Proper 12

The town of Yamagata, Japan, holds a festival every year to celebrate imoni, a taro and beef soup with a soy sauce base. Thousands of people come from all over Japan and even other parts of the world to eat imoni and have a good time. So the folks in Yamagata built a massive soup pot, which they fill with six tons of water, 1½ tons of beef, 3,500 onions, and lots of other ingredients. The soup cooks for hours.

Cooking that much soup would be a real challenge. But how do you serve it? Walmart doesn’t sell 100 pound soup ladles, do they? A few years ago, a team in Yamagata found a creative way to solve this problem. They bought two brand-new earth diggers with specially-made buckets. The buckets allowed them to dip out hundreds of servings of soup at once. In eight hours’ time, this team of cooks fed 12,695 bowls of imoni soup. They earned the title for “Most Soup Served in 8 Hours” in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Try to picture today’s Gospel through the eyes of Jesus’ disciples. They had traveled to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee hoping to get away for some rest. But crowds of people, thousands of people, followed them to this remote area. They were hungering for a miracle or a message of hope. The tired disciples hoped Jesus would send them away.

Instead, Jesus asked Philip how they were going to feed this crowd of thousands of men, women and children. Philip was shocked that Jesus even asked such a question about something that was so clearly impossible. He answered, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Andrew then said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”

We experience the blessings of God when we take time to sit down. Does that sound too simple? Most of us are too busy to read the Bible or get involved in a prayer or study group. So we pray in our cars or when we’re in the shower. The idea that we should stop all our activities and make time with Jesus a priority annoys us. Why? Because we’ve forgotten that the purpose of our lives is to know and to glorify God. And we’ve forgotten that we have a God who is just waiting to provide for all our needs.

There’s a story about a man who was waiting for a bus to Pasadena. In the bus station, he spotted a machine advertising: Your height, your weight, your fortune only fifty cents. So he dropped in two quarters and stepped on the scale. Out popped a card that read: “You are 5’10” tall. You weigh 160 lbs. You are waiting for the bus to Pasadena.”

The man was amazed! How could a machine know that much about him? So, he decided to fool the machine. He went to the men’s restroom and changed his appearance. He turned his cap around backwards, put on some sunglasses, turned his shirt inside out, pulled a jacket out of his duffel bag. Finally, he stuffed his jacket with things from his duffel bag so he would be heavier. Then he went back, inserted two more quarters, and stepped on the scale again. Another card popped out. It read, “You are 5’ 10” tall. You weigh 160 lbs. And while you were wasting time in the men’s room, you missed the bus to Pasadena.”

How many of us are so busy with lesser priorities that we spend our whole lives disconnected from God? But time with God is not a burden. It’s what we were made for. We find our identity, our purpose, our strength and our wisdom when we spend time with God.

We need to stop for a moment and sit down in the presence of Jesus.

Then we need to accept what Christ has to offer us, just as the crowd received the loaves and fishes.

God’s greatest wish is to provide us with the good things of life. Do you understand how wonderful that truth is? God didn’t have to create each of us. God didn’t have to reveal Himself to us in Jesus Christ. But that’s God’s character. His very nature is to give. God is love. And love is always giving. Indeed, God gives extravagantly. If we’re not receiving from Him, the problem may be on our end, for He is a giving God.

Dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse was known for being abundantly generous. When he went out with friends or colleagues, he always grabbed the check and paid for others. And when he died, Fosse set aside $25,000 in his will with instructions for 66 of his closest friends to use the money to go out to dinner together one more time. Even toward the end of his life, he was still thinking of ways to show his appreciation for his friends.

In the same way, God never stops thinking about His children. As a loving Father, God awaits the opportunity to meet our needs. But we’re not accustomed to receiving from His loving hand. And so we wander blindly from problem to problem.

 “Make the people sit down,” Jesus commanded his disciples. Then he took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed these loaves and these fish to all who were seated, as much as they wanted. And so, too, do we receive God’s blessings when we sit and wait and when we accept what He has to offer.

Notice, finally, how John concludes this story: “When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So, they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” Why so much food left over? Because that, too, is God’s nature.

One of the lessons Christ tried to teach us was the lavishness of God.

But we’ve become cynical and fearful. We don’t really trust God’s goodness. We don’t trust that God knows our needs. We live with a constant sense of anxiety and weariness. Most of the worries that beset us would disappear in a moment if we could lean back and rest ourselves on the extravagance of God’s provisions.

A group of children was asked to describe what abundance means to them. Brian, age 10, said, “Abundance means we have everything we need even though we don’t have everything we want yet. It makes me feel safe.” Wise kid.

The Crown is a popular television series that tells the story of the British royal family, and in one episode, Prince Philip is feeling lost in middle age. A former pilot, he becomes obsessed with the Apollo 11 mission and is thrilled when the moon landing is a success. When the three astronauts visit Buckingham Palace after the mission, Philip is excited to ask them questions about their most profound insights from outer space. He’s looking to them for inspiration.

But when he meets them, he discovers that they’re just normal, young men who were simply doing their jobs on Apollo 11. It’s a dramatic and devastating moment for Philip — one that is largely invented for the television drama.

What is historically accurate, however, is that Prince Philip became involved at that time in the creation of a retreat center called St. George’s House. Along with an Anglican priest, he made St. George’s a place for people to discuss religious and secular issues. Philip himself went on to give talks on the role of clergy in society, stressing the importance of bringing together scientists and theologians to try to find common ground.

Philip discovered that inspiration cannot be found in technology alone. People need the bread of life, even more than a man on the moon.

Curious crowds of people following Jesus were invited to sit down for a surprise meal, and they all ate their fill. And there were plenty of leftovers. That’s how a generous God works.

So take the time to sit down.  Accept what Christ offers you. And enjoy the extravagance of God.