"Turning The Tables on Self-Absorption” Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – July 31, 2011 Centenary United Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21 Our lesson for this morning begins with Jesus receiving
devastating news about the death of his second cousin, John the Baptist.
This news came to Jesus with intimate details that made John’s
beheading among the most senseless murders that Jesus had experienced in
his life, a death that he personalized.
Herod’s ruthless power had destroyed a member of Jesus’ family. John had been
publicly preaching against Herod for some time, exciting his listeners
to stand against the king.
Herod had taken his brother’s wife, Herodias, into the palace and made
her his wife by mutual consent.
Because of John’s relentless condemnation of what Herod had done,
the king had him jailed in order to silence him. Herodias developed a
plan to rid the couple of this pest.
She designed a large celebration for Herod’s birthday.
The nobility of the entire realm
had been invited to attend. As
was the custom, a lot of alcohol was consumed by the guests.
Herod had become intoxicated.
During the course of
the evening, Herodias’ daughter performed a sensuous dance routine in
front of the guests. Herod
was so enamored by her skills that he expressed his appreciation this
way: “I will give you
anything you want even up to half my kingdom.”
After consulting with her mother, the girl was instructed to ask
for the head of John the Baptist to be brought to her.
Because he had publicly promised
the girl anything she wanted, Herod gave the order to have John beheaded
rather than face the public embarrassment of declining her request.
Herodias had her revenge. Another
prophet of Upon hearing of his
cousin’s death, Jesus needed to get away from everyone.
He decided to get into a boat by himself, put the oars in the
water and row to a desolate place where he could be alone.
There was a lot to digest and process. Jesus may not have
fully realized the extent to which John’s death had affected the local
people. John was proclaiming a
message that the Jews had not heard for centuries – “The Kingdom of God
is at hand.” Their
prophet had been murdered by Herod and most of them needed to hear
words that might bring healing to their spirits by making sense of what
had just happened. Just as Jesus began
his period of reflection, he looked up and saw thousands of people
coming in his direction. Jesus was moved with compassion when he
saw them and began healing their sick as he shared with them his
thoughts. By doing so, Jesus
turned the tables on his preoccupation over John’s death and
experienced instant liberation from the prison he created with his own
thoughts. It was late in the
afternoon when the disciples found Jesus and they asked him to send the
crowd away because the hour was approaching when people would need drink
and nourishment. Instead of doing that, Jesus invited the crowd to sit
down as a miracle unfolded.
Jesus feeding the
5,000 has been one of those memorable stories we were taught as
children. In my Sunday school class our imaginations generated lots of
questions for the teacher. We asked, “Did Jesus make the fish?
What kind of fish were they?
Did Jesus also create more loaves of bread out of thin air?
Who baked the bread?”
The only explanation our teacher gave us was that this was one of
the many miracles Jesus performed during his ministry.
She quickly went on with the lesson leaving us with a lingering
question, “How did he do that?” This miracle is one
of the few that can be found in all four Gospels.
John’s rendition of the
story has information not contained in the other three Gospels that may
provide some insights into how Jesus performed this miracle.
For example in
John’s Gospel, Jesus asks Philip where the disciples could purchase
enough food to feed all the people.
Philip responded, “Master, for everyone who has come here to have
even a little food, it could cost us more than 200 silver coins just for
the bread.” We discussed once
before that John’s Gospel contains a number of passages that sound as
though they have come from an eye witness.
For example, when Jesus was visiting the home of Mary, Martha and
Lazarus, it was Mary who applied an entire pint of pure nard on Jesus
feet and wiped them with her hair.
The scent of this very expensive perfume “filled the entire
house.” (John 12:3). Also, when Jesus
told the weary disciples to throw their nets on the other side of the
boat, the number of fish they caught was 153.
(John 21:11)
The fact that the scent of the perfume had filled the house and having
the precise number of fish would not be in John’s Gospel unless someone
had been there to experience these events. In the other three
Gospels, Jesus asked his disciples to find out how much food was
available from the crowd?
They came back with the report of finding only 5 loaves of bread and two
fish. Jesus
knew, however, that his people would never travel any distance
without taking food and drink.
Dried fish and bread were common staples to take on any journey.
Jesus knew that everyone had food with them. Jesus used the
innocence of a little boy as an example of what everyone in the crowd
had the potential to do. When
the disciples asked if anyone had any food, this little guy came forward
and said, “I do.” And he showed them what he had.
After the disciple carried the
bread and fish to Jesus, his mother probably said, “Honey, sharing your
food was a lovely thing to do, but Mommy packed that bread and fish for
you.” All eyes were on
Jesus as he invited the crowd to sit down in a grassy area.
As he began to share the young boy’s food, it was then that the
miracle happened. Everyone
spontaneously began to share what they had with others. The disciples
did not have to distribute anything.
Had a food distribution taken place for 10,000 people (men, women
and children) by a handful of disciples, such a feat would have taken
hours to accomplish.
Everyone ate and each person had
more than enough. In fact,
there was such an abundance of food that 12 baskets were collected after
the meal. If the truth were
known, some of those Jewish mothers had packed such a variety of food
that the crowd of people had more to eat than barley bread and fish.
Jesus literally turned
this occasion into a moment when a grieving community could experience
the abundance that surfaces at a pot-luck supper just like we United
Methodists do. What is the miracle
in this story? Is there
a truth that we can take away from this event and use every day of
our lives? The real
miracle here is what changed the crowd’s emotional upset into peace.
This experience changed communal self-absorption into a community that
was willing to share. This
experience was among the gifts Jesus gave to his large crowd of
listeners. Jesus made visible
John’s message that the When we share what we have, something
happens within us to change the spirit of our moods and attitudes.
The boy was modeling one of the most fundamental, essential
skills that make life worth living.
Jesus was communicating, “This young man has shown us what living
in the Since we do not get
blizzards in Self-absorption
gripped everyone at the airport.
People had deadlines to make.
People had to get out of In the midst of the
chaos, a university professor saw the most inspiring event.
A Roman Catholic nun stood up on one of the seats and started
getting everyone’s attention.
She said, “Those of you who have children, please let me have
them while you try to make other arrangements!”
One of the employees from United Airlines saw what she was doing
and quickly assembled a microphone with a long cord she could use. She had the children
sit on the floor in front of her.
As more parents saw the wisdom in what was happening, the group
of children continued to grow. The nun began using her skills as a
storyteller. The professor said that her voice carried everywhere
throughout the concourse.
She changed pure chaos into an environment of quiet and peace. However,
much more began to happen that even the nun could not have anticipated.
People began to
realize that their anxiety would have no impact on their closed airport.
Following the nun’s example, they began to cordon off areas where
airport-cots could be set up. By
her example, the nun led a group of diverse strangers to reverse their
energy from self-absorption to attitudes of sharing and cooperation. In a former sermon,
I told you about a woman who was going to commit suicide until she was
convinced to bake one more cherry pie and take it to a neighbor that no
one had visited in quite some time. The three hours she spent with that
woman turned the tables on her self absorption. As absurd as this
may sound, the next time you are being dominated by thoughts about
someone’s cruel comment, a personal failure, an ill-advised decision or
a disappointing medical report, remember that your own highly energized
thoughts have blinded you to all the blessings in your life that you
take for granted. We
paint ourselves in the corner
like this all the time. Try to recognize what the pain of your
spiraling thoughts is telling you.
Do some random act of kindness for someone.
Instantly, you will do for yourself what Jesus did for himself
when he developed compassion for the grieving crowd.
Jesus did the same thing for thousands of people when he humbly
broke the boy’s bread and began to share it.
Learn from Jesus to
turn the tables on a condition
that can easily immobilize you.
Reversing the flow of our energy will set our minds and spirits
free. Let Jesus’ miracle of
feeding the 10,000 men, women and children become more than just a
feast. Let it become another
tool in your tool chest
for governing the rest of your lives.
Sharing always brings an end to self-absorption. This instant reversal of your energy flow will bring instant results. Experiment with this. This week, when some disturbing influence has taken up residence in your mind, reverse your energy and focus your kindness and compassion on someone else. |