+“Family hold back,” was a familiar refrain in my family. My parents entertained a lot and always, before the guests arrived, Mom would say, “I don’t think we made enough potatoes, so family, hold back.” To Mom, there was nothing as horrifying as running out of food so no matter what, “family, hold back!” Of course, I never remember a time when there wasn’t enough food for everyone around the table. Never. Yet, up until Mom stopped cooking a few months ago, she would still warn “hold back, there might not be enough.” My mother like so many of us, is afraid that there simply won’t be enough.
Mom would have fit right in with Philip in today’s gospel who, when asked by Jesus to provide food for the gathered 5,000, immediately looks at the whole situation from a stance of scarcity—there’s no way! It will cost too much!! It’s impossible!
Even when Andrew notices the boy with the barley loaves and two fish…Philip is still catastrophizing—"what good will that meager amount be with ALL THESE PEOPLE?” Philip wasn’t wrong…in normal circumstances the boy’s meager groceries wouldn’t have made a dent, but when is anything with Jesus normal? One might expect that Philip would have figured this out by now…
but no one ever said the disciples were quick…
now the boy is another story….as far as we know he knew nothing about Jesus…when Andrew approached him about the food the boy had to wonder what difference his little bit of food would make… I can imagine him thinking…“There are so many and I have so little. All that will happen is I’ll have to go hungry along with everyone else. Better to keep what’s mine and let the other people take care of themselves.”
It’s easy to think, “What difference will it make? I barely have enough for myself, how could I possibly give to others? “There isn’t enough” is a familiar refrain isn’t it? It certainly was with Philip, and my mom and so many of us sitting here today.
But that boy didn’t flinch. He offered what he had, not worrying about whether his gift was enough.
Instead of “never enough,” our readings today talk about always enough…and more! They call us to have enough faith in God to share what we have and enough trust in God to fill in the rest.
In 2nd Kings, because of a famine, the traditional offering of first fruits is paltry-- 20 barley loaves and a handful of other fresh grain--- “a family hold back” offering meal if there ever was one! But Elisha doesn’t bat an eye. “Give it to the people.” he says, “The Lord has promised, ‘Eat and there shall be leftovers! ”
Right there--in the midst of scarcity-- faith and abundance!
And again, in today’s Gospel, the boy hands over his meager groceries to Jesus. And, once again, somehow, someway, God provides.
There’s plenty, more than enough for everyone. Jesus makes a rich feast out of a peasant’s dinner, no one holds back and everyone is filled. PLUS there’s leftovers!
We often think we don’t have much to offer God or the world, either personally or as a congregation. We see ourselves as poor, small, weak, unworthy or otherwise inadequate. We hold back, thinking no one will want what we have, for it’s simply NOT ENOUGH. You know what God says to that?
“Hogwash.”
Ours is a God who takes our little and turns it into a lot. We often try to hang on to what we have because we don’t really trust God’s promise that if we turn everything over to God we’ll be all right, we really will. Deep down, most of us don’t believe that God will take what we grudgingly, almost reluctantly, hand over and turn it into more than we ever imagined possible.
But God has done and will do just that. You see,
God doesn’t really want our treasure, God wants our trust.
God doesn’t really want our finances, God wants our faith.
God doesn’t really want our things, God wants us.
God wants us to let go of everything else and truly believe that we can rely on the fact that the divine and holy love that made our universe also made us and that this immense love, a love “that is beyond all knowledge,” (Ephesians 3:19) will provide for us and will use us to provide for others.
7 years ago there were 17 people attending the Church of the Ascension in the city of Buffalo…instead of giving up, four of those parishioners---FOUR---under the direction and inspiration of Deacon Pete Dempesy Sims began a pet food pantry. In the past seven years that little pet food pantry has distributed over 15 TONS of pet food. And that pet food pantry has spawned four other pet food pantries in this diocese and more in other dioceses. All because a handful of people in a struggling congregation decided that they could make a difference in this world. And they did. And they do.
I’m sure to many folks, all the work that goes into the Children of the Book reading camp doesn’t seem worth it…after all, I can hear them say, what difference will it make in the pervasive system of poverty in this region…. but ask anyone who is involved in it and they’ll regale you with stories of how it has made a difference and how it will continue to do so.
How does this happen? How do we find ourselves doing more than we could ever imagine possible?
Through Trust. Through Faith, and through Love. That’s how. My friends, when we trust in God, when we have faith in God, when we love God enough to give all that we are and all that we have, “family hold back” is turned inside out and upside down and suddenly, from our meager and simple offering, God’s makes an amazing, abundant and outlandish feast. Amen.
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