On the Way to Wonder

First Reading: 1 Kings 19:9-18

⁹At [Horeb, the mount of God,][Elijah] came to a cave, and spent the night there.
  Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
 ¹¹He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. ¹⁶Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. ¹⁷Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. ¹⁸Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Psalm: Psalm 85:8-13

I will listen to what the Lord God is saying. (Ps. 85:8)

 ⁸I will listen to what the Lord God is saying;
  for you speak peace to your faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to you.
 ⁹Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you,
  that your glory may dwell in our land. 
 ¹⁰Steadfast love and faithfulness have met together;
  righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
 ¹¹Faithfulness shall spring up from the earth,
  and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
 ¹²The Lord will indeed grant prosperity,
  and our land will yield its increase.
 ¹³Righteousness shall go before the Lord
  and shall prepare for God a pathway. 

Second Reading: Romans 10:5-15

⁵Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” ⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say?
 “The word is near you,
  on your lips and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” ¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
 ¹⁴But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33

²²[Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side [of the Sea of Galilee], while he dismissed the crowds.²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
 ²⁸Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

CHILDREN’S SERMON:  Today our Gospel shares of a time when the disciples were in a great storm on the Sea of Galilee and they were so scared that they were going to die.  Can you think of a time when you were really, really scared?  Share with your neighbor.  What helped you?

Let us pray.  Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.

SERMON

         “Déjà vu!”  If we step back from our text today, it looks like the same story as last week only in a slightly different context and with more detail.  Last week Jesus headed across the lake to the wilderness to be alone after hearing about the horrible death of his cousin, a fellow prophet, John the Baptist, one of the most righteous men ever and Jesus’ forerunner.  The crowds preceded Jesus and needed him.  He had to postpone his quiet time.  Today in our text Matthew continues from last week and Jesus is dismissing the crowds and headed up the mountain to be by himself and pray.  Jesus has not forgotten his goal and is still on course.

    Last week the crowd brought their sick that Jesus then healed.  The disciples handled crowd control, and at the end of the day when there was no food, they seated the people, distributed the fish and loaves that Jesus blessed and that miraculously satisfied all.  Today the text has the disciples then sent across the lake on a boat, preceding Jesus.  Traveling by boat is something many of them were familiar with even if they were tired.  Jesus comes to the disciples when a storm threatens them and does three more miracles.  He calms the storm and invites Peter to walk on water AND rescues Peter when he flounders.  Jesus again meets the disciples at their point of need.

         Last week the people were hungry.  They were hungry for healing, for teaching, and yes even physically hungry.  This week the disciples are overwhelmed with fear and terrified.  They too are hungry to be rescued. They are even so scared they think they are seeing ghosts when Jesus approaches.  Peter is overwhelmed with doubt, “if” he says.  If Jesus is real, prove it.  Jesus is present in our moments of need and has a solution that satisfies, even if we flounder and are overwhelmed with doubt!  Let’s dig in.

“he went up the mountain by himself to pray”

         The new detail this week is that Jesus was going across the lake to the mountain “to pray.”  When Jesus was confronted with the news about the death of John the Baptist, he did not turn on CNN to hear the “he-said-she-said” of political pundits.  It did not seem that he was concerned about riots in the streets or demonstrations.  He did something we can all do.  He went to pray. 

         Jesus did not go to the Temple to pray but went to the wilderness.  Interesting.  Prayer takes many forms and is not just formal prayers said kneeling by our pew or by the bed or sitting in our favorite chair or at our favorite place. Personally I like swimming laps and just letting my heart unwind with God.  Kneading bread and sitting listening to music and letting the words soak my soul helps.  Many like jogging, biking or fishing.  I remember the tune; “God speaks to little boys when they are fishing.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eAvPunye8Y ) We are invited to pray at all times.  Prayer is an appropriate answer to grief and exhaustion.

         Both texts speak of Jesus going by himself.  As I pondered that, I realized that “by himself” is not the same as “alone.”  Jesus was not alone spiritually because he was always in communication with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps another way to say this is that he went to where he would not be distracted and could have “focused attention.”  We are never alone either.  The Holy Spirit is always with us and available for conversation but sometimes we need to zero-in on his presence.

         In the evening, the disciples are struggling with a storm.  Jesus is aware of their need and does not go in search of another boat to get to them but walks across the sea.  Interesting again.  He does not say, “Transport me over there, Scotty,” like Star Trek.  He does not leave his incarnation behind to perform the miracle.  God’s identification with humanity seems to somehow impact his actions.  That says to me that we do not need to fear that somehow Jesus has ascended back to being God and forgotten what it is like to be human.  Likewise, some miracles are instantaneous like the fish and loaves, and others take time like walking on water.  We want the instantaneous but we must never forget that even if God seems absent, he sees, cares and is on course.

“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

         Fear is such a crippling emotion.  Last week the disciples were afraid because it was evening and they did not have enough food to feed the people.  After a night of fighting a storm, they are now so exhausted they are terrified and think Jesus is a ghost.  When our resources are running low and we are afraid, it is easy to doubt the presence of God.  Conversely, our fear-paralysis does not stop God from being present to help us.  Jesus did not need the people to believe that he could multiply the fish and loaves in order for him to do it.  Jesus did not need the disciples to believe he could walk on water in order for him to appear.  Often we are taught that God’s actions depend on us having faith only as small as a mustard seed.  Somehow we get tied up in doubt, believing our faith controls God’s ability to help.  It is so easy for our focus to shift from God to our emotions and ourselves.

         Peter responds, “IF.”  THAT is a grain of mustard seed faith!  It sounds like Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof, looking to heaven and saying to God, “While you are in the neighborhood, my horse’s foot is lame again.”  I know I have been guilty of praying, “God, if you’re listening…”  Fear cripples us and often its friend doubt is right there also.  But our frazzled emotions do not stop Jesus from inviting Peter or us into a faith adventure.  Jesus invites Peter, “Come!”  Did you hear that?  We do not need to be theological giants, faith heroes, or have spiritual muscles like Super Person.  God can invite us into an adventure when we are exhausted, terrified, and doubting his presence.  I cannot help but ask us to take a moment to reflect on whether God is calling us today to “come” to him in an area of our life that we are terrified and doubting about.  He says, “Do not be afraid.  It is I.  Come!”

         Wait for it….  Peter steps out of the boat and floppo!  Peter looses focus and starts looking at the storm and starts to sink.  Oh my.  Yep.  Sometimes even in spite of my best intentions, I fail.  I’m guessing most of us do not have to think hard to remember moments of failure.  Sometimes relationships just don’t work out no matter how much we believed God was calling us into them.  Sometimes cars are lemons.  Sometimes adventures end in disasters.  My children all have litanies of “Remember the time we ate eggplant for a month,” or “Remember when mom…” and then I hang my head and reaffirm my humanness. 

         Again we confront the mystery of faith and works and God.  Jesus called Peter into an adventure.  Peter had the faith to step out of the boat but then lost focus on God and looked at the storm.  He has shifted from looking at God to looking at self.  But Jesus did not stop looking at Peter.  Jesus rescues Peter!  Peter may have lost focus on Jesus but Jesus did not loose focus on Peter.  The disciples may have lost focus on Jesus knowing he was off praying but Jesus did not loose focus on them!  You may have lost focus on God but he is still focused on you.

“Lord, save me!”

         Jesus had not died on the cross yet.  Peter was still figuring out what it meant that Jesus was the messiah and what that even means.  So often we discredit ourselves and we become grasshoppers in our own eyes.  We are seldom called upon to walk on water but we are always challenged to be ready to live the faith we confess.  That may only be the gift of a smile to a stranger or a word of encouragement to someone downcast.  It may mean biting our tongue when that snarky response jumps to our lips in response to another.  Then there is always the battle with the pocket book and how we spend our money and the battle with the clock with how we spend our time.  Living out faith just is not easy.

         Peter simply cries out, “Lord, save me!”  It is a simple prayer.  He did not flail around in the water blaming himself for his lack of faith or his stupidity.  He did not turn to the boat and yell, “Hey guys, I need a hand!”  He did not turn at God yelling, “You lied! I can’t depend on you.”  He simply cried “Help” to the only one who could save him in his circumstances.

         Perhaps you are on the top of the world today but I suspect that most of us have a point of pain, grief, or fear.  Making time and space for focusing in prayer on our relationship with God, is always a good choice.  When we can’t see him, he still sees us and is helping.  Our faith does not control God’s creativity in answering prayer.  There are no magic prayers. There are no icons we need to put in front of us.  Just a simple “help” touches the heart of God.  He sees and he cares and he is willing to use us in a faith adventure even if we are old, tired, or terrified.  Our response is to worship him.  Always remember, Jesus said “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Thank you, Lord.

Let the people of God say, “AMEN!”

First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-5

 ¹Ho, everyone who thirsts,
  come to the waters;
 and you that have no money,
  come, buy and eat!
 Come, buy wine and milk
  without money and without price.
 ²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
  and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
 Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
  and delight yourselves in rich food.
 ³Incline your ear, and come to me;
  listen, so that you may live.
 I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
  my steadfast, sure love for David.
 ⁴See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
  a leader and commander for the peoples.
 ⁵See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
  and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
 because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
  for he has glorified you.

Psalm: Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Ps. 145:16)

 ⁸The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
  slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
 ⁹Lord, you are good to all,
  and your compassion is over all your works.
 ¹⁴The Lord upholds all those who fall
  and lifts up those who are bowed down.
 ¹⁵The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,
  and you give them their food in due season.
 ¹⁶You open wide your hand
  and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
 ¹⁷You are righteous in all your ways
  and loving in all your works.
 ¹⁸You are near to all who call upon you,
  to all who call upon you faithfully.
 ¹⁹You fulfill the desire of those who fear you;
  you hear their cry and save them.
 ²⁰You watch over all those who love you,
  but all the wicked you shall destroy.
 ²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord;
  let all flesh bless God’s holy name forever and ever.

Second Reading: Romans 9:1-5

¹I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit—²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. ⁴They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; ⁵to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21

¹³Now when Jesus heard [about the beheading of John the Baptist], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. ¹⁵When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” ¹⁷They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸And he said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

CHILDREN’S SERMON:  Today I want to focus our thoughts through the childhood poem, “Old Mother Hubbard.”  Let’s see if we can remember it.

“Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the Cupboard,
To give the poor Dog a bone;
When she came there,

The Cupboard was bare,
And so the poor Dog had none.”

The origins of the poem in the early 1800s are debated and actually there are several more verses that have been added through the years for various reasons.  The point I want us to think about is when we “go to our cupboard’ and find it “bare,” what are our alternatives?  Share with your neighbor something you might do if you found the cupboard bare.  Call instacart?  Borrow from a neighbor?  Change the menu?

Let us pray.  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.

SERMON

         Last Sunday we heard about the wonderfulness of the kingdom of heaven.  It is like a mustard seed that grows into a great bush that provides food and shelter.  It’s like yeast that is used to make bread.  It is a treasure, a pearl of great price, and a good catch of fish.  Whew.  We are blessed to be part of the kingdom.  It almost sounds like the health, wealth and prosperity gospel.  Try it, you’ll like it and be happy ever after and maybe even get a miracle.  Perhaps that is why we need the reminder of today’s gospel.  The kingdom of heaven also involves death, no resources and hunger on earth.  Some days we go to the cupboard and it looks bare!

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11)”

         Our text today opens with problems.  Jesus hears that John the Baptist, his cousin, his forerunner, and a great servant of God was beheaded.  John was the victim of King Herod, who did not want to loose face, so kept a thoughtless promise to his seductive stepdaughter who danced for him.  Herod ordered the head of John the Baptist be brought on a silver platter.  Gross.  Unjust.  Unfair.  It is an epitome of political power corrupted.

           Jesus heard and could have called down the armies of heaven to establish a just society but he didn’t.  He withdrew in a boat to the wilderness.  Maybe our situation is slightly different.  The doctor says our godly husband has a terminal disease.  A senseless accident by a drunk driver wipes out the potential of a beloved other.  A marriage with all it’s promises made to God, turns sour.  That other candidate gets voted into office.  We shake our head and a little voice whispers in our ear, “Where is your God now?  Doesn’t he care about you?”

         Suffering in this world does not mean God have forsaken us or that he doesn’t care or that he is busy with others with worse problems.  Godly people like John the Baptist experienced injustice.  People struggling are not necessarily bad people.  Only God knows.  Let us not be like the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like that poor tax collector.  The kingdom of heaven drew near in the person of Christ and we taste some of the wonderfulness of that kingdom in the beautiful sunrise, the smile of a friend, and a hug when we are discouraged.  But we also experience grief, down days and death.

         So how did Jesus handle the bad news, the hard times?  Our text tells us he withdrew to a deserted place by himself.  Jesus, God incarnate, withdrew.  I sometimes think as Christians we ask of ourselves to always be happy.  Several people at my retirement center have passed away recently and often I hear the response that people are so happy the deceased is with Jesus singing, if they were musical, and loved more than here with family.  We grieve privately and save our tears for our pillow.  Jesus too withdrew. Our text does not say Jesus is grieving but I suspect that if he cried at the grave of Lazarus, he grieved at the death of John the Baptist. Withdrawing to recharge our emotional batteries is not wrong.

         The crowd heard about Jesus moving and beat him to the distant shore.  Jesus had compassion on them.  When we feel like God has withdrawn his presence from us, what do we think?  I suspect we often take his silence as judgment or disapproval.  We think God has withdrawn and we withdraw rather than seek him out.  Many times God seems cloaked, out on the sea of life in a boat dealing with the really important issues of life.  We doubt that God can be concerned about our little dilemmas.  Perhaps God is silently hanging his head and grieving that one of his own is hurt!  This passage reminds us that God sees, God has compassion on us, and God cares.  Suffering can draw us closer to God.  Old Mother Hubbard had a bare cupboard so what did she do?

“We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 

Limited resources!

         Our text says Jesus spends the day curing the sick brought to him.  I suspect the disciples spent the day doing crowd control.  While grieving, they must go the extra mile at work.  Some days are like that.  Do I hear an “Amen!”?  Well, as Lutherans we just nod our head. But we know, bad news does not stop life.  We must continue on.  At the end of that day the disciples realized they did not have any more resources.  There was no food for dinner and Instacart has not been invented yet.  And even if it were they had no charge card!  Like good followers, they turned to Jesus and asked him to make the problem disappear.  Send the people away to nearby shops to buy food because they, the disciples, only had two fish and five loaves.  Lord, our cupboard is bare!

         We know the end of the story but the disciples don’t.  That is how the kingdom of heaven is now for all of us.  We don’t know what God is going to do and we know we do not have what is needed to face the challenges in front of us.  Ukraine begs the world to help in their fight against invasion.  Politicians spend big bucks begging for us to help them win the election.  Facebook is full of people asking for affirmation for them in a situation they are facing, unrecognized artists post using all sorts of media, unrecognized musicians post their talent, movie stars ask for further affirmation from fans, and that does not even mention the plea for help facing medical problems.  Our resources are often insufficient for our challenges.

         The disciples turn to Jesus, good choice.  They turn to Jesus with a prepared solution.  Get rid of the challenge by sending the people away.  Often we too turn to Jesus and don’t realize we have blinders on.  We think we know how God might resolve our pain.  Very few choose suffering, humiliation, or defeat.  The history of the missionary movement in China is a more modern case study.  Missionaries went to China mid 1800s and by 1900 it was estimated there were 700,000 believers.  After the Cultural Revolution in, 1949 missionaries were expelled and many despaired.  In 2018 China claimed 44 million believers and many think there are many more who did not declare their faith publicly.  Authors like Joni Erikson Tadda look back on physical tragedy and write how it led to unplanned blessing.  This is not to dismiss the pain of tragedy but to affirm that we do not know at any moment when our resources seem so limited, how God might work in the situation.

         Jesus looks to heaven and prays.  We do not know what he prayed but we do know that all were fed and satisfied. Jesus met the people and the disciples at their point of need with the resources at hand.  They were still sitting in the wilderness.  They still did not have the resources for an uncertain future under the Romans or under King Herod who could just order the death of John the Baptist, a righteous man.  They did not know what the next meal would be but as they let God deal with their problem, they experienced satisfaction.

         Faith is not a substitute for the problems of life.  Faith means we believe God walks through the problems, running interference, holding our hand, caring.  I wish I could say that faith means all our problems are resolved to happy-ever-after but it does not always happen that way.  We know.  Divorces happen and families are split with terrible scars.  Bankruptcy may have to be walked through.  The doctor’s scalpel is sometimes the answer to disease.  And yes, people die.  But perhaps the kernel of truth in this part of the passage is that Jesus does not send the people away because he is too busy.  He helps them deal with their challenge and blesses. Old Mother Hubbard is going to the cupboard and does plan to feed her dog.

         Our text challenges us to ask ourselves, when we hear the news of our world, of our doctors, of our economists, or our environmentalists where do we run?  Where do we run when we realize our resources don’t meet our needs and we are grieving?  Where will Mother Hubbard go to feed her dog?

¹⁵When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

Hunger

         The kingdom of heaven is not always happiness as we face the challenges of this world.  We have our feet in two worlds.  We live in the kingdom of this world but by faith we have started living in the kingdom of heaven.  There is always a tension.  Now we grieve and eventually die physically to enter eternity.  In this world we often do not have enough resources to deal with life and must turn to God and trust as he walks with us through tough times.  But I also see the truth in this passage that we hunger.  The people saw Jesus leave for the wilderness and got there before him.  They were hungry for a different way of life he talked about.  He healed their sick.  There were no razzle-dazzle medical resources like we have today.  There were no credit cards that allowed people to live beyond their means.  The crowds were subject to the whims of Rome, of tax collectors, and of evil.  At the end of the day they were hungry for a better life.  When all is said and done, we are hungry too.  I love Chronicles of Narnia, in the 6^th and final book, The Last Battle, it ends with the children entering a stable that opens unto eternity and they join hands singing, ‘Higher up and higher in!”  The journey of faith is always, “Higher up and higher in” to the presence and relationship with God.

         Would we be satisfied with a meal of bread and fish with no tarter sauce or mayo, shared by some unknown kid, and handled by a bunch of uneducated fishermen turned disciple?  Like the people of Israel, we might grumble and ask, “What is it?”  Surely God could do better than this?  We might look for disinfecting wipes to clean our hands and we might even put on our masks. We live such entitled lives in the USA where choice is part of our way of life.  We go to a buffet and choose our items.  Even deciding what to eat at Mc D’s is a challenge of choice.  Often we have the right to get a second medical opinion on any procedure.  Satisfaction often eludes us. 

         Jesus looked up to heaven, blessed and broke.  I wonder what that moment was like.  Was Jesus just putting on a show of prayer or was he seeking guidance?  Did baskets of bread and fish just suddenly appear?  Or did the example encourage others to dig into their knapsacks and share as some suggest?  Or would I have been so anxious about getting my fair share that I was preoccupied and did not even see the multiplication going on?  What exactly happened, we are not told.

         Miracles are like that.  Something happens and life changes.  The phone call comes at that moment of despair and rescues us and reminds us we are loved.  We open the Bible and our eyes fall on a verse that exactly answers our heart.  Jesus spits and makes mud, puts it on a man’s eyes and he goes and washes and he can see.  How did that happen?  How did Lazarus walk out of the tomb, bound in wraps?  God works in ways beyond our ability to predict and often beyond our ability to explain.  Our choice is to respond with an attitude of gratitude or to grumble, what is it?  Our text challenges us to ask what we hunger for today.

^“20And all ate and were filled”

         We believe in a God who grieves at injustice, at political corruption, and walks with us, perhaps in silence.  Christians seek out God in the midst of the problems of this world.  God responds to our dilemmas with compassion.

         We believe in a God who is there when we are at the end of our rope, when our resources are just not enough.  He cares when we have no solution.  He can use the two fish and five loaves, what is available in our life situation.  The solution may not be to get rid of the problem but to join with God in resolving it.

         We pray for an attitude of gratitude when we hunger for it draws us to a God who works in unexplainable ways in our lives. 

Lord help us, with the 5,000, to ask, seek, and knock on your door with our challenges.  Open our eyes to see the ways you are working in our lives. Lord, we long for our hunger to be filled by you.

Let the people of God say, “AMEN!”