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Three Things We Most Want to Hear

THREE THINGS WE MOST WANT TO HEAR

TEXT: MARK 6:35-44

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Next week I plan to preach the top three sermons in my repertoire. Well, not really. Just what I think are the top three ideas that I regard as the absolute non-negotiables of the Christian faith. I've decided to get a jump-start on those three today by using as a theme, a comment I once heard: "The three things people most want to hear are: "I love you. You are forgiven. Supper is ready." The scripture for today also reflects this. Jesus has been healing people and restoring them to wholeness by driving evil spirits out of them and he has sent his disciples out to do the same thing. With their actions and words, they have been saying to the people, "God loves you, you are forgiven." They have an enormous following; people track Jesus and the disciples to sit at their feet. Today's story covers the last phrase: "Supper is ready.
MARK 6:35-44
35 ... It was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
37But Jesus answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five-and two fish."
39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

STUDYING MIRACLES WITH SKEPTICS
We've been studying Jesus' miracles in our Bible study group. Try discussing miracles with a bunch of scientifically-oriented skeptics; that mind-set was never absent. But we call ourselves "liberal Christians" and tend to be critical of people who only see the Bible in one way. So we tried to be open-minded.
We agreed that while it is important to bring reason to the text, there may be limits to our own understandings and maybe Jesus was able to access spiritual power we have not yet grasped. In any case, whether we believed in a supernatural intervention or regarded the story as a teaching on faith, we always asked ourselves, "What is this saying about Jesus? And what is the message we should be getting?"

A popular interpretation of the Feeding of the Five Thousand is that Jesus was able to get people to share their own food so that everybody could eat. One scholar, reacted to that by commenting: "Inspiring people to generosity and altruism may be a bigger miracle than creating bread out of thin air." Jesus was saying, "Don't worry," God will provide.

BEGINNING WITH LOVE ~ A REVERSAL OF THE HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
You are loved, you are forgiven, supper is ready. It's in inversion of Maslov's hierarchy of needs. It begins with love-one of the highest goods-and ends with food-a primary need. Now, I understand that if people's basic physical needs are not met, they are not in a position to think lofty, loving thoughts. The more abased we are, the more base we can become. But what if we did begin with love. What if every soul on earth believed that we were created out of love and for love? What if we had a sense that the universe was a gracious place designed to feed and shelter us? A perception of scarcity drives conflicts and creates enemies. Beginning with love can end with plenty.

OK, I KNOW IT IS IDEALISTIC
I know this is idealism. But what is idealism, after all, but a goal to shoot for and a framework for trying. Better idealistic than cynical. Better to try love and fail than to capitulate to the powers of greed and tribalism. I believe that President Obama's peace initiatives in the Middle East are motivated by just this idealism-his own Christian principles influenced by Jesus' teachings.

You are loved, you are forgiven. Practical fallout from love is a capacity for forgiveness-for granting it and receiving it. Forgiveness is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. We are freed from the bondage to sin because God's priority for us is not punishment but redemption.

So much of this is beginning to sound like theological blah blah. But talk to people who have found the will to overcome addictions by relying on God. Observe people who have gone from crushing circumstances in their youth to a mature and productive adulthood.
IDEALISM LIVED OUT IN REAL LIFE ~ "THE FORGIVENESS PROJECT"
In these stories, you see the benevolence of God at work. These are people who have been able to trust that they are intended for good. The on-line resource called "The Forgiveness Project" is one inspiring story after another. (http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/) Founded by relatives of 9/11 victims, it began as an instrument of reconciliation between people of the United States and Muslims who were being demonized.

I remember seeing a particularly vicious bumper sticker in the months following-"Kill 'em all and let God sort them out." This website challenged that sentiment. It is still active but its purpose has expanded to promoting peace and reconciliation in all of life circumstances-from families to international conflicts. Here's one testimonial.

Gill Hicks, a young Australian woman lost both her legs in the explosion on the London Underground when a suicide bomber blew himself up killing 26 people and maiming many others. She actually saw how badly she was injured and tried to stop herself from bleeding to death by making a tourniquet out of her scarf. Since then, Gill has dedicated herself to peace and justice. She says something that sounds a lot like Jesus.

"I wish the world would stop - just stop and give us all time to see what is happening. Why are we killing each other - every day? It may sound naïve, simple, maybe too simple to take seriously - but - I don't understand why we are 'accepting' and 'tolerating' war and destruction and famine and poverty and oppression. When will the final bomb explode? When will enough be enough?
The cycle has to stop - I can not hate the person who has done this to me; the cycle must end with me. I don't see it as my place to forgive the act, yet I am compelled to understand - to offer an open heart, to try to hear and ask Why?"

SUPPER IS READY ~ COMMUNION
I love you. You are forgiven. And supper is ready. In our ritual supper every month, we put that all together. God reaches out to us in love, caring for us like a mother who loves to feed her family, "Come, eat, supper is ready." And forgiveness is proclaimed every time-as basic as food and drink, "This cup in the new covenant in my blood given for you for the forgiveness of sins."

Jesus died forgiving his executioners so that we might be forgiven and learn to extend forgiveness. The shared meal is the core symbol of the Christian faith for at least 4 reasons.

THE MANY LAYERS OF COMMUNION
1. It is about trust. We eat together because we're family. I can trust you to feed me when I am hungry-emotionally and physically.

2. It really is about food. God cares about eating-enjoying food and especially about having enough. At our Bible study, when we talked about the 5000 who got fed, someone said, "What did they do to deserve it." The response was, "Nothing, really, they were just hungry." This attitude toward feeding the hungry with no strings attached is one of the primary charitable acts of Jesus' Jewish faith and of the church which continued that legacy.

3. It is about God meeting us where we are and at our deepest points of need. Are you fearful, lonely, depressed, anxious? Jesus invites you to sit down and eat and tell him about it.

4. It is a celebration. Every month that we do this, we set a table to remind ourselves about feasting in the kingdom of God. And God intends that kingdom to be a garden of delight as Matt Boulton puts it.

Can you hear the voice of God? Come to the table, my children. You are loved, you are forgiven, supper is ready.