Feeding with abundant grace...

There’s a story about a rather absent-minded professor. One day he explained to his biology class that they were going to cut up and inspect the inner workings of a frog. He told them he had the frog in his pocket. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper bag – he shook out the contents and out came a ham sandwich. He looked a bit perplexed and said, ‘this is awkward. I distinctly remember eating my lunch.’

A couple of today’s readings are a little bit about eating. The reading from Isaiah uses the analogy of water and food to describe things we need – and just as we need water and food, we also need God… And the gospel reading (Matt.14:13-21) recounts the story known as the feeding of the 5000.

And so these readings are a little bit about eating, but actually they are a lot about the extravagant grace of God…  In the reading from Isaiah (55:1-5) we are invited to come and experience God’s grace – we are to come, it says, all who are thirsty and who have no money – come, buy and eat. We are to come and accept the gifts of God, to accept his grace, his love, his mercy, and to find refreshment and renewal in his care.

As the reading goes on we are invited also to ‘buy’. It’s a language we can all understand – living in a consumer society we are used to paying for things, except for this gift there is no charge – we buy it for nothing ! We are not just to come but we are to accept our free gift, to move beyond the passive and to take out our gift to transform our lives.

The language of this reading describes this as eating – in other words we are to be doers. We are not to look at the gifts of God and admire them from afar. We are not just to take them and keep them for ourselves but we are to enjoy them and to use them in our own lives, and to seek to glorify God in all that we do.

In the reading from the letter to the Romans (9:1-5) Paul is expressing concern for the people who don’t know Jesus – he describes how much it hurts him to see people, even the Jewish people rejecting Jesus. He talks of the sacrifice he would make if they would turn to Christ.

It is a recognition of how much he values that relationship with Jesus and wants others to share it – it is as important to him, more important to him, than any earthly food or drink…

It is his life. Paul was a great example of a man who came and bought and ate from God – he came without even planning to. As he persecuted Christians his life was dramatically transformed as God himself spoke to him. It was an invitation to come – albeit rather more dramatic than most people have received !

And Paul bought as well – he knew straight away that this was a gift that couldn’t be ignored or refused. He would accept this free gift, and he would begin a journey of transformation in his life and in the life of so many others. And that transformation took place as he ate and was nourished by the gifts of God. He was empowered to go out and preach the gospel message – a message of peace, hope and love for all to enjoy.

And Paul wasn’t an obvious candidate of course… going back to school days we occasionally used to talk amongst friends of what we hoped to do when we got older – lots of different careers were mentioned. Some people obviously seemed to fit well into the jobs they aspired to – there was the debating champion who wanted to be a barrister, there were people who wanted to join the police force, or become nurses or doctors…

I remember meeting a teacher a long time after I’d left school and when he asked what I was doing I said I was a Vicar, and I wasn’t quite sure how to take the look of surprise on his face !

But however surprising it may have been for me to become a Vicar this can have been nothing like the surprise of the transformation in the life of Paul – his persecution and hatred of Christians was fierce and determined and yet he became the greatest missionary the church has known.

His life was transformed in such a way that it was obvious that he regarded his relationship with God as a basic necessity that he had been missing for so long. And that is a great example for us – we too are to recognise and celebrate that it is in God alone that we are made complete. It is from God alone that we will receive spiritual food and drink that will last…

Paul’s life wasn’t transformed in such a way that he became perfect – he didn’t but it was transformed in such a way that he recognised his need for God… And the reality is that none of us can ever get along by ourselves completely. We need all kinds of things and people. We need food and drink, we need people to love and be loved by… and we need God…

And when we turn to him, when we recognise our need, how incredibly he will meet those needs. The gospel reading tells of Jesus going off to a quiet place. He’d heard that John the Baptist had been killed by Herod and he wanted time by himself. It is one of those incredible bits of the bible as Jesus shows so clearly his humanity – someone he cared about had been killed and he wanted to be alone.

But the crowds who heard about John’s death wanted Jesus and so they followed him – they didn’t understand what had happened. They didn’t fully understand that the death of John was just part of a much bigger story. They wanted answers, they wanted to understand, they wanted comfort and they turned to Jesus.

And when we need answers, or understanding or compassion or comfort, we too are invited to turn to Jesus. He will not just meet our needs but he will extravagantly fulfill all that we could ever ask or desire, and certainly give us far more than we can ever deserve.

The disciples would have turned the crowds away after they’d followed Jesus. He had spoken to them, he had healed some of them and now the disciples asked Jesus for permission to send the crowds away to get food – it was late and they would be hungry.

But this was a suggestion that Jesus couldn’t meet all of the people’s needs… and he showed he could. He took the 5 loaves and 2 fish and somehow arranged for the distribution of enough food for all the people, and he still had some left over !

That is a wonderful picture of God. We can approach him with what we think are our needs and he will deliver those needs and still have plenty left over to give us…

It’s said that when the evangelist Billy Graham was driving through a small town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding. Graham admitted his guilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

The judge asked, "Guilty, or not guilty?" When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, "That'll be ten dollars - a dollar for every mile you went over the speed limit."

Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister. "You have violated the law," he said. "The fine must be paid - but I am going to pay it for you." He took a ten dollar note from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner! "That," said Billy Graham, "is how God treats repentant sinners!"

I’ve no idea if the story is true or not, but the principle is – Jesus came into the world and didn’t just ask people to say they’d done wrong in their lives and hand out a punishment. He actually took the punishment himself, and then continued to give more and more as he guides us and strengthens us and walks alongside us and loves us every moment of every day…

In our lives we’ll all face times of hardship as well as hopefully many times of joy, but in whatever circumstances we are invited to trust God, to know that he will deliver on all his promises and more – we’re invited to come, buy, eat and enjoy all the wonderful gifts he has prepared for us. AMEN