A Sermon delivered on July 28, 2024 by Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

Some 81 years ago, a young German pastor named Martin Niemoller stood with a delegation of leaders of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church confronting Adolf Hitler about human rights abuses. When he returned home, his wife asked him what he thought about the meeting. Niemoller told her, “I discovered that Herr Hitler is a terribly frightened man.”^[1] It was Hitler’s contagious fear that caused the genocide of millions of people during WWII in his “Final Solution” – a mindset and belief that quickly spread among right-minded, rational German citizens. Family and friends turned on one another and betrayed each other to the Reich out of the fear Hitler and others were sowing among the people.

At best, fear is our human response that keeps us out of trouble or harms way. At worst, fear is the engine that drives paranoia and suspicion. We learn this at an early age. Watch two children play for a while. Presented with a cache of toys, each child gravitates to the object of their desire, takes it, and begins a pile of the toys he or she wants. It does not take long before the little brother or sister goes to the coveted pile of the other and takes a toy they want. Soon thereafter the arguing and crying begins because, “Bobby took my toy! It’s MINE!” Soon, mom must come over and explain the concept of sharing and taking turns. She reminds the children, “You both have plenty of toys to play with. Take turns with them and share with each other.” Little children are afraid they won’t have the toys to play with that they want. There’s an actual word for that made popular by Generation Z: FOMO. Fear of Missing Out.

It’s one thing when a child experiences FOMO over toys. It’s another thing entirely when nations go to war over resources another country enjoys. It’s another thing when large corporations enter a community and make a land grab to pursue its exploration of coal, gas, water, or some other minerals. We’ve seen this in our own country from indigenous peoples saying no to pipelines running through their land. We have witnessed the entire removal of a civilization as the Cherokee were forced to leave southern Appalachia and go west on a death March called the Trail of Tears because white settlers wanted their land.

The reality is, the other side of fear is greed. Taken together, they produce an engine of consumption, exploitation, and selfishness. Consequently, Church, it is good to remind ourselves that as a people of God, we will always have just what we need.

Turn in your Bible to John 6:1-15. It is a story that appears in each of the four gospel accounts. The Jewish Passover is fast approaching, and large crowds are en route to Jerusalem for the festival. The word about Jesus and his healing and teaching has spread, and people cannot get enough of him. This is what is happening in today’s story. In it, I want you to listen for the two responses two different disciples make when confronted with a question. Listen to the word of the Lord.

John 6:1-14

^6.1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.^[2]

Try to imagine this scene as though you were there. John describes a hillside covered with lush grass. We see people milling about, and there is Jesus sitting at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the masses. He sees thousands of physically and spiritually malnourished people who need attention. He sees the need, and now comes the time to understand whether the disciples see it as well. So, he turns and asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Can’t you see the incredulity in Philip’s face when he hears that question? I can see Philip giving Jesus a doggy-head-tilt, mumbling, “Say what? What’s this “we stuff” Jesus? A day laborer working and saving for 6 months would only be able to give this crowd a tidbit.” Fortunately, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother who used to be a student of John the Baptist, chimes in. What I love about Andrew is that he is a glass-half-full kind of guy. Andrew sees possibility when impossibility is all around them. “Jesus, there’s a kid over here who has five barley loaves and two fish.”

Andrew, having just pointed out the possibility and solution to the problem, then goes on and says something any old church committee member would say at a session or committee meeting. “What are they among so many?” In other words, Jesus, it’s not enough to go around. We don’t have the resources to pull it off. We can’t do it. It’s risky. We’ve never done something like this before. What if we fail? Have you ever heard those comments or remarks like them in a church committee before? As they would say in Minnesota, “Don’t ya’ know? You betcha!”

As commentator Max Lee writes, “The spiritual and material care of God’s flock is ultimately something miraculous that only God can do. Will the disciples of Christ be paralyzed by the impossibility of the task, or will they present what they have, however meager, and have faith that Jesus can make a miracle out of it?”^[3]

Old Testament genius and ethicist, Walter Brueggemann, says, “The majority of the world’s resources pour into the United States. And as we Americans grow more and more wealthy, money is becoming a kind of narcotic for us. We hardly notice our own prosperity or the poverty of so many others. The great contradiction is that we have more and more money and less and less generosity – less and less public money for the needy, less charity for the neighbor.” ^[4] What’s the reason for this? He says as Christians we have bought into the myth of scarcity versus living into the belief of God’s abundance. We Americans have the propensity to operate out of scarcity, that we will never have enough and need to stockpile our resources. Do you remember the pandemic when you could not find toilet paper because the Smith’s next door hit Walmart with a pickup truck and bought it all out? They probably still have rolls stuck in their closet somewhere!

As Christians, we have forgotten that all that has, is, or ever will be is created by God’s sovereign hand. As Christians, we forget that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. As Christians, we forget how God takes the infertile Sarah and Hannah and gives them children who are heralds of God’s promise. As Christians, we forget how the Hebrews during the exile grumbled against God and Moses because they were hungry and thirsty, and God provided manna and quail from heaven and water from the rock. As Christians, we forget how God used Jesus to transform a ragtag group of men and women into the Church – the holy ones, the separated ones, the Beloved ones of God. As Christians, we forget that in our text today, Philip operated out of the mindset of scarcity whereas Andrew operated out of the possibility of God’s abundance to use what was available. Who do you best relate to in our Story this morning? Philip or Andrew? Scarcity or Abundance?

Catholic activist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day, wrote about her experiences working in a soup kitchen during the last century. She writes, “God has given us our vocation, as he gave it to the small boy who contributed his few loaves and fishes to help the multitude, and which Jesus multiplied so that he fed five thousand people. Loaves and fishes! How much we owe to God in praise, honor, thanksgiving! . . . How many times, all through my life, have I surveyed these tables full of people and wondered if the bread would go around; how many times have I noticed how one heaps his plate and the last one served has little, how one wastes his food and so deprives his brother. (My colleague) German George grumbles as he brings out more sticks of margarine, and refills bread plates, coffeepots, sugar bowls. Where does it all go? Where do all the people come from? How will it all be paid for? But the miracle is that it does get paid for, sooner or later. The miracle is, also, that seldom do more people come than we can feed.”^[5]

  There’s an old song by Mike Cross that goes like this:

Big old Buzzard sitting on a fence,watchin’ them chickens play
He’s sitting with his best friend ol’ Chicken Hawk, Chicken Hawk jump up and say,”Why don’t we invite us a chicken home for supper today?”           

And the Buzzard looks at him with a baleful eye,
takes a few seconds ‘fore he give a reply,
turn his neck nearly all the way around,
points to the sky and he says with a frown,
The Lord’ll provide, yes the Lord’ll provide,
just be patient brother and the Lord’ll provide.”

Chicken Hawk says but I’m hungry, my stomach startin’ to rumble like a train,He spies a fat chicken in the barn yard,
Chicken Hawk jumps up and screams,
” I hear the Lord helps them who helps themselves my friend.”
“The Lord’ll provide, yes the Lord’ll provide”,
that’s all brother Buzzard said, “the Lord’ll provide.”

Chicken Hawk starts to chasin’ chickens,
chickens start to squawking and run,
the farmer comes out of the farmhouse,
farmer got a BIG shotgun,
the farmer he blows that Chicken Hawk to kingdom come.

And the Buzzard looks at him with a baleful eye,
takes a few seconds ‘fore he give a reply,
turn his neck nearly all the way around,
and he looks at the Chicken Hawk laying on the ground,
“The Lord’ll provide, yes the Lord’ll provide”,
that’s all brother Buzzard said, “the Lord’ll provide.^[6]

Do we believe the Church? Do we really believe the Lord will provide? If the animals do, why don’t we? If we do believe that God is a God of abundance and not of scarcity, it will change the way we live our life and serve as a church. Amen.

©July 28, 2024, by Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

^[1] Walter Brueggemann, “The liturgy of abundance, the myth of scarcity”, The Christian Century, March 24, 1999. Accessed on July 26, 2024, at https://www.ngkok.co.za/Artikels/Brueggemann-Abundance-Scarcity.pdf.

^[2] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

^[3] Max Lee, Connections: Year B, Volume 3: Season after Pentecost (Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship) by Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, et al., https://a.co/57YUIBf..

^[4] Brueggemann, Ibid.

^[5] Dorothy Day, Loaves and Fishes (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), 210–12. Words in parentheses were added for rhetorical clarity.

^[6] Mike Cross, The Lord Will Provide. See Lyrics. Accessed on 7/37/24. To listen to the song, which really is worthwhile, please go to this YouTube Channel.