“BE A MIRACLE”

A Sermon Based Upon Mark 6: 30-44   NRSV

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin.  

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

First Sunday After Epiphany,  January 10, 2016

And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." (Mk. 6:38 NRS)

"I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me
than merely tell the way. The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing,but example's always clear; And the best of all preachers
are the men who live their creeds, For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.

                                                                                       ---- Edgar Guest

Today, we want to consider the matter of ‘miracles’ again.  

If you recall in our last message from Mark 5, we encountered three very different healing miracles of Jesus.    We learned that these ‘healing miracles’ were not simply  about Jesus’ power to heal physically or temporarily, but these miracles pointed to having faith in the ultimate healing Jesus came to give,  the promise and hope of ‘eternal life’.    Life that endures, without end; now that’s healing isn’t it?   

Today, we are going consider this concept of ‘miracle’ again, but from another angle.  Taking this marvelous miracle of the Feeding of Five Thousand, we are going to dig deeper into the meaning of the miracles.   Within this one miracle, I believe that we see into the message of all the miracles, not just this one.  But before we look more closely into this ‘miracle’, let’s review whole concept of ‘miracles’ again.

We know, that for many people, in a world that is currently dominated by science and high tech, even the mere mention of ‘miracles’ is a discussion that remains ‘off their radar screen’.  Based upon the writings of the 17^th century philosopher David Hume, most people just don’t see any sense to believing in miracles at all.  Hume believed that miracles were ‘superstitious delusions’ that should not be believed by rational minds.  He even argued that for a person of faith to believe in a miracle was to believe that God would ‘transgress’ (that is is to ‘sin’ against) his own laws of nature by violating them.  Hume’s main argument, was that essentially, the report of a miracle should not be believed, because it is an unbelievable or unprovable experience which goes up against the reality we already know to be true (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Miracles ). 

The problem with Hume’s argument against miracles is that it is based upon the assumption that humans and the Science already know everything.  This just isn’t true, and even I can prove this.  Just the other day, on the news there was a report about how much sleep humans need and what happens to the brain that does not get enough sleep.  During this report the question finally came up:  Why do humans need sleep in the first place?  Why does the body break down when it doesn’t get sleep?  The Answer:  Science just does not know the answer.   Even when it comes to simple questions like why do we yawn, and why do we sleep, human knowledge is limited.

When it comes to questions about God and miracles, shouldn’t humans have limits that go both ways?    Science, which is human knowledge, can’t answer the question of all miracles or it stops being science and it starts being religion.  Religion can’t really prove miracles either, or it starts trying to be science.  Again, it goes both ways: while religion needs human science to keep it from believing in anything, science also needs religion to help humans deal with the reality that remains beyond knowledge.  Christians and other people of faith too, believe that the ultimate reality behind all human knowledge is the mystery of God.  We may see “God” differently, and in this way we should, because if God is ultimate the greatest mystery, God’s ultimate truth will forever remain beyond us.  For Christians, however, while this the ultimate truth of God remains mysterious, His truth has come near to be revealed in life of Jesus. 

This “revelation of Jesus Christ” is the unexpected and the greatest ‘miracle’ we observe in each of the gospels.    Still, even with these ancient documents, we don’t have any proof of this even this great miracle in any rationalistic, scientific or absolute historical way.   We only get up close and personal with the greatest miracle of the Bible, by faith.   Only by faith can we allow this miracle to become real for us.  We never get to the bottom of this miracle of Jesus by simply believing that he lived.   You only get up close and personal to the miracle of Jesus by becoming part of that great miracle yourself.  Today, I want to show you just how that still can happen.  I want you to do more than just believe in a miracle, I want you to let the miracle get inside you.

THE FIRST STEP IN BEING THE MIRACLE…   SEE WHO JESUS IS

As chapter 6 of Mark begins, we find people asking all kinds of questions.  Jesus has just returned to his hometown, where His own people have been hearing about his ministry.  As Jesus arrives, many are wondering:  “Where did this man get all this (wisdom)?” “What about these powerful acts he does?”   ”Isn’t this the carpenter?  Isn’t he Mary’s son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas and Simon?   Aren’t his sisters here with us? ….(CEB).   They are clearly amazed at Jesus’ wisdom and power, but then we surprisingly read also that, “They were repulsed by him…. (6: 3b). 

Do even the thought of ‘miracles’ or perhaps any kind of talk about God upset, embarrass, or repulse you?  Some religious positions or spiritual events are making more people angry these days.  Recently, on the news, they told of a High School Coach in Georgia who allowed football players to be baptized during football practice.  A group, called “People for Freedom from Religion”, were on his case about organizing it and broadcasting it on YouTube.   The coach said in surprise: “I never dreamed that baptisms would get this much publicity?”  

In this very secular day of our own culture, the once entitled and trusted Christian Faith, does not have the same clout, nor the same public acceptance it once had, if it ever did really have it?  Our founding American constitution, which still provides us ‘Freedom for religion” also provides the “Freedom from” religious expression.  Crossing this line of church and state may have much less room for forgiveness by an increasingly unforgiving culture, who increasingly views religious expressions with more suspicion and sometimes, even a public threat. 

In times like these, we must remember that Jesus knew rejection too.   And in response to being rejected in his own hometown, Jesus announced that “Prophets are honored everywhere except in their hometown” (6:4).    Mark adds, that Jesus was ‘unable to do any miracles there’ …., except that he placed his hand on few sick people and healed them.”   Except?   Just healing a couple of people would still make ‘front page’ news, even in our secular world today, wouldn’t it?   But Jesus is still ‘appalled by their disbelief’ (6:6).  

Why is Jesus so perturbed by ‘unbelief’?  Again, Jesus wants to do much more than heal a few people.   The miracles of Jesus are about Jesus himself.   As you can clearly see, Mark does not tell us that these folks were ‘repulsed’ by the miracles, but they are ‘repulsed by him’ who does them (6:3).  Jesus is the ‘miracle’ getting under their skin.    As the writer of Hebrews once wrote, ‘In the past, God has spoken… in many times and in many ways’, but in these final days, God has spoken to us through a Son” (Hebrews 1: 1-2).   The miracle getting under their skin is not  that a few sick folks were healed, nor even if one or two were actually raised from the dead but the miracle that bothers them is that God speaks  “to us through a Son’ (Heb. 1:2).   When John’s gospel says that in Jesus Christ ‘the Word has become flesh’ and now ‘dwells among us’ (John 1:14), the point is that in Jesus, God has gotten ‘under’ our skin, by getting into it.

Nowhere is this great miracle of incarnation on display to more people at one moment than in this miracle we call “The Feeding of the Five Thousand”.   This is the only miracle story which occurs in all four gospels, (though you could argue that the Resurrection does if you accept Mark’s longer ending).   But again, as great of a miracle as this is,  it is still not a miracle about how to feed many people, as it is about something else (Mark 6:52) needing to be understood.  It is a miracle about this one who is ‘the bread of life’ (John 6.35).  For you see, the message in the miracle is about ‘who’ Jesus is, not just ‘what’ Jesus did.   It is a miracle that shows God’s presence and power becoming known because some of us will dare to follow Christ’s lead.  Are you ready to follow Christ’s lead and see this miracle that can happen, not just in front of you, but should happen within you?    This brings us to….

THE SECOND STEP IN BEING A MIRACLE,.. USE WHAT YOU HAVE!

After Jesus told his disciples he wanted to feed this huge crowd, they immediately started whining about what they did not have.  Do you see it?  It sounds just like us, doesn’t it?  We make far too many statements that begin with the words "If only."  If only I had more talent...   If only I had more money...  If only my parents had reared me differently...  If only, if only, if only….   You will never ‘be’ a miracle, nor contain the miracle that is Jesus, if you maintain an attitude like this.

But the disciples whined to Jesus to, at least at first.  They whined that, "It would take $10,000 or $20,000 to feed this mob.” Counting women and children, there must have been l0,000 people on that hillside. There was no catering service in the Middle East that could have handled such a crowd then, let alone now.  Those disciples rightly asked, “Lord, why do you ask us to do this that seems impossible?"  (v. 37).

So Jesus asked, "How much food is here? Go and see! (v. 38).   In other words, don't bother me with what you wish you had. Go with what you have, first.  Count your assets.  Consider what it is that you have right now.   You’ll never do anything extraordinary or be anything extraordinary, unless you start where you are, with what you have.  And you must not just make a review of it, you must also start ‘using’ it?  Can you see what Jesus is saying about the ‘miracle’ getting inside of us?

In 1872, at the age of 16, Booker T. Washington, a now famous, under privileged black man in the old south, decided he wanted to go to school.  So he walked 500 miles to Hampton Institute in Virginia, and presented himself to the head teacher. Washington later recalled, "Having been so long without proper food, a bath, and change of clothing, I did not make a very favorable impression upon her, and I could see at once that there were doubts in her mind about me."     Finally she said to him, "The adjoining recitation room needs cleaning. Take the broom and do it." A lesser person might have been insulted by being assigned menial work. But Washington recognized immediately that this was his big chance. He swept that room three times and dusted it four times. He even cleaned the walls and the closets. Then he reported to the head teacher that the job was finished. She examined that room like a drill sergeant. She even took a handkerchief and rubbed it across the top of a door. When she could not find a particle of dirt, she said, "I guess you will do to enter this institution."

As a 16 year old, Washington could not do many things. But he could clean a room. And he did it gloriously. Extraordinary living begins with using what we have. What gifts and graces do you have that you have not fully activated?  This is the normal, usual place all great miracles will always begin.  Nothing is ‘entitled’ except the hope of putting ourselves to use and to work.   Can you see how much such an understanding could still be the beginning of a great miracle?  (This and much of this message is from Collected Sermons, Dr. Bill Bouknight, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 2002 at www.esermons.com).

THE THIRD STEP IN BEING A MIRACLE, ….. COMMIT EVERYTHING TO GOD

Notice what strange thing Jesus did with that fish and bread that was brought to him. He stopped, looked up to heaven and then, made a personal blessing with the food.

What Jesus did was customary in every Jewish household, at least in theory.    At every meal the head of the family was to pronounce these words of blessing and thanksgiving: "Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, who gives food to the hungry."  Notice that it was God who was blessed, not the food.  

Did you realize that the purpose of a mealtime blessing is not to bless the food, but to bless and thank God?  Jesus did not say, "0 God, make these tiny fragments of food stretch a long way or else I'm going to have a lot of hungry folks on my hands."   Neither did Jesus ask God to put a little honey on the bread to really impress folks.  No, Jesus blessed God's name and committed this bread completely to God. That's not the way we usually pray. We usually present our "wish list" to God and then start to blame him if one of them is not granted. But Jesus just committed what he had to God, asking only that it glorify God. Just imagine if in our business affairs, we were to pray regularly, "I commit my business and my work to you, O God; use it for your glory. My greatest desire for my work is not that it be profitable, though I hope it will; my greatest desire is that it glorify you and assist in Kingdom-building.

Just imagine if in our prayers for our families, we always added this heartfelt plea: "I commit my family to you, O Lord; use it for your glory."   Just imagine what God might do in our political endeavors if we committed each candidate to him and asked simply that the political process bring glory to God. If you want to have an extraordinary life, a life that can be a wonderful as any miracle, then just commit each and every part of it to God, asking that all of it bring glory to him.  Finally,

THE FOURTH STEP TO BEING A MIRACLE….  EXPECT GREAT THINGS.

Jesus was the foremost teacher of the power of positive thinking. "Ask and you will receive," he said. "Seek and you will find." Jesus really went out on a limb when he took a mere snack and trusted that it would feed l0,000 people. Never was so much expected from so little.

Remember this, Bill Bouknight said: the level of your expectancy determines the size of God’s workshop.”   Some people expect so little that God has no elbow room in their lives. That was the case in Jesus' hometown of Nazareth where he could do very few mighty works because the people had so little faith. Your expectation dictates God's arena in your life. Is it tiny and cramped, or lofty and expansive?

Let me use an example from the sports world.  One of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League was Fran Tarkenton. As a sophomore at the University of Georgia, he was nothing but a small, third-team quarterback with mediocre prospects. But in a tight game with the University of Texas, Fran did something radical. He sent himself into the game. He just trotted onto the field, and the starting quarterback assumed he had been replaced.  The offensive coach assumed the head coach had done it, and vice versa. Tarkenton took charge, led the team down the field for a touchdown, and, as they say, the rest is history. Fran Tarkenton expected great things to happen, and they did!

But again, let’s not assume anything here.   What is going on in this miracle is not about the Feeding, per say, but it is a miracle about revealing who Jesus is as the bread of life.   What is being revealed is here is not some principle about how to get a ‘free lunch’ or to get the ‘miracle’ you want, but it is about discovering the greatest miracle being revealed in the life of Jesus Christ.   If you want to do see miracles, then follow him as the great miracle, as you trust in him, as you use what you have; as you commit what you have and who you are; and then as you expect great things.

There is a story about two fortune hunters named Sam and Jed. They learned that up in Canada, $5,000 was being offered for each wolf captured alive. So, they traveled to an isolated region of Canada and began looking for their valuable prey. One night they were exhausted and fell asleep in their little tent. A few hours later Sam awoke suddenly to see that they were surrounded by about fifty snarling, vicious wolves. Sam nudged his friend and said, "Wake up, Jed, we're rich, man! We're rich!"

What an attitude of expectancy!   Sam is able to look at the worst and still expect the best.   When St. Paul declared that we are “more than conquerors”  (Roms 8.37) or when he wrote that: "…. no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- (1 Cor. 2:9 NRS) he must have been thinking of what we should expect, when we trust Jesus as the greatest miracle.  We trust Jesus not merely by believing that he existed, but by giving ourselves to him, by using what we have, by committing what we have and who we are to God, and expecting that God always has great in mind with us.   When you do this, you can be the miracle, both in the life you live, and even in the death you die, because you trust that God is also at work in you.   Amen.