are kept on the top shelf until the proper time in the service.
After the sermon the gifts are collected—the offerings. We return to God a small portion of the gifts He has already given us. And when those gifts are received we bring them over here and place them on the shelf under the elements for Communion. By that ritual action we’re presenting a truth of God’s multiplying. He takes those humble gifts of ours and uses them to give us the bread and wine to be used in the Lord’s Supper for the body and blood of Christ. Now it used to be even more dramatic in the early Church because the people could actually bring the bread and the wine and present those for the Lord’s work and He would multiply them. But even here He’s still doing the same thing. He’s taking our gifts and multiplying them.
What I’m preaching to you here, of course, is generosity. Jesus gave His entire life and God multiplied it for forgiveness. God also calls you to give. To take from what He’s given you and give it back to Him so that He can multiply it for the good of others. That’s here in the offering plates but also in all other areas of your life. Does someone need encouragement? Give them a small Word from God that He has given to you and He will multiply it for their comfort. Does someone need a ride somewhere? Give them a small amount of the time God has given you and He will multiply it for their good? Does a child need food or clothing or shelter or a family? Give to organizations that provide that care and God will multiply your gift.
Jesus truly is The Multiplier. He multiplies grace and multiplies our blessings. Make Him the normal of your every day. Not anything else. Just Jesus. And one day you’ll live with Him in the perfect life in heaven. I’ll leave you with these few words from that Acts 2 reading. It says everyone received their food with glad and generous hearts. That’s what God wants for you. That’s the normal He wants for you—glad and generous hearts. Glad in what God has done for you in Christ. Generous to the Church and to your neighbor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.