13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." ¹⁶ Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." ¹⁷ They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish (from this young boy)." ¹⁸ And he said, "Bring them here to me." ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

This morning’s scripture lesson is one of those places in the Bible where good, God-fearing people, disagree. Here’s what I mean. When we talked about this passage at Workcamp, all of the kids and most of the adults were talking about what happened as if Jesus was a magician, where Jesus looked up to the sky, waves his hands over the five loaves and the two fish, and poof, you’ve got enough to feed thousands and thousands of people. I’m okay with the miraculous interpretation. I believe that miracles take place. I believe that Jesus and the disciples and people throughout the millennia who have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit have been conduits through which the miraculous was able to take place. I believe that.

In the same breath, another theological interpretation absolutely exists in regards to this story and it says that when the great assembled throng saw this boy willing turn his dinner over to the one whom they were looking to as the possible messiah, that the people who were watching had their hearts turned so instead of hording for themselves the food that they did carry with them, they began to reveal and share the resources that they carried so that not only were they filled, but so where their neighbors, and their neighbors neighbors, and the neighbors of the neighbors of the neighbors (you get the point).

In either case a miracle occurred. In the one case, it was a water into wine situation. In the other, people stepped beyond their sinful and selfish tendencies to care for one another in a way that no one thought was possible. The disciples said to send the people away. Jesus said, "No. You will feed them." And the disciples, with a major first step from that young boy, did exactly what Jesus said they could do. Their faith, much like the food, was multiplied.

I shared that latter interpretation with my crew, the five people who I was working with during the week down in Wilmington, Delaware, and, for the most part, what I got back were blank stares. Clearly, none of them, including the other adult who was also her church’s lay youth pastor, had heard it before. That was okay, because I just wanted to plant a seed that the miraculous multiplication of God is not just limited to the water into wine side of the miracle equation. God’s love can change out hearts and when the direction of our hearts shift to a Spirit led direction, well look out because amazing and miraculous things will take place.

Well, that seed took hold in the youth pastor’s mind and she talked about that thought with her youth group that evening. She didn’t say that she believed it but she did talk about how that idea of changing hearts and those changed hearts becoming the multiplying power of God’s love really struck her.

The next morning as we piled into the van she talked about how one of the other adults in her group spoke out against that idea. This other adult was so locked into the interpretation that she believed in, that she was unable to see how the miraculous power of God could work through her.

What did Jesus say to his disciples? "You! You give them something to eat. I will help you, I will show you the way, but you will feed all those assembled, and feed them in the loving name of God the Father." Miracles absolutely do happen. Sometimes the most majestic of those miracles is when someone realizes that they are loved, chosen, accepted, and empowered by God to share the love that they have first been given. Because that sort of miracle allows a multiplication situation to ensue. People long to be loved and when they experience the love of God through someone who has had their heart turned (and trust me folks that is how it has to happen for we are the hands and feet of God, we are the disciples who are called to go out and feed the assembled throng), when someone experiences the love of God through someone who has had their heart turned around, they will also have their hearts transformed, and they in turn will long to go out and share that love. One to another, to another, to another. But you’ve got to be willing to share it. You’ve got to be like that young boy who was willing to allow what he had to become the first step to what ultimately fed thousands. You’ve got to be willing to allow yourself to become part of the equation of a multiplication situation (I’m a rhymer, big-timer!).

For those of you who haven’t heard, the Sr. High mission trip experience started off on a difficult foot. Sue Balogh was scheduled to be our third adult but on the Friday before we left on Sunday, she called Des saying that her sister had fallen gravely ill, was on life support, and was going to die when removed she was removed from that support. Obviously, she couldn’t go. So Friday night, in addition to praying for Sue and her family, became a series of back and forth phone calls trying to figure out who might be able to come along as that third adult leader. Trying to replace a female with a female, we thought of Kathleen Ward and Des asked her to consider it. My guess is that Kathleen, pretty quickly, realized that she couldn’t make it work, but she started thinking about it and ended up having a conversation with Roy Provencher. Roy’s been attending here for the last six, seven months and while his skill set absolutely fits a workcamp setting (he is a general contractor type), Kathleen knew there was no guarantee that he could go. Shockingly, as soon as she put it out there, he jumped on it. As someone who has been on several of these trips now, it takes me several days to get physical ready to leave. It takes me several weeks to get mentally and emotionally ready. Roy jumped in some 33 hours before we were scheduled to leave.

I didn’t know Roy all that well. I had played some softball with him and shook his hand at the end of worship, but I didn’t know him. I was utterly amazed at how God was able to work through him to show and share the love of God. Now I know that he would say that it was he who was loved, and I’m sure that did happen, but what I saw was how through his offering, others were built up, others were loved and then how those individuals went out and showed and shared that love. I saw it with the kids from our youth group who began to grow because of the example that he set. I saw it in the hallways of the school that we called home as he would take the time to talk with anyone and everyone. And I do mean really talking with them. I heard about it on the worksite as Roy was helping to complete jobs in hours that others thought would take days. I saw it in the classroom that doubled as a bedroom for seventeen guys where even though he was more than willing to have some fun, he was also able to model what was appropriate. He was willing to share the gift of love that God had given to him and because he was willing to share it, a multiplication situation took place that allowed the love of God to be shared from one to another, to another. While other elements of this trip may fade into the recesses of forgotten memories, the love that Roy was able to share, the love that became the impetus for the miraculously multiplying love of God to be shared one to another, is something that I will not.

A boy sharing his meal was the opening step of a miracle taking place. Roy putting his life on hold for a week and allowing the love of God to flow through him was the opening step of a miracle taking place. The question that I have is will you be willing to take that risk, take that chance, and allow the miraculously multiplying love of God to flow through you? It can happen. It will happen, if you are willing to allow God to work through you.

God has called us, like the disciples were called before us, to care for the people of God. We, like those disciples, wonder how that will be possible. The wonderful thing is, again we, like those disciples, will be able to see how God’s love is able to multiply if we are willing to take that risk and serve. The opportunities will come knocking. They might not be as loud as the door that Roy heard, but they will come. Be willing to open that door because when you do, not only will you be filled and lifted up, but a multiplication situation will absolutely evolve. Trust in the miraculous power of God. It is at work and it is at work in and through each and every one of us.

Holy and gracious God, through the movement of Your Spirit, Your love is able to move through us so that our actions might become the opening step of a multiplication situation. Lord, help us to take that risk so that Your will might be done, Your love might be shared, and Your kingdom is built in the here and now. Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.