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sermon by
Manfred Schreyer
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(Mat 15:32-39 NIV) Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." {33} His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?" {34} "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish." {35} He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. {36} Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. {37} They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. {38} The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. {39} After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
This story is a wonderful story. It tells us how Jesus fed those who were willing to follow.
Many of them had been with Jesus for three days. What would possibly attract 4000 men and their wives and children to follow Jesus?
Now you may think this just another story, but it is not:
Now there was about this time Jesus a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews, and also many of the Greeks. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him from the first did not forsake him for he appeared to them alive on the third day, the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him. And even now, the race of Christians, so named from him, has not died out.
-- From the Writings of Josephus
People were hungry for the Christ and Christ left a legacy:
"Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity.
Why?
Because Jesus provides answers for us as human kind.
I believe God entered time and space to make a nonverbal statement. He didn't come to keep us from suffering; He came to suffer as we must suffer. He didn't come just to keep us from being afraid; He came to be afraid as we are afraid. He didn't come just to keep us from dying; He came to die as we must die. He didn't come to keep us from being tempted; He came to be tempted as we are tempted.
- Stephen Brown, If God Is In Charge..., p. 26.
In a nutshell that sums it up for us!
As we suffer on this earth with all sorts of aches and pain we must realize that God suffers with us. "How does God suffer with us," you may ask?
He suffers with us, because most suffering is brought to us by other people and created by people.
The final picture is illustrated in the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior. God suffered and endured for us.
The journey toward that Cross exemplifies a journey through life and what brings us on this road toward the cross.
I will stop right here. Think of this journey toward the cross for just a moment. What would have happened if we/the people at that time would have reacted differently?
What would have happened if they had learned to follow the teachings of Christ?
"Imagine all the people, living for today . . . yeah" (John Lennon). Imagine we would be kind to each other, imagine we would have no crime, imagine our families would stay intact, imagine we would not abort children, imagine we would follow at least the ten commandments, imagine we would just try to follow and understand the beatitudes;
We would be recognized among those who had doubt of Christ:
Christians would be an "odd number!" They would feel supreme love for One whom they have never seen; talk familiarly every day to Someone they cannot see; expect to go to heaven on the virtue of Another; empty themselves in order to be full; admit they are wrong so they can be declared right; go down in order to get up; are strongest when they are the weakest; richest when they are the poorest and happiest when they feel the worst.
-- A.W. Tozer
So what actually hinders us? What possibly does not allow us to come to Jesus? What is it that prevents us from listening to the Christ in our life?
It is in the fact that God gave us the greatest gift of all: The gift of choice in our life and over our life.
We as humankind actual have the choice of going down with the ship like the captain of the Titanic did, who made sure that as many passengers would be saved.
Or we can jump "the boat" like the chairman of Enron Corporation after he took all the money and left the boat sink.
We have to make choices in life to look around us and check ourselves out and ask, what kind of captain am I on my ship that is my life.
The Titanic in many ways is our world, it has many decks of prosperity, we are confronted with choices what we should wear, we dance, we enjoy friends and new acquaintances and we all know the ship will sink.
There is no harbor we will arrive and we will get off and then move on. We are on a journey where we will know that this boat is sinking.
God tells us to treat each other kindly, merciful, respectful, forgiving and He tells us that our journey on this life has destinations: To God and from God.
Jesus in most of His stories told about the journey to God and what we would have to do to go there, but all of his stories relate to our being NOW . . . because our "being now" relates to "our going to."
You cannot live out a life of sin and arrive at God’s selected destination point for us. You /we must be willing to eradicate sin in our life, so that we find peace, that we know that when we fall we are being picked up, that we know when we are alone someone will come and visit, when we are struggling someone will take his/her arm around us and give us a break, that when we do fail we have the words of reconciliation of those we failed.
That is why the people in this story were hungry! Because Jesus had brought to them the message of healing. The words He brought were the words which made sense and brought relief to human kind.
There were no other words or were ever words that had such a deep impact on human kind. Because we all know deep down in our heart, we know what it means to feel good. To feel good means not to worry about tomorrow, not to struggle with our neighbors, to be loved by others and to never be forgotten by others.
It was worth being hungry and being with the Christ.
It was a message for all people, black and white, and male and female, and young and old, whole or diseased.
Jesus’ message touched all people, because so many people needed the Christ, the healer.
Jesus touched the people because the times were corrupted by sin and pain.
And you know . . . I wish I could bring Jesus to you today. I wish I could invite him by a special appearance, I wish that He would come in His glory and say to you: "I am your Lord, and my Love for you will endure forever!"
I wish we could all see him and ask Him questions.
But you know, You can have him come to you. If you are a believer you can ask him to take over your life and you can by your choice make Him the Captain on your ship. You can assign it all to Him and He is willing to take over. Your life will change, the course of the route will change and you will see a new purpose on your journey of life.
If you are not a believer in Christ, you can ask him to come to you. Tell him that you want to see His face. Tell him that you are sorry for the things you have done and that you are hungry for a life with Him.
And He will come into your heart and He will feed you and He will take over the rudder of the ship of life and if you let him he will sail with you though the hurricanes of life and you will never be alone.
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