God is able to do, by the power at work in you, abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine: what if you learned to trust and expect that?
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 17 B
Texts: Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-15
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
“I pray that God may . . . strengthen you in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend . . . the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ, . . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
That’s Paul’s prayer for you. For all God’s children. What if that could truly happen?
But it’s hard to be filled with God’s fullness, to know Christ’s love dwelling in your heart, when you’re starving to death.
Paul’s hope is much easier to find if you have a full stomach, shelter over your head, clothing and other necessities, and a life of justice and freedom. If we proclaim the love of God in Christ in our words only, we’re not going to reach people. The letter of James says “If [one of God’s children] is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” (James 2:15-16)
So, Jesus made sure that the thousands who’d come to see him got dinner that night. Christ comes to offer life and hope, to proclaim God’s reign. But if you’re hungry or oppressed or afraid or attacked or marginalized, how can you trust God’s love with those desperate needs unmet? This is a simple story of Jesus seeing a great physical need and suspending his teaching and calling to make sure that physical need is taken care of.
So, if we are bearing God’s love in the world, we start with caring for our neighbor’s needs.
People need food, shelter, a living wage. Wars need to be stopped. Justice needs to happen. Real needs need to be addressed before any other good news can get through.
But Philip shares our concerns today: we don’t have enough money to feed these people, he says. Likewise, the problems of hunger and homelessness, injustice and discrimination, hatred and violence are so great, we fear our resources aren’t going to make a dent.
But Jesus operates with a power and abundance Philip doesn’t yet know. And Paul promises that God, by the power at work in us, “is able to do abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.” We despair at the intractability and overwhelming nature of the world’s problems, but Paul says we haven’t even begun to imagine what God actually can do through the power of Christ’s love at work in us.
So let’s try imagining. Let’s definitely ask. And let’s learn to trust that the same power that multiplied bread and fish and that broke the power of death will be at work in us to accomplish even more than we can dream in this broken, suffering world, and bring real life.
But it’s also hard to imagine, to dream, to ask to be a part of God’s mission, when your heart is starving to death.
Just as lots of things contribute to physical hunger and suffering, lots of things keep our hearts from being open to Christ entering and living within us, so we can know God’s fullness and love. Our stubborn pride or deep-rooted shame. Our inability to honestly look at our biases and prejudices. Our fear and anxiety. Our struggle to confess and seek reconciliation with each other. Our easy hate and anger toward others we disagree with. So many things starve our hearts to death.
And isn’t that the problem with our country? Yes, all the physical needs need to be dealt with. But what prevents that happening is hearts filled with fear and hate and anxiety and selfishness, spirits warped and crushed. Our nation has a heart and spirit problem, and until those are healed and transformed, we’ll continue with our polarized, unjust society, our oppressive structures and ways, our destructive path.
So, if we’re going to bear God’s love in the world, God must first open and heal our hearts.
Help us unclench from what we’re clinging to, pick out the seeds of fear and anxiety from our hearts, and pull the thorns of hatred. The Spirit needs to help us be open to our own failings and biases and prejudices, our struggles to be honest about who and how we are.
If God’s going to transform the world, this has to go beyond those of us in this room today. But right now, in this moment, in this room, we at least need God to start on us. On you. On me. Start to heal our hearts and spirits so we’re ready for God’s fullness to live in us, ready to know and comprehend the deep and abiding love of God in Christ for all of us and all God’s children. Then we’ll be ready to bear Christ in the world.
“God, by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”
That’s Paul’s promise.
There are enough resources on this planet for all to be fed and sheltered and cared for. God’s abundance knows no limits except those we place on it. There’s enough love of God in Christ for every child of this planet, including you, for every creature, every thing in creation to be filled with God’s fullness. God’s abundant love knows no limits except those we try to place on it.
Thousands of people suddenly had all they needed to eat. Millions of people have been transformed by the love of God dwelling in them. God can do abundantly far more than all you can ask or imagine.
What if you trusted that?
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
