Who is Jesus and Who are you?

Good Morning!

In my life I have spoken with many people about Christianity. I have spoken with highly educated atheists, I have spent many hours speaking to bright Chinese college students, I have spent considerable time with men and women in the hospital, men and women who are concerned, rightly, in most cases, about their impending death. And most of them have asked me, in one form or another, a very important question. They have asked me to explain who Jesus is.

Sometimes this was the wording of the question. Other times, it was worded more as “How can Jesus help me?” Sometimes it was worded and said antagonistically, as in “Do you really believe all that about Jesus?” And so, I’ve had to answer these questions, which are really a single question – Who is Jesus?

This week we have two readings, Matthew 16:13-20, and Romans 12:1-8,which ask us to answer two important questions. Who is Jesus – and the second question which very few people ask about themselves: Who are you? We’ll come back to that one later.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples had come back from Tyre and Sidon to minister around the Lake of Galilee. Once again, the people had followed Jesus to a remote place, and once again had to be fed. This time, four thousand people were fed from seven loaves, once again with many leftovers. Once again, they got in the boat and sailed around the lake, this time leaving the lake at the northernmost point where they walked up the northern Jordan River toward Mt Hermon to a small town known as Caesarea Philippi at the foot of the mountain.

Here, Jesus asked the disciples for the gossip on the streets. “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” once again referring to Himself by the a term given in Ezekiel and Daniel for addressing the prophet or a future Messiah.

The disciples responded. “Some say You are John the Baptist come back to life. Others say you are Elijah the great prophet, others say you are Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Today, we have people in our world today who believe that Jesus is a myth, never existing, an idea who was invented by writers long ago. We have people who say that Jesus was a wise man, a teacher, a philosopher, who had some good ideas, but those ideas have not kept up with the times. Besides, he’s now dead. We have people who say that Jesus is a symbol of peace, of goodness, of hope much like Santa Claus. We have other people who say Jesus was developed into a sort of behavior carrot, while Hell is the stick, a way of keeping ignorant people in line so they’ll behave like the wealthy people want them to behave.

There is one thing about all these people who hold to these versions of Jesus. They have not read much of the New Testament.

Jesus pursued His questioning of His disciples. “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” He asked, and you can just see the disciples looking, one to another, like children who have been asked the answer to a difficult math problem, or perhaps “who was the second President of the United States?” And so they looked to each other and finally, Simon Peter, their boat’s captain answered. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

What did His answer mean? 

The Messiah

In a careful reading of the prophets of the Old Testament, beginning with Isaiah (but there are mentions even in Exodus), there are mentions of a man who would come in the future to rescue Israel, to save Israel from her enemies, to do miraculous deeds, and to restore the House of David, the great dynasty of ancient Israel, to the leadership of the kingdom. This man had become known as the Messiah, which means “the anointed one”. The ancient kings of Israel were designated as kings when someone anointed them with oil, when someone poured oil on their head. Messiah means “the anointed one”. In Greek, this word was translated as “the Christ”. The word we use comes from the Latin translation, which is “Savior”. Peter had declared Jesus to be the promised Savior. But that was not all.

Son of the living God

Peter also declared Jesus to be “the Son of the living God”. In ancient times, the three most important Mediterranean cultures – Greece, Egypt, and Rome – all had from time to time declared that an important god had come to earth and fathered a son. For example, Heracles, more commonly known as Hercules, was said to be a natural son of Zeus, the head of the Greek gods. The Pharaohs of Egypt were considered to be descended from Egyptian gods. Julius Caesar was considered to be a descendant of the Roman goddess Venus. Of course, none of them performed the documented miracles that Jesus performed. And the view given by the New Testament is more comprehensive.

We all mostly know that the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would become pregnant through the action of the Holy Spirit and later she gave birth to Jesus. But what is less clear is what “Son of God” meant in ancient Israel.

The Family is Important

Let me give you an analogy. We are here today at – or watching – a service at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church. We recognize that Cedar Grove is not truly independent – we are part of the greater body known as The United Methodist Church, just as our local Burger King is part of the great restaurant chain known as Burger King. And we understand that to be a Burger King restaurant means to have certain characteristics that come from the Burger King corporation, just as being a United Methodist Church means that Cedar Grove has certain characteristics of the worldwide United Methodist Church. In many ways, the Burger King family identification and the United Methodist family identification is more important than the individual characteristics of our local restaurant, or of Cedar Grove United Methodist. The family identifies us more than our individuality does.

In ancient times, a man was identified more by his family than by his individuality. And we see that today – in a small town we point to a man and say, “Well, he’s a Johnson – you know what all those Johnsons are like”, or “He’s a Chambers – you know what those Chambers are like” and it might be positive or it might be negative, but in a small village everyone knows what you mean, because everyone knows the Johnsons, they are all honest but quiet mechanics, and everyone knows the Chambers, they are all talkative carpenters. It’s more important that they are Johnsons and Chambers than that they are Harry or Bill or David. If you need an honest but quiet mechanic, you find a Johnson. If you need a talkative carpenter, you find a Chambers. For they are part of the family and the family is what you need, not an individual. It’s only in the last couple of centuries that we’ve focused more on the individual than on the family.

And so, when Peter identified Jesus as the “Son of God”, he was recognizing that Jesus was more than a Son of God in our modern sense, but that Jesus was that part of God which was walking on the earth. In the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, verse 30, Jesus identifies Himself with the phrase “I and the Father are One.” This is exactly what Peter is doing, identifying Jesus as God on the earth when Peter says Jesus is the Son of the living God. He has the same divine nature as the Father – the fact that Jesus has flesh on Him is less important than His divine nature.

Simon Peter answered. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

He had declared Jesus to be the man long promised in Scripture – and Peter had declared Jesus to be God walking on the earth. And Jesus quickly responded:

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my Father in heaven.”

Jesus excitedly agreed with Peter by telling Peter and the other disciples that Peter had been given this idea by God the Father directly, and the implication was therefore that it must be true. Jesus agreed that He was the Messiah and God walking on the earth. But Peter also identified Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed Man, the One who would be king. So was Jesus the promised Savior-man, the Messiah? Or was Jesus God?

The early church fathers, those wise men who became heads of the church in the major cities of the Roman Empire as Christianity began to spread, spent much time wrestling with this question of exactly who Jesus was. And after much debate, they finally came to a conclusion which can be difficult to understand, frustrating, and yet explains things better than any other explanation.

The Dual Nature

Jesus is both 100% man and 100% God on earth. He has a complete human nature, has a real human body which could bleed and be hurt. He ate, he slept, he cried real tears when His friend Lazarus was dead, He was fully human, 100% human in nature.

Plus, He was completely filled with the nature of God. He was 100% God in nature.

And because of this dual nature, when Jesus died on the cross, He was a human being, our anointed king dying in self-sacrifice for all the sins that human beings had ever committed. His sacrifice was not a sham, He was a man who gave up life for us.

And yet – because He was also God in the flesh, He was infinitely valuable as a sacrifice, more valuable than any human could be. He had all the powers available to Him of God – yet He chose to die, condemned to death because He had claimed to be God on the earth – and the people around Him knew that He was making that claim – and so He was killed.

And then, His god-nature raised His human nature and the Christ arose from the dead, our Savior came back alive, the sacrifice was made and death was defeated by the God-man, Jesus the Christ and our sins were paid for. Completely.

This is who Jesus the Christ is. Christ is not his last name. It is His title. Jesus the Savior. Jesus the Messiah. Jesus the Christ. God walking on the earth, our creator, our Lord, the One to whom we all owe 100% allegiance. And this is why we who follow Him bow before Him, as the only person who is worthy to be followed. Completely. Beyond death.

And this begs the second question. Who are we? Who am I? Who are you?

The Second Question - Who am I?

Paul wrote this letter to the church at Rome, a church which even at this time boasted at least three house churches, as well as over 30 named people who were receiving the letter. See the last chapter for details on who this was sent to.

Paul begins this section with “therefore”. So let’s see what Paul had written just before. We see that Paul is praising God at the end of Romans Chapter Eleven. Say it out loud!

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Therefore…[Paul continues] I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.

Paul is telling us that since God is so far above us and has been so merciful to us, our proper response and worship is to serve God. That is what Paul means by “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice”.

Renew your Mind

Furthermore, Paul tells us to “not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that we will be able to test and approve” – understand – “what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

It is so easy to fall into the "pattern of this world", politicizing everything, arguing, being fearful of the future. But a daily dose of Scripture allows us to look at things differently, with our minds renewed. And this is how we find God's will for our lives - and with that comes peace.

You know, I was reading Science News this week online, and there was actually a study done a few years ago, published just recently. It shows that people who read the Psalms daily can handle stress better than people who don’t read the Psalms. They observed groups of women, some of whom fled fighting near Lebanon in Israel, and others who stayed put near the fighting. They were divided into Psalm readers who read a Psalm a day and those who did not read. While it didn’t make much difference among the women who fled the fighting, among the women who stayed put near the fighting, those who read the Psalms had a 50 percent lower anxiety score than those who did not read. The conclusion of these psychologists is that Psalm reading helps when things seem out of control. Psalm reading will lower your anxiety levels.

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind so we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.” Read Scripture daily to renew your mind and keep it out of the pattern of this world.

Paul then goes into a section which bears on our question of “who are we?”

Self-Evaluation

Paul tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but rather to think of ourselves with “sober judgement”, in accordance with the faith God has given each of us. We are to look at ourselves and make a sober, honest judgement of ourselves, what we do well and what we don’t do well. What we know, what we don’t know. How well we are following God’s will and where we need to improve. What gifts God has given us.

Notice that Paul doesn’t tell us to be harsh on ourselves, but to exercise “sober judgement”, which, in itself, is a difficult thing to learn, but it is a key to understanding who we are.

Notice that Paul isn’t asking us to compare ourselves to others, but we may need to in some circumstances. For Paul is using this section to introduce the concept of the body of Christ which we all belong to – but in which we all have different functions.

Gifts

Paul points out that we all have different gifts. I play the piano and sing well – you may play guitar. You may have the ability to predict the future, if so, then prophesy in accordance with your faith – if you know for sure, tell us, if the future is fuzzy, tell us that also. Don’t prophesy when you have little faith.

If you are a giver, give generously. Lean into your gift! If you are an encourager, encourage. If you can make beauty with flowers, than plant flowers. If you are an artist, then paint. If you can listen, call people up and listen well. If you are really good at woodworking, then make crosses. If you enjoy cleaning, then clean. If you are good at cooking, make and deliver meals to shut-ins. If you are good at writing letters, then write letters. If you can handle complicated office tasks, then help us set up Mail-merge documents.

In other words, who are you? What do you do well? What is your way of making your body a living sacrifice? I knew a woman in Clarksburg who owned a flower shop – every church in Clarksburg who wanted them got palm leaves for palm Sunday, free of charge. I knew a man who owned a bakery – we always had great cakes and pepperoni rolls for church events. I knew a man who loved dressing up in costume for church holidays and he was good at it. I knew a woman who was wonderful at writing press releases – we always got good press coverage.

Now, you may say that “I have to stay home.” Or “I’m too old to do much.”

At one church, we had a woman who was past retirement age, had undergone multiple cancer surgeries, had been injured in an accident, and was in a wheel chair and required 24-hour care. But she could talk on the phone, she could post on Facebook, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit and faith that lifted up anyone she talked with. So I could ask her to poll our members or tell everyone something, or check on people and the phone calls went out. Can you make phone calls checking on people and lifting them up? Can you write and mail birthday cards, get well cards, sympathy cards? If so, just start doing it! You have permission! Start calling people, beginning with the name after yours in the directory. If you need a directory, call the office!

Can you talk to people about the love of God, what Christ has done for you in your life? Start calling your neighbors. We have this invention that is 150 years old called a telephone – and Christ, God walking on the earth – wants you to make phone calls to lift people up in this time of COVID-19.

Can you share Facebook posts? Share these sermons and other good postings.

Who are you? What are your gifts?

You know, there are people who fall through the cracks in every community. But I’ve noticed – the people who fall through the cracks have usually been hiding there for years, hiding in the cracks. Reach out of the cracks and call someone, make it your mission to connect with one other person in our church family and cheer them up today or this week. Do this every day or every week and see what happens.

There is another dimension to this question of who you are.

The Foundation of the Church

When Peter answered Jesus and said “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus blessed him, but also said, “I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. “

Jesus was making a pun, calling Simon petros – Greek for rock and then talking about the rock upon which he would build his church.

For you see, the foundation of the church, the rock on which it is built, is this understanding that Jesus is the Messiah and that Jesus is God walking upon the earth, for if Jesus is God on the earth, then everything He said is absolutely important for us to understand.

If Jesus is God on the earth, He is not just another teacher.

If Jesus is God on the earth, He is not just an idea.

If Jesus is God on the earth, He is not just a symbol.

If Jesus is God on the earth, He must be given the respect shown to our creator, our king, our LORD.

And so all other ideas, all other valuable things, all other things to spend time on must fade away – for Jesus has told us to spread His story to all people, using our gifts, using our talents, using our time, using our treasure, using our tongues to change the world as Jesus has asked us to. Are you a person who is loyal to Jesus and believes that He is the Son of God? Then do what He asks.

Who are you? What can you do?

If you need ideas, call me or visit me.

For folks, there are people all around us dying every day. Many know Jesus – but many don’t. They will die the real, permanent death, separated from God, never to see heaven, never to see the face of Jesus, never to walk under the tree of life beside the river in New Jerusalem.

Some of you are already working hard on God’s mission. Some of you don’t see where you can make a difference. Some of you still think this applies only to a handful of leaders.

Why? Why don’t you think this applies to you?

Because deep down, you may not really believe that Jesus is the Messiah and God walking on the earth. Deep down you think Jesus is an idea, a myth, a story, a character in a book. Deep down Jesus isn’t real to you.

So try this. Pray after me, one line at a time.

Jesus,

Please become real to me.

Please help me see You as real.

Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit,

That I may know You as a person.

Amen.

Father, I pray for these people in this church and all those watching at home. Fill them with your Holy Spirit, teach them Your ways, help them bring the Gospel into their hearts so that they may do great things by trusting in Your Son Jesus and Your Holy Spirit. Give them the courage to do Your will. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remember: Jesus is both man and God, and that dual nature means something to us. It means He is worthy to be followed – and following Him is vital to us, life-giving to us. Discover your gifts through sober judgement and use them to spread Jesus message of hope.

Benediction

Now Go into the world, using your God-given gifts, declaring the Word of God and speaking of the glory of Jesus. And be blessed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Dogs - The Day Jesus Insulted a Woman

Growing up as a young boy in West Virginia, living back of St. Marys on the big hill, I always had a dog. There was Butch, the big black hound, there was a succession of collies and then there was Snoopy, the half collie, half elkhound mix. We also had an indoor miniature poodle known as Pepper, who remained far after I’d moved away, first to college in Morgantown and then to Tennessee. So it was natural for me to have a dog when we had children and the first child born to Saundra and I was a boy. So we got a border collie – like the herding dog from the movie “Babe”.

Border collies are always moving. They are full of energy and about as smart as your average 4-year old child. Once, I caught Mac, our border collie, playing ball with an Australian Shepherd that had gotten loose in the neighborhood. Mac took the ball and threw it at the Shepherd. Then the Shepherd caught the ball and threw it back to Mac. Back and forth, they threw the ball at each other.

Eventually Mac died and we had a little Shih Tzu our son named Brownie, after the legendary little Scottish critter that lives in homes and tears up things if he gets bored. And after Ian went to college and passed Brownie onto Jessie, and after Jessie moved to Alaska and tried to pass Brownie onto Andy – Andy said, “Not MY dog!”, Brownie became Saundra and my dog.

She was good to have around, for she let us know when ever a car arrived in the parking lot. She liked to watch television between the two of us. And if anything fell on the floor – scraps of food, crumbs, etc. – she quickly cleaned it up.

In ancient times, particularly in Israel, dogs were not given the same level of respect and love that they are in modern America. They were not considered companions; they were not considered “man’s best friend”, for breeders and trainers had not developed the specialized hunting and working and pet breeds that we have today, which primarily developed in the last 200 years.

Instead, dogs were considered to be dirty, slinking critters, much the way we think of jackals, or, for those who know them well, as coyotes – mostly wild, ready to take down a valuable animal like a sheep or a goat. They lived mostly outside of human society. When they were kept in a household, they were used by farmers as guards. A few were used to protect the sheep. It needs to be recognized that in ancient Israel, the high population density meant that few people went hunting – and those who hunted were mainly very wealthy. Only those wealthy could afford a luxury like a pet animal – the average family had one or two farm dogs as guards and to sound the alarm. Yet wild dog packs were common and dangerous to livestock. Even today, it is estimated that three-quarters of the dogs around the world are wild, living in the woods or on the streets of cities, avoiding people except for to eat scraps of food or mice or rats attracted by the garbage of people.

One day, after the adventure of Jesus and Peter walking upon the water, Jesus and the disciples were in Galilee, healing people on the northwest side of the lake, when a group of Pharisees and teachers of the law came from Jerusalem to hassle Jesus. Now, the Pharisees were a group in ancient Israel that were very focused upon interpreting the Law Moses had brought from God when Moses had rescued the people of God from Pharaoh and given them the righteousness that comes from following God and God’s rules rather than a man’s rules. The leader of the Pharisees, rabbi’s, or “teachers”, would spend endless hours debating all the gray situations when various parts of the law conflicted, and interpreting questions around the edges of the Law, for then, as it is today, people would often like to see how close to the edge of the Law they could skate and still not break the Law.

For example, in one interpretation, the Law said that no one in the household should work on the Sabbath, which began at sunset on Friday and ran until sunset on Saturday. Clearly, going to the well and carrying back a forty-pound jug of water from deep in the well was women’s work – that was not in dispute at the time. But what if you needed water on Saturday afternoon? Women were not allowed to work! So the ruling from the Pharisees was that it was okay for men to get the water, since this was not men’s work.

In another interpretation from the time, the Law said to “honor your father and mother.” This generally meant that your money and goods needed to be used to support your parents in their old age. But some smart Pharisee who didn’t want to support his parents figured out a way around it. He declared his money as “corban”, meaning “devoted to God”, and thus it was off-limits to his parents.

Eventually, most of these arguments were written down in twenty-five huge volumes known as the Talmud, and this is the basis for much Orthodox Jewish education today, since the Pharisees represent the largest surviving Jewish group today.

On this particular day, the Pharisees and rabbis asked Jesus “Why don’t your disciples wash their hands before they eat?” for this was a Jewish tradition and ritual requirement of the Law. Now this had nothing to do with COVID-19 or other disease, it was based upon commands in Exodus 30 for the priests to wash their hands before the sacrifice so they would be “pure”. And notice that there was no special respect paid to Jesus, he was asked the question as a group of older Bible teachers might ask a young but sharp Bible teacher, trying to put Him in His place.

Jesus threw back the corban idea to them, pointing out that it was very hypocritical of them to complain about the washing of hands when they had ruled you could dishonor your mother and father simply by declaring something "devoted to God."

Then He turned to the crowd and explained to them that things going into your mouth don’t make you impure – but it is what comes out of your heart and out of your lips that makes you impure. Jesus pointed out that character was more important than following ritual actions.

The disciples pulled Him aside and said, “Did you know you offended the Pharisees by what you said?”

Jesus responded, “Of course. Who cares? God the Father is going to take them out one day.”

Then Peter, who was never the sharpest tool in the shed, asked Jesus to explain more about the hand-washing and eating thing, and Jesus did. He said, “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

To which, I might add, there are sound reasons to wash your hands before you eat, but washing your hands does not make you a good person and not washing does not make you an evil person. It is what comes out of your heart that makes you good or evil.

This episode occurred in northern Israel. John the Baptizer, in the Jordan Valley, had called the Pharisees “white-washed tombs”, looking good on the outside, but dead bones on the inside. Which must have reminded Jesus and the disciples of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, people without skin or flesh or muscles on them, just dead, too dry to even rot. And the disciples must have looked to Jesus as the one who would put flesh on those bones, giving them life and breath again, as King David had built the country and His Son Solomon had built the Temple.

It is interesting that Jesus and the disciples then hit the road after this. They traveled to Tyre and Sidon. These two cities are on the Lebanese coast, northwest of Galilee and south of present day Beirut. At the time, they were great port cities, but they were not in Jewish territory. So why was Jesus headed there? Perhaps it goes back to the days of Elijah, the great prophet who pronounced a drought on Israel and then traveled to Zarephath, which was a town half-way between Tyre and Sidon, where Elijah famously was involved in two miracles with a local woman whom he stayed with. First, a small flask of olive oil did not run out, and then, when the woman’s boy died, Elijah’s prayer and touch brought him back to life.

Tyre and Sidon were the land where Jezebel had grown up, the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel whom Elijah opposed. Jezebel had brought from Tyre and Sidon the worship of Baal, one of the gods that demanded child sacrifice, that demanded the slaughter of infants, the god whose priests Elijah had challenged to a battle of the gods on the top of Mount Carmel – and whom Elijah and God had defeated. Tyre and Sidon are just north of Mount Carmel, but the people had remained pagan worshipers, still sacrificing to Baal for hundreds of years.

So Jesus and the disciples arrive in the area of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman begins to follow them – she is not Jewish. She begs Him, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Notice that she calls Him Lord. She calls Him “Son of David”. She has great respect for Him even though she is not Jewish! She is convinced Jesus can heal her daughter. She is not going to sacrifice her daughter to Baal or any other god.

And now we see this amazing exchange. Jesus keeps silent, and doesn’t speak to the woman. He is apparently trying to ignore her, something He has never done to the hundreds and thousands of Jewish people who have asked Him for help.

She must have kept persisting in her crying out, for the disciples came to Jesus and urged Him to send her away, give her answer, tell her no, but get rid of her, she’s SOOOOO annoying!

You see, she is persistent. She keeps coming after them. She won’t accept silence as a no. She’s going to keep asking until Jesus gives her what she needs. Kind of like the dirty beggar that wants some money or lunch. Kind of like the woman who keeps calling on the phone asking for help once a week. King of like the man who’s always at the intersection with the cardboard sign. She won’t just disappear.

Jesus said to them – and she hears – “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

Jesus tells them – and us – that His mission was only to repair Israel. Later, we’ll see Him send the disciples to all the other nations of the world. But Jesus was trying to stay on mission, staying focused, focused only on the Jewish people.

The woman came up. She didn’t stand before Him proudly like the Pharisees – she knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!”.

Now Jesus says something that today we think is totally out of character. Jesus says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Jesus has just called her and everyone who is not Jewish “dogs”. He has just given a huge insult to her. All because she is not Jewish, but is a pagan woman with different beliefs.

In our seminaries today, this passage is classified as a “troublesome passage”. Jesus does not behave the way our modern ethics would have Him act. He has called her and her entire nation “dogs”. Can you imagine anyone doing this today?

And so we have to delve deeper to understand why Jesus might say this, why He might give her an ethnic slur, why God on earth might deliver this insult. It causes us to question many things, for today, although many people may not follow the Law given by God to Moses, there is a common moral law that is commonly accepted by most people in America today, and a key part of that common American moral law is that we are not to negatively judge people on behalf of the religion they choose to follow or choose not to follow, that any religious belief, sincerely held, is acceptable, that it doesn’t matter what god you follow. But in this passage, Jesus clearly insults this woman in very clear terms because she is not Jewish. Why? Why did Jesus say something that would get any news anchor today fired, that would lose any politician the next election, that would get any regular person branded as low-class in America today?

Is it perhaps because this is truly what the God of Heaven thinks about people who do not choose to follow Jesus, people who do not even try to follow the Law given to Moses by God, people who followed other gods and sacrificed their children on altars? Does God really think it makes a difference which religion we follow?

Or perhaps God the Son thinks about the dogs who look for scraps and eat what is leftover and are satisfied, and He was thinking about spiritual scraps that day. Are you satisfied with spiritual scraps and crumbs or would you like spiritual steak? Perhaps the good spiritual food should not be tossed to those who don’t care what they are getting, just looking to be “spiritual” but not concerned about the wholesomeness of what they are receiving, just taking whatever they hear on the television, or from friends, or on the Internet.

And the woman says something that shows great wisdom, great awareness of how little her spiritual food meals are. Perhaps she had actually longed to travel to Jerusalem, to study, to understand God. Perhaps she had wanted to immerse herself in the presence of God. Perhaps she had salivated when she had received just the smell of spiritual steak. Or, perhaps she was just desperate in her love for her daughter.

She said, “Yes it is right to give the bread to the dogs. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” The crumbs, the leftovers, the least little bits of healing are enough when you are desperate and your daughter is possessed and suffering. A little bit of food is enough when you are starving. A little bit of normal in a bad time – a can of Vienna sausages is wonderful if you haven’t had meat for six months.

Jesus said to her, probably grinning a bit. “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

And here, perhaps, we find the point of the insult and the point of the begging. Jesus wanted to know her heart – and He wanted the woman and His disciples to know – that it is not who we are that determines whether God and Jesus will graciously give us healing, or bread or even salvation for eternal life. It doesn’t matter if you are Jewish, Buddhist, or a pagan who has sacrificed infants upon the altar of Baal. It doesn’t matter if your ancestors are European, African, or Asian. What matters is the faith, the trust, the belief that Jesus, the Son of God, God on earth has the power and the desire to heal your body and soul and spirit! The woman had faith that Jesus could heal her daughter and demonstrated that by gentle, humble, persistent asking. And so Jesus healed the daughter because of her mother’s faith.

After this, Jesus returned to Galilee and the Jewish people He had been sent to. But there are turning points in the Gospels that always have the presence of non-Jews. He later sends disciples into Samaria, the region between Galilee and Judea in central Israel, where a semi-Jewish people lived, people who followed the Law, but did not worship at Jerusalem, and His disciples are to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven. He meets up with a Roman captain and heals the man’s daughter. He is in Jerusalem and a group of Greeks is brought to Him by Philip, asking to talk with Him – and Jesus sees this as a major turning point, a sign that His ministry on earth is almost over. He has come for the lost sheep of Israel, but He has also been training His disciples for a greater mission. Here in Jerusalem, on Mt Zion, salvation is ready to pour out.

And so, after His arrest, after His execution for the crime of claiming to be God on earth, and after His resurrection proved that He was exactly who He claimed to be – Jesus told the disciples that all authority on earth and in Heaven had been given to Him. So therefore, He said, “Go to all nations, baptizing them and teaching them His commandments.”

No longer would He just focus upon the Jewish nation and give crumbs to the other nations– but now Jesus, working through the Holy Spirit that lived in His disciples - He would give spiritual meat to all the nations. For the message from Jesus is clear – just as Elijah defeated the false gods of other nations, just as Elijah saved a woman and her son, people who were not Jewish, just as Moses had restored the righteousness in the land of Israel, Jesus’s disciples would spread the Word of the Lord and restore righteousness throughout the entire world.

We are those disciples. When a Christian is baptized, hands are laid upon us and we receive the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit as Peter, as John, as Paul. And so, today we have a few months to prepare, maybe a year, while the world is locked down, asleep, like daffodils under the snow. For we are to work in the world as vineyard laborers, pruning away the dead wood. We are to take the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God to our friends, neighbors, and relatives, breathing life into people who are spiritually dead. We are to build an immense spiritual Temple of praise, praising God many times each day and becoming contagious with our praise. We are to learn how to defeat the false gods of wealth, of addictive chemicals, ambition and power. We are not to cower in fear, but we are to be the disciples of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in this time of testing, boldly – but sensibly – walking into the world to share the Word of the Lord in our community. We are the church who will survive this time of trial and, with God’s blessing, look into the sky one day and point to the return of Jesus and the great harvest of souls! This is our mission, this is what is promised in the Bible, and this is what it means to be a Christian! This is where something wonderful began!

So, this week, as you walk or drive or call around our community, look especially for the people who are on the outside – the people like the woman who are probably not attending a church, who are probably not accepted by most people, the people who belong to an outsider group – people who have moved to our community and probably have few friends. Become their friend. Connect with them. Speak to them how Jesus wanted us to reach everyone – not just the good, the well-off, the happy, the well-adjusted – but also those with issues, those with money troubles, the unhappy, and the people who have done wrong in their lives. Tell them how the true Christian helps bring everyone into the community. And if you’re watching and have felt disconnected from people over the last few months – stop by Cedar Grove UMC for a chat sometime this week – I’m there from 11 to 2 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I’d like to meet you. We’d all like to meet you.

Father, I pray for these people in this church and all those watching at home. Fill them with your Holy Spirit, teach them Your ways, help them bring the Gospel into their hearts so that they may do great things by trusting in Your Son Jesus and Your Holy Spirit. Give them the courage to do Your will. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remember: You don’t become good or bad by what goes into you, but by what comes out of your heard and mouth. Jesus isn’t just for the good people of the world, but for all people, including those the world might consider dogs. And these are the Days of Elijah, the time for declaring the Word of the Lord to those who do not know Him.

Now listen to this song; Days of Elijah

Benediction

Now Go into the world, declaring the Word of God, celebrating righteousness, bringing spiritual food to All people. And be blessed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Dancing on the Water - St. Peter Remembers

Good Morning! 

Our Reading from Matthew 14:22-33.

Today I’d like to ask you to settle back into your imagination. I’d like you to imagine that you live about 40 years after Jesus lived, and that an older, wise man has come to speak to you this morning. He is one of the men who knew Jesus closely, who walked with Him so closely that the dust of Jesus sandals covered him, a man who followed Jesus from town to town over a period of three years. Imagine that this disciple of Jesus is talking to you this morning...
…
Peace be with you!

I’m so glad to be with you today. My hosts asked me to tell you of some incident when being with Jesus transformed my life, so let me tell you of a couple of these situations.

We had received word that John the Baptizer had been beheaded by King Herod. Now, no matter what you’ve heard of John – his craziness, his odd way of dressing, the strange food he ate, his tendency to yell at visitors from the Temple – John and I were very close. He was a godly man, very attuned to what the Scriptures said was right, what was wrong, and how the Messiah would arrive to set us free from not only the Roman occupiers, but from those who grew wealthy and powerful and forgot those average people. He did not want to destroy the wealthy and powerful, but simply wanted them to remember the poor, to stop assuming that God just loved the wealthy and hated the poor, like so many people of the day did. John was always kind to me and I learned a lot from him. So when I heard he’d been killed to satisfy Herod’s wife, I was grieved and disgusted. So was Y’shua, his cousin, the man the Romans called Jesus.

Jesus had us cross the lake on my boat to a quiet place, but the crowd found out where we were headed to and ran along the shore. By the time we arrived, there were many people. So Jesus healed them all day. My brother Andy and I more or less did crowd control.

It was that evening that Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and fed the whole crowd, about 5000 men plus women and children. We collected twelve baskets of leftover pieces – it was awesome!

A few minutes later, Jesus told us to pack up the boat and head back toward Gennesaret on the northwest end of the lake, while He sent away the crowds. As we sailed away from the shore, we saw His lonely figure walking up the mountainside with His head covered in His prayer shawl, the way He used to pray. I’ll never forget that sight – the setting sun behind Him, His head bowed as He slowly walked up that mountain path.

We, meanwhile, began having an awful time. Every evening about sunset, the cool wind comes down off the mountains that line the Lake of Galilee like a big bowl. And those winds fight amongst themselves over the lake. Sometimes, the east wind wins, sometimes the west wind, other times the north wind and other times the south wind. This particular evening, as life would have it, the north wind blew strongest, blowing right in our face as we struggled to sail almost due north. And furthermore, the wind had pushed the waves up in front of it, causing them to hit the bows of the boat and come splashing over the gunwales.

I’d already put the sail down, since it wasn’t helping, and we’d put out the oars, but it was rough going – We had about 8 miles to go, but we’d only managed about a mile or two because the wind was in our face all night. We were exhausted after hours of rowing. And then, just before dawn, it happened.

I think John, sitting at an oar, looking at the stern of the boat, saw it first. There, in the middle of the lake, walking towards us, was a fantastic sight in the gray early morning light, through the fog that rises up most nights at that time. It seemed like a ghostly figure was walking towards us across the lake. It sent chills up our spines – several of the men were scared out of their wits and yelled in fear - I thought Thomas was going to climb right out of the boat!

But then, something even more amazing happened. The figure said, in Jesus’ voice: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Well, all now were turning their heads and staring straight at me sitting in the stern of the boat controlling the rudder. After all, I was the boat’s captain! I was their leader! I was the one who had to respond.

I stood up, turned toward the apparition and said, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” I don’t know why I said that – it was crazy! NO ONE walks on water – but Jesus was walking on water in front of me and I had to say something.

He waved at me and said, “Come”. And now I had to go. I had to trust in that man I’d followed for months. I had to trust in my teacher. I had to have faith that He wouldn’t let me be embarrassed and just fall into the water to the laughter of all the other guys in the boat. And believe me, that was difficult, for those guys used to play all sorts of jokes on each other and me. And for a couple of minutes, I believed that if Jesus said to come to Him OVER the water, I could do it.

I admit I was shaking with fear. But I had to be brave in front of the other guys. So I climbed down out of the boat and WALKED ON THE WATER toward the man, who I could now tell for sure was Jesus.

I guess I probably walked 20 or 30 feet, stepping down in the hollows between the waves. It was then that I began to notice just how strong the wind was, and how it was buffeting me, fear hit me, and suddenly I was sinking in the water like a normal man, so I yelled out “Lord, save me!” and Jesus grabbed me with his hand and caught me.

He said to me over the wind, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

And he held me up as we walked back to the boat on the water, and climbed into the boat. And suddenly, I noticed that the wind had died down. All around me, the other men were saying to Jesus, “Truly you are the Son of God.” And we continued our journey to Gennesaret.

In that book that my friend Matthew wrote, this story has gone down as the night Jesus walked on water. But by then, we’d seen other miracles – just the day before, He’d fed 5000 men plus women and children with five loaves and two fish. We’d seen people healed. We’d seen paralyzed men healed, we’d seen a dead girl raised. We’d seen blind men see for the first time and a demon driven out of a mute man. We’d even seen him calm a storm another evening we were out on the lake. So, frankly, it didn’t surprise me all that much when Jesus walked toward us on the water – because that is what the Son of God should be able to do. For we knew that Jesus was more than a regular man. We knew He had a special connection with the Father.

But what really surprised me was that I was so involved. I, Simon, son of Jonah, a simple fisherman who lived at Capernaum on the lake of Galilee. Yes, I owned a boat which I worked with my brother Andrew, and I worked in partnership with John and James much of the time, but I was just a fisherman who knew there was more to life than fishing, and so I went to follow John the Baptizer first, and then I followed Jesus, who must have thought I was a solid, but rough character, for he nick named me Kephas, which is Aramaic for “Rock”, a name the Greeks translated as Petros and others later turned into Peter. Simon Peter. No, what really surprised me was that that early morning, I, Simon Peter, I walked on water.

I walked on water as long as I kept my eyes on Jesus. I’m not the Son of God, I’m not divine, I’m simply a man like you. But that morning, I walked on water.

It changed me. It was critically important to me. My life changed because of it. After Jesus was executed for the crime of claiming to be God on the earth, and after He came back from the dead, and after He returned to Heaven – I knew it was up to me to tell everyone who Jesus was and what He had done. You see, I knew Who Jesus was. He was the Son of God, God Himself walking on the earth, walking on water that night. But that would have been just a great story to tell my grandkids if it had ended like that. But He showed me that I could also walk on water – if I kept focused on Him!

I could have been afraid over the next years. I could have panicked when I stood in front of thousands of people on Pentecost morning. But I didn’t panic. I spoke loudly to a huge crowd because… I had walked on water. Not through my power, but through my faith in my Lord Jesus. I learned that day to keep having faith that Jesus was there to take care of me, and I learned that Jesus would not let me sink as long as I held that faith in Him, and I learned that walking on water is the best feeling in the world.

And the day John and I saw the man with bad legs sitting in front of the Temple? I could have ignored him, walking right past him, but instead, I knew that if I kept the focus on Jesus, I could heal that man just as I had walked on water. And the night the angel woke me from jail – I knew that we would safely escape, just as I’d walked on water on the lake. It was just a matter of having no fear and trusting that Jesus would handle things.

What about you? Have you ever tried to walk on water? Have you ever prayed a prayer of healing in front of someone who was deathly ill? Have you ever laid hands on a person crippled up with arthritis and prayed for them to be healed? Have you ever prayed for God to give you enough time to get to an event that you knew would take 30 minutes to get to and you only have 20 minutes on the clock? Have you ever asked for grace on a test, for grace from an officer, for recovery from terrible debt? Have you ever stepped forward in an impossible situation and believed that Jesus could AND WOULD fix the problem just because you stepped forward in faith? THAT is stepping onto the water. Everyone of you, at some time in your life, you need to trust Jesus to perform the miracle that you need. That, my friends, is what it means to walk on water. To trust Jesus to do what needs to be done – and for you to set aside your fears and focus upon what Jesus can do, not what you can do.

That morning, I learned that when I keep my eyes – or more recently, my faith – on Jesus and He has asked me to do something, He will allow me to do the difficult, He will help me do the crazy, He will do the impossible and keep me from falling.

You see, it is the fear that the devil sends to us that is the liar. The devil wants us to lose our faith, lose our hope, to think it can’t be done. So many people in this world are lost in that lie of hopelessness. So many people think they can’t get out of debt. So many people think they can’t become healthy. So many people think that other people can be happy, but they can’t ever be happy, because that’s just the way things are. They have believed the lie the devil gives us about being limited, weak, hopeless creatures.

But Jesus give us truth. Jesus is standing there telling us we can do it, we can feed a town with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus is telling us we can walk on water. Jesus is telling us we can live eternally.

The only thing we need to remember is that we are to do what Jesus wants done, which, of course, is often the exact opposite of what we want to do. That night on the lake in the face of the wind, I didn’t want to walk on water, but I wanted to do whatever Jesus wanted done. He wanted me to come to Him, so I focused upon what He wanted, believed that He could make it happen, and I walked on water.

You can walk on water, too, but not as a test of whether Jesus loves you. Walking on water is a test Jesus gives to you of how much you trust Him. And for each person, walking on water is different. Jesus will give you your chance, perhaps soon.

For me, it was literally walking on water. For you, it might be a trust in Jesus to handle your finances. For others it might be trusting Jesus to protect your health.

But don’t test Him. Let Him test you. Jesus wants to know whether or not you have the guts to get out of the safe boat and do the amazing!

And sometimes, that is simply choosing to speak His name to a stranger. Sometimes, that is choosing to put an extra $50 donation in the church offerings. Sometimes, it is choosing to read a book or do something crazy you’ve read about in the Bible. But it always means you’re doing something that is scary and uncomfortable, and not something you’d normally do. Even today, I can’t believe I got out of the boat and walked to Jesus on top of the water. Today, I wish I’d had the guts to DANCE on the water.

But when I’d passed that test, He always believed in me. We don’t realize it, for we are always telling each other to believe in Jesus. What we don’t realize is the depth that He believes in each of us, for Jesus sees our abilities that we don’t see, e sees our strengths that we’ve hidden for so long, He knows the deep integrity that we have. He knows that you can do so much more than you think you can do – and He’s watching you, saying quietly, “Go, Go, GO and do! I’ll be there right behind you!”

He left us here and went back to Heaven. He trusts us – you and you and me - to change the world for the better. He trusts us – you and you and me – to repair the damage done in Eden. He trusts us – you and you and me – to keep people from an eternity in Hell. And all we have to do is to walk on water. All we have to do is to speak to people about Jesus. All we have to do is to trust our lives to Jesus. For He’s watching and waiting and is ready to help us.

So walk on water. DANCE on water. And Jesus will be there with you!
...
Father, I pray for these people in this church and those watching at home. Fill them with your Holy Spirit, teach them Your ways, help them bring the Gospel into their hearts so that they may do great things by trusting in Your Son Jesus and Your Holy Spirit. Give them the courage to walk on water to do Your will. Lead some of them to dance on the water for Your Son. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remember: Fear is a liar. There is nothing that Simon Peter possessed that you don’t possess. Ask Jesus what He wants you to do – and then step onto the water that He puts in front of you – and Dance!

Benediction

Now Go into the world, hearing the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit of God. May what is given to you by God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit allow you to speak soon of the time you walked upon the water because you kept your eyes upon Jesus. Amen.

Dinner - Thoughts on the Feeding of the Five Thousand

Good Morning! 

Our Readings for Today:

Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 (NIV)
Matthew 14:13-21 (HCSB)

As we start our 2nd month together, I’d like us to pray together for a moment. You’ll find this prayer in your bulletin:

Father God,

Thank you for allowing us to meet together. We know that you must have been angry at the people who have ignored you, focusing upon their lives rather than your will. Guide us as we strive to follow Your will, worshiping You and leading other people to You, through Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last week, we talked about praising God each week to the twelve people on our list we’ve made of people who give no evidence of being active followers of Jesus Christ. We talked about giving God credit for the things God has done, like giving us pleasant weather, or teaching us how to bake a good lemon meringue pie, or given us the talent to do something or the teacher who taught us a valuable lesson.

This week, our reading is a familiar reading, the feeding of the five thousand, a time when God stepped into the world in an unmistakable way. Let’s look at it: 

In the Gospel of Matthew, our reading from Chapter 14 follows the episode where John the Baptist, Jesus’ friend and cousin, was beheaded by King Herod. Furthermore, Jesus’ disciples Peter, Andrew, John, and James had previously been disciples of John the Baptist, so when word of this action reached Jesus and His followers while they were near Nazareth, the group quietly got on a boat and sailed around the Lake of Galilee to a deserted area. Jesus was tired, perhaps He was stressed, He needed a vacation, for He needed to re-evaluate His methods and mission after losing His cousin. His disciples needed time to grieve John, their former teacher.

But Jesus was popular. Very popular. Word quickly spread about where He was headed to and a crowd gathered on that beach like folks at a park when Alan Jackson walks in with a guitar. So Jesus had compassion on them and began to heal them – and the crowd continued to grow.

Evening approached. The disciples grew nervous. They told Jesus – "There are too many people here, we’re in the middle of nowhere, there’s no food, they’ll be getting hungry! Send these people away to the villages to buy food!" 

Jesus was having none of it. For Jesus was trying to teach His disciples that day, as well as heal all the people in the crowd.

Jesus turned to the disciples and said, “No, these people don’t need to go away. YOU feed them.”

“But, but, but we’ve only got five loaves of bread and two fish! But, But, But!”

What went on in their minds? "Five loaves and two fish? Maybe a half loaf for each of us disciples and a bit of fish? But that’s OUR food! We’ll get hungry, too!" 

One of them may have begun calculating. A crowd of 5000 men plus women and children – let's call it 20,000 people. One 4 oz McDonald’s fish sandwich apiece – that's 5000 pounds of fish we need, and two slices of bread per person is 40,000 slices of bread, and at 20 slices per standard loaf of bread, that’s two thousand loaves of bread we need. 5000 pounds of fish and 2000 loaves of bread. And we need to start feeding people in an hour! Patty – I understand that you could organize that here today, right? You’d just need a little bit of help slicing the bread, right?

There are people who say that there wasn’t a miracle there that day. There are people who say that the loaves and the fish were simply stretched out, that everyone was satisfied with a little bite. But those folks haven’t done the math. Even today, how could you organize that meal, even given a day to plan it? Where would you get 5000 pounds of fish? Where would you get two thousand loaves of bread?

After Jesus picked the disciples up off the ground and closed their mouths, Jesus asked for the five loaves and the two fish to be brought to Him. He had the crowd sit down on the ground. He took the five loaves and the two fish in his hands – proving the loaves and fish weren’t that big. He looked toward Heaven, gave thanks to God and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples and they passed them out to the people. Everybody ate and was satisfied, and the disciples collected twelve baskets full of broken pieces.

It must have been the sort of sight that puts shivers down your spine. Especially, when you remember a story from Jewish history, a story from the Old Testament, a story of Elisha the student of Elijah, the man who picked up Elijah’s mantle when Elijah went to heaven in the fiery chariot. Elisha was the man who received a double portion of the Holy Spirit from God when Elijah left the earth.

Now we have to remember, men who are used to doing heavy manual labor, men who work in the fields, men who are soldiers don’t get by on the 2000 calories a day that we strive to stay under. No, they needed 5000 calories a day because they worked hard. Have you ever tried pulling a plow or digging a field with a wooden shovel? Have you ever practiced fighting for four hours with a staff, spear, or sword? When was the last time you walked ten miles? It makes you hungry, like football players during twice a day practices, or swimmers training for a meet by swimming 5000 yards a day or marathon runners training for a race.

In 2 Kings Chapter 4, Elisha fed a hundred soldiers with twenty barley loaves. His servant was incredible – how can I put just twenty loaves in front of a hundred men? Elisha said, God said it would work. And the men ate the loaves, and some was left over. It was a story that amazed everyone, because those loaves were small and those men were hungry.

Partially because of this story, Elisha became known as one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel, because he had fed a hundred full-grown men with only twenty loaves of barley bread. Now, Jesus had just skunked Elisha, for Jesus had fed 5000 men with five loaves.

We Christians also recognize Elisha as a great prophet. But today we also recognize Jesus as the Son of God on earth, not only a prophet, but our high priest and king. The purpose of this story is to get our attention, the way it got the attention of the people of Israel who were there that day – and the way it got the attention of the people of Israel who heard the story. Jesus isn’t just a good teacher. He isn't just a good man. There is something much more to Him which we have to recognize, something supernatural.

But this story also reminds us that we still serve Jesus, and when we can’t handle it, He is ready to step in and make it happen. 

Jesus is Ready

A few years ago, my wife was leading a small church. The senior member of a key family died and Saundra was to do the funeral and burial services. Now this family was a large family, and the members of that family were also individually large people. There were only two women in the church able to help with the funeral dinner, which would be held at the church. So Saundra, who loves to cook, jumped in to help. But first she prayed for everything to work out.

The afternoon and evening before the funeral, Saundra made green beans, she made two casseroles, she made three cakes and a pie, she made cookies, she made something else and carried some of the stuff down to the church at 10 pm that evening and kept the cakes in our frig. That morning, she awoke early, made a couple other dishes and realized that she did not have time to take the stuff to the church and still get to the funeral home on time, so she called up one of the other women, asking her if she could come by and take the rest of the stuff to the church – I had to be still another place or I would have taken it over. Even with all her work, though, Saundra was worried that there would not be enough food – especially when she found out what the other two women had made, which was their normal contribution of a couple dishes each.

The woman said she’d be happy to pick up Saundra’s dishes on the way to the church, and then called back five minutes later. It seems like a member of the family was close to the Minard’s family who owned Minard’s Italian Restaurant in Clarksburg, WV. It seems that  Minard’s had volunteered to cater enough food for 75 people, including dessert. They had just called and needed directions to the church. There was food left over that day. Saundra gave thanks to God and praised God to everyone who would listen.

Jesus is still ready to help out when needed. He likes to work through people, though, because that is how we grow! He asks us to start the work, to pray for help as needed, and then to do what we are able to do. Saundra and the other two women were trying, but they weren’t humanly enough. So Jesus, working through the Holy Spirit. speaking to someone at Minard’s, had brought in help.

Jesus Knows

When you are looking at your list of twelve people who will become the disciples you teach, and wondering what you are going to say to them, remember to pray for help. Not only should you be praying that they be open to hearing about Jesus – but pray for the words to say. All you really have to do after that is pick up the phone and call our friend and ask them how they are doing in this time of COVID. And at some point in the conversation, you might want to mention how knowing that Jesus is still there, loving us as He always does, how that idea has kept you going through the rough times.

And you know... that was an important part of what the feeding of the five thousand taught the disciples. They were reminded that the same God who had been with Elijah and Elisha a thousand years before was still keeping an eye on them. And two thousand years after the Son of God fed five thousand people on a hill beside the Lake of Galilee, Jesus is still keeping an eye on us.

If you are lonely – Jesus knows this.

If you are sad – Jesus knows this.

If you are frightened of COVID – Jesus knows this.

If you are grieving a lost loved one – Jesus knows this.

If you are concerned about the future – Jesus even knows this.

Worry is no stranger to the disciples of Christ. That afternoon, realizing that there was no food, the disciples had come to Jesus, for they had checked around, they had looked around, and their best efforts had only come up with five loaves and two fish and that worried them, for in that day a crowd of hungry, angry people could be very dangerous. So they went to Jesus, and then he told them, as the Holy Spirit has told so many caring people, so many worried Christians, so many disciples over the centuries – “No. Don’t send them home. You feed them.” And the disciples must have thought Jesus was totally off the deep end.

But Jesus knew that God, His Father – and OUR Father – was always listening to Him. Jesus knew that God, His Father – and OUR Father – was always ready to do what needed to be done. And Jesus prayed to God, His Father – and OUR Father – that there would be enough food – and there was. And there is always enough food, there is always enough help, there is always enough money, there is always enough time if what we are doing is what God wants done. Our God is the God of always enough!

Turn Worry into Ministry

Today, in the world, you have worries. The right answer to worry for a mature Christian is to turn worry into ministry. When we are worried, other people will have the same worries, so we, as the people of Christ, we are to act.

If you are lonely – other people are lonely, too. Make phone calls.

If you are sad – other people are sad, too. Find someone else who is sad and cheer each other up.

If you are frightened of COVID – sew masks, pray that people wear masks, pray for the vaccines that are being tested will work, pray for the sick people.

If you are grieving a lost loved one – find someone else who is grieving and take them a meal or call them. Turn your grief into ministry for others.

If you are concerned about the future – Begin posting loving, caring posts on Facebook, write devotionals, develop art or stories or wood carvings that will lead people to Christ, for the only way to help our world is to bring the world to Christ – one person at a time.

I had a dear friend at another church. She was a retired school teacher. Our church had a handful of children, but had lost several young families because there was not much of a program for children. After worrying about this for several months and praying as to what needed done, she came to me and said she’d lead a children’s ministry if I could help her with a course to run on. I agreed, and six weeks later we launched Pioneer Clubs, which is best thought of as VBS every Wednesday evening. She had two other helpers – we launched with fifteen children and rapidly grew to two dozen.

After a year, a group of women visited us from another church, more centrally located in town and learned what we were doing. They launched with 40 children and grew to 60.

The next year, another church from another town visited, learned, and launched with 90 children and grew to over a hundred children every Wednesday evening. It was that year that my friend found out she had cancer. She spent much of her time training up her replacements, and then she passed away.

It would have been easy to say that she made a flash in a pan worth of difference, for the original program was shut down about a year after she passed on. But during those years, we claimed in our church about 20 children baptized, and the other two programs continue to operate. And one day, those children will get to Heaven and meet my friend again. They will be in Heaven because my friend, over 70 years old at the time she started the Pioneer Clubs, had decided that she would start things rolling and let God handle the rest. She is still making a difference through those baptized children and the other programs that copied her program.

We Don't Need All the Answers

In a Universe that has God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in it, we don’t have to know how to feed the five thousand. We only need to know that Jesus said they are to be fed and to begin making our attempt. We don’t need to know how to run or operate a program to teach hundreds of children about Jesus – we only need to know that Jesus wants everyone to know about Him and begin making our attempt. We don’t need to worry about the costs of every program – we simply need to do what Jesus wants done and He will figure out a way to cover the costs.

I had a young leader at a church come to me one day, saying she thought God was telling her to start a dance ministry at the church. I said, “that sounds great. Go back, pray some more, research and give me a plan.” About 6 weeks later, she came to me, said she’d found Christian aerobic dance ministry in NC that offered training. She needed $250 for the leader’s course. I told her to pitch it to the church on Sunday morning. They gave her over $500 to start it through individual donations and when she launched a couple months later, it became a wonderful worship service – prayer, 45 minutes of aerobic dance to upbeat Christian music, scripture, a devotional, and prayer. We had about 20 people from 5 year olds through 85 year olds, because it was designed for any physical ability. And several new families joined the church because of this Refit ministry that reached them twice a week.

We don’t need to know every answer to every question that every person might ask us about Jesus. We only need to know that Jesus wants us to go to all people and teach them about Him, and so we just need to begin making our phone calls, to begin making our Facebook posts, to begin writing our letters, our emails, to begin visiting people and talking to them about what we already know about God and Jesus –

· that He claimed He was God walking upon the earth in a way no one really understands,

· that He taught us a better way of living and promised that people who follow Him will have eternal, abundant life, right with God.

· that He was killed on a cross for the crime of claiming to be God, and then

· that He rose from the dead and talked and walked and ate and cooked with over 500 witnesses who saw Him after He was killed – and this proves that his claims to be God on the earth were true.

Four key points – and this is the Gospel, which Jesus wants us to tell to everyone.

And so, is it enough to know that Jesus wants the Gospel told? Is it enough to know, deep in your heart, that Jesus will complete the job if you’ll start the ball rolling with your friends, your neighbors, and your family? Would Jesus put you in a situation that would lead you to permanent harm?

Of course not. Follow Jesus. Do as He asks. Tell others about Him.

Next week, we’ll learn more.

Father, I pray for these people in these churches. Feed them with Your bread, teach them Your ways, help them bring the Gospel into their hearts so that they may feed others with that Gospel – their friends, their neighbors, their relatives. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remember: Turn your worries into ministry. Tell people the Gospel – Jesus claimed to be God, He taught us a better way to live and how to have eternal life, He was killed on the cross for claiming to be God, and He rose from the dead and appeared to many witnesses.

Benediction

Now Go into the world, hearing the word and understanding it as it lights your path. May what is given to you by God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit produce a wonderful feast of blessings for you and the world around you. Amen.