Food for the impossible task – Sunday 28th July – Pastor Adrian Kitson

I can identify with Phillip and Andrew in this well-known feeding of those five thousand people. Most Christians probably can. Especially those who are involved in being a mission focussed, outward looking local church trying to feed those around them with Jesus- the Bread of Life. It is an impossible task!

So Phillip and Andrew are there as the huge crowd gathers late in the day. We hear that in the moment of realisation of the impossibility of what was before them, Jesus’ questions them. It is a test.

Answer? Ahh, nowhere!

Phillip is aware of the impossibility of the task.

Phillip seems to fail this little test. He just concedes to the impossibility of it all.

Andrew responds to this impossible call differently. He is also aware of what is lacking. But he does something; he reaches for what he does have at hand.

But then, he too returns to the reality that this is nowhere near enough for this call of Jesus.

Answer: Not far.

So here they are, the boy, the brother, Phillip and the Rabbi facing an overwhelming impossible task.

Here we are. A pastor who has not got enough and a people who have not got enough and yet we are here and so is the risen Jesus in a community dying for lack of life and hope.

Here you are, with all the demands on you, the needs before you, the responsibilities upon you as a disciple of Jesus – with a life-mission to share the love and hope of his grace with them all….somehow…

What do you do when you know it is impossible; beyond you; beyond anyone to meet all those needs, do all those things, keep all those expectations, bear good news witness in all the stress, the conflict, the pain of others, the rejection of Jesus that is everywhere?

We could do a Phillip and state the obvious. We cannot buy our way out of trouble. We could resign our discipleship call to feed the world the grace of God in Jesus.

I know why. We all know that the LCANZ is in steep decline and about to rip it itself apart and make it worse, it seems, at least from our point of view.

Many would say it is just matter of time; soon we will completely morph into either some stand-alone educational facility or welfare agency or small group of isolated Christians gathering quietly underground.

Yes. Let’s hunker down, stick together and wait it out until the Lord takes us home or he returns – when the resurrection comes, and all is wonderful and free.

But, the crowd are still there and they are hungry for this bread….

On the other hand, we could do an “Andrew’. We could at least do something to achieve this impossible mission to feed all the lonely people.

This is more our style. We have been taught to work hard, make things happen, be resourceful, do what we can, keep trying, find solutions, get better tech, develop belter systems, take control of the situation and have a go….

Whether we are rich in technology, property, money, resources or poor in those; whether we are still trying to meet this impossible calling or have given up on it, we may have failed this little test, so far.

John does not say so explicitly, but it seems reasonable to conclude that these responses to our impossible task are not the ones Jesus is urging us toward.

Jesus now takes charge, but Andrew and Phillip still have a part to play in how to live in this impossible call. Jesus enlists them in the work.

So Phillip, the one who is poor when it comes to doing anything except resigning to a defeated state, and Andrew the one who is rich in keeping at it as best as he can under his own steam are called into Jesus’ impossible mission, have apparently failed the test.

But just because you resign at times or over-rely on your own smarts or stuff as a person or a church, it seems all is not lost. They still are called into the impossible task by the Master.

Luther comments in a sermon on this text:

Where are you? In resignation or in self-reliance? Where are we as a local church? Resigned to our deathly future or working harder and harder under our own steam to keep it all looking like it has in the past?

Friends, the Bread of Life is calling us again to this ‘middle state’; the state of trust in his provision in this impossible task we face, and in impossibly difficult times.

For us who have never got what it takes but are still called by Jesus to be involved in his feeding of the world with himself- the Bread of Life, Luther sees four things the Apostle wants to impress upon us so we live in this ‘middle road’.

1. Faith… The Apostle John wants Pastor John and St John’s to hear that;

“… we should not be overanxious about our daily bread and our temporal existence, [Jesus] stirs us up by means of a miracle; as though to say by his act what he says by his words in Matthew 6,33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

2. Love? In two ways …

“First, in that he [Jesus] lets not only the pious, who followed him because of the signs and the Word, enjoy the food; but also the slaves of appetite, who:

only eat and drink, and seek in him temporal honour;…

Secondly, in that he bears with the rudeness and weak faith of his disciples in such a friendly manner. …… all is done to bring to light the imperfections of the disciples, and on the contrary to set forth his love and dealings with them in a more beautiful and loving light, to encourage us to believe in him, and to give us an example to do likewise”.

3. That no need is outside Jesus’

“That he [Jesus] now takes the five loaves and gives thanks, teaches that nothing is too small and insignificant for him to do for his followers, and he can indeed so bless their pittance that they have an abundance, whereas even the rich have not enough with all their riches, as Psalm 34:11 says: “They that seek The Lord shall not want any good thing…”

4. That we are called to be full of care in the use of all that the Bread of Life gives;

“… he [Jesus] tells them so faithfully to gather up the fragments, teaches us to be frugal and to preserve and use his gifts, in order that we may not tempt God. … Whatever he gives, we should receive and use, and what he does not give, we should believe and expect he will bestow.

Friends, no one here has any more than a couple of fish and bit of bread in the huge need to feed everyone, but surely John wants me and you to trust that this Saviour has the Bread enough for living enough in faith, hope and love.

Yes, our default heart is always to give up in our poverty of faith or misplace our faith in the riches we can find within, more than eating this Bread of life, but the Bread of Life allows Phillip and Andrew and us to:

Hear the Bread of Life making more of you and us today. He invites pastor and people to sit and receive that life today and into his preferred future for us all.

In this impossible calling you share in Jesus, Jesus bless your pittance so that you have an abundance as we all understand and trust just how necessary and precious is God’s word in this task.

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