Sermon:
February 13, 2000

Scripture:
Mark 6:30-44

This week a headline in the Wall Street Journal read, "Analyze This. As good times roll, what are Americans worried about now? Fresh, low-grade anxieties seem to pop up anew; Frights to fill the void." This intriguing headline reflects the paradox of our time. We, Americans, are in the 107^th month of economic prosperity while peppered with downsizing anxiety made real by the announcement in the same issue that Coca Cola was laying off 6,000. Not one to shirk a challenge to "Analyze This," here I go!

The article reports that crime is down substantially while fear is up. We live longer than ever, yet fear death more. We pursue health fads, exercise and diets, yet medical costs soar. Even if we experience these as "the best of times," we feel insecure and anxious. Perhaps Charles Dickens got it right when in the same sentence he wrote, "these are also the worst of times." Anxiety is reported to have taken over depression as the number one mental health problem in our society. What is this all about?

I would like to hypothesize that this attitude is born of a scarcity mentality. As an economics major in undergraduate school I learned that the definition of economics is the allocation of scarce resources. The "dismal science" as it was called. I further learned that competition is our preferred method of allocation of scarce resources. These were bedrock convictions taught at that time of how the world worked. The gospel of Adam Smith was the good news.

This understanding, that life is a zero sum game allocating a fixed amount of scarce resources, has clearly taken hold even beyond the realm of economics. In education we have grading on the curve. In the psychological and emotional realms we have therapists who survive because of the fear and perception that love, affirmation and self-esteem are a zero sum game in limited supply. All around us, whether we have a lot or a little, we worry whether it is enough. We feel more insecure the larger our homes get, or the bigger our cars get. What is this all about?

Jesus invites us to break the scarcity habit, cast away our insecurities and place our trust in God in order to experience the reality of abundance. Simultaneously, the economy of Adam Smith is structured on the understanding of scarcity. Jesus gives us a case study of God's economy. The story you just heard of the loaves and fishes is that case study. If you are like me, you were taught this story as a miracle rather than a reality story. That is a shame because what we call the miracle is, in fact, a reality and not magic. Let us return to this gospel tale and the context in which it occurs.

"The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. And he said to them, `Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile.' For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in a boat to a lonely place by themselves." MK 6:30-32

Imagine yourself in the story. Have you ever completed a day at work, home or school and are so excited about what you accomplished that you can't wait to go home to a lonely place and share the news with a friend, partner or parent? At such times we are focused on ourselves, our accomplishments, and want another to enjoy our excitement with us. You also know that there are times when you need to get away and rest because you didn't even have a moment to grab a bite to eat that day. Have you ever arrived home exhausted and excited and hear the words, "Let's get away, let's sneak away to the den or the family room to be by ourselves, just the two of us together." This is a real life situation not just for the disciples but for ourselves. Jesus always addresses the realities of our daily existence in His stories.

The story continues, "Now many saw them going and knew them and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. As Jesus landed, he saw a great throng and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things." MK 6:33-34

Now back at home after a full day, picture this. Just when you expect to have that well deserved rest from your busyness, you find a house full of teens who, like sheep, seem aimless, running around and needing direction. This situation is about our lives, our families, the competing demands for our attention. At the very moment we seek and need rest, others whom we love and care about, sometimes need us more. Imagine how the disciples must have felt when they came home tired, expecting a break and wanting to share their day with Jesus. Their scarce time was being invaded. Jesus did not deny the need for rest. He was the one who suggested it in the first place. But now He sees a greater need and tends to the throng's thirst for teaching and direction. Jesus instinctively recognizes that the crowd needs order, boundaries and guidance. At that moment Jesus decides that these needs supercede His need for rest. As a disciple, partner or friend you might be a bit miffed at Jesus regarding His change of mind for rest and relaxation is a precious commodity in our busy lives.

The story goes on, "and when it grew late his disciples came to him and said, `this is a lonely place and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the country and villages 'round about and buy themselves something to eat.'" MK 6:35-36

How human, how understandable the disciples' feelings when the hour is late. They sense that if they don't do something, the people will hang around and expect to be fed. In the meantime, if you don't send the horde of unexpected teens off to Burger King now, you may have to scrounge around in the cupboard, which you instinctively know is woefully inadequate to satisfy their teen-size appetites. Besides, if they go off to Burger King, they are out of your house and you can finally relax. Many circumstances have not changed from Jesus' time to now. Perhaps you can relate to the disciples' feelings in asking Jesus to send the crowd away to buy something to

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eat. Notice the word `buy.' The disciples are sending the people out on the economy to enter into a consumer transaction. They are living out of an attitude of scarcity and see that the solution to their dilemma is to send the people out. How often do we solve our problems by saying, "let's go buy it," whether it's entertainment, education, therapy or love. So far it's easy for me to identify with the disciples in their logical thinking and at times their scarcity mentality.

Then Jesus answered them. "You give them something to eat." MK 6:37a

You can imagine what it must have been like to hear that statement, " you give," not buy. Heck, Jesus didn't even know what people had in their possession. It was absurd to imagine feeding a crowd of 5,000 at the end of an exhausting day out of nothing. Who does he think we are? Magicians?

"Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" MK 6:37b.

My reaction, as theirs might have been, is to tell Jesus, "Give us a break." First, of all two hundred denarii is a huge sum of money (1 denarius = a day's wage), more than any one of the disciples would have made in six months. They are essentially saying to Jesus, "You've got to be kidding. We don't have that kind of money. You, Jesus are saying don't send the 5,000 away, to buy food, and now you are saying we are not to go buy food. What are we to do?"

Jesus responds to them, "How many loaves have you? Go round and see." MK 6: 38

Listen to those words. Jesus asks what seems impossible. You know there is not enough, you know we can't afford it, why ask us to take our time for an impossible task? What do you mean "go round and see." It seems so obvious to the disciples. They know the reality of the crowd. Can you relate to the lack of enthusiasm with which the disciples carried out Jesus' ridiculous request? You perhaps can visualize them as they scan the crowd, giving a perfunctory glance around. Particularly if you already believe there is not enough, it is probably a self-fulfilling prophecy. So their quick scan comes up with five loaves and two fishes. You can almost hear them reporting to Jesus, "I told you so. Now send them away so that they can go buy themselves something to eat, and then we don't have to deal with the fact that there is not enough." At this point we learn that Jesus does not share their attitude of scarcity. In fact, we quickly discover that Jesus is not discouraged by their response and doesn't even scold them, but merely sets out to be an example. You can perhaps see Jesus asking the disciples, "Is `five loaves and two fish' ( MK 6:38) your final answer?"

Mark tells us, "Then he commanded them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass. So they sat down in groups by one hundreds and by fifties." MK 6: 39-40. Note the action here. Jesus is breaking down this seemingly huge crowd into small groups to create a more human scale. The anonymity of large groups is broken down into the intimacy of small groups. No wonder large churches that are thriving are doing so in the context of small groups. This episode applies. Jesus is organizing communities where you might personally recognize the others and be in relationship as you might members of a family.

And then we have the famous action by Jesus. Listen closely. "And 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 to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces and of the fish and those who ate the loaves were 5,000 people." MK 6:41-44

Could it be that Jesus is saying - the 5,000 do not have to go out beyond themselves and buy? You disciples do not have to go out beyond yourselves and buy. What we have in the midst of this community is enough. This is all we need. All will be fed. Miracle or reality? Note again the action taken by Jesus. He takes, blesses, breaks and gives. You recognize this sacramental act. This is communion. It is what we do when we receive the offerings. We take, invoke God's blessing, break them down through the budget and distribute them. These actions are about taking what we have, not what we might like to have, dividing it up and finding - much to our amazement that it is enough. Where the disciples saw scarcity, five loaves and two fish, Jesus saw abundance. He recognized that needs could be met from the available resources. Miracle or reality? Think about it. How come Jesus has a different view of the same situation? Jesus sees abundance where the disciples see scarcity.

I imagine the scene again. We are now in small groups where we know each other, see each other eye to eye. Imagine those that have followed Jesus all day and have listened to his teachings. Some have brought little knapsacks containing a morsel of bread for the day. Since these were fishermen, it is reasonable to assume that they might have caught and packed some fish in their bags. When Jesus issued his first request to the disciples to find out how much there is in the midst of community and then distribute it, can you imagine the people's reaction as the disciples' gaze goes to their pouches and satchels? As they are say to themselves, "I can't give up what little I have. Besides it won't make any difference." You can see them hiding from the view of the disciples what they actually had. A very human response. At times we all say we can't make a difference, the problems are too overwhelming. I have so little. I must keep what I have for me. But Jesus understood that if every one had a little bit, and some more than others, and if it were shared rather than hoarded, there would be enough for everyone.

Picture yourself in a small group, when there is a need among you Do you hold back? Do you worry whether you have enough? Or do you reach in and help because the person in need is someone you know, a face you recognize? Jesus was wise in breaking the group down because he understood that when need is personalized, we are more responsive than when faced with anonymous large crowds. And so in each small group, when they saw someone they knew take out a small piece of fish and a morsel of bread to share, they said to themselves, I can do that too. I have a small piece to share. When everyone shares, surprisingly, as we are told, there is more than enough. "And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces and of the fish and those who ate the loaves were 5,000 people." MK 6:43-44.

Miracle or reality? My hypothesis is that it is reality if we participate in God's economy and the community of faith we will experience abundance rather than scarcity. The transforming act that converted the situation from scarcity to abundance was the act of community not self-interest. Jesus did not act alone. Everyone is involved in making the miracle happen. This story raises the question for our church, for ourselves about whether we share in an attitude of abundance or an attitude of scarcity.

Dr. Steve Long, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and author of the forthcoming book, The Divine Economy: Theology and the Market, made the noteworthy statement when he was here for University of Life about communion being central to Christian worship. He said that he never came to the Lord's Supper when there was not enough bread and wine for all. His claim is that in the act of the blessing, breaking and giving, there is always enough; so, why do I believe this is not a miracle but instead a recounting of the way it is in God's Economy?

The first example I should give comes from my economics training and the theory of money and the multiplier effect made so famous by the econometricians at the University of Chicago. Money that is hoarded or placed under the mattress does not grow, whereas money invested grows through what is called the multiplier effect. Thus one hundred dollars saved gets used and reused and reused in the economy. Could it be that Jesus was the first economist who understood the theory that something hoarded did not create wealth?

But the real proof to me came in an experience I had when serving a church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I was attending a stewardship conference in our diocese. In my small breakout group were people from St. Agnes Church, an old, large inner-city church in the Liberty City section, one of the poorest areas in Miami, the scene of riots a few years earlier. We were having a conversation about our upcoming finance campaigns. My church habitually struggled with its budget. Very little went for missions even though the congregation consisted of a large group of affluent members as we were located on the water in one of the nicest areas of Ft. Lauderdale. The most familiar phrase in our leadership discussions was, "we can't do that, there is no money in the budget, we can barely pay our bills." We were one of the wealthiest congregations in our diocese yet felt poor, never seemingly having enough. On the other hand, as we listened to the representatives from St. Agnes where the wealthiest parishioner made $40,000 a year and a significant segment of their congregation was on welfare and unemployed, they were telling the story of all the ministries they were funding from their budget with pledges from their members. They were operating a 24/7 homeless shelter and food kitchen, a counseling center, a job placement service, programs for teen mothers, English as a second language, ...the list of ministries seemed endless and astonishing given the perceived poverty in the congregation compared to ours. I felt put to shame. Why did I feel that way? Where we saw scarcity in the midst of our wealth, they saw abundance in the midst of their poverty. They were a community living out the story of the loaves and fishes. I suspect there is a similar tale to be told here in Detroit.

If God's economy teaches us to love people and use things, the consumer economy on the other hand defines persons in terms of things owned and urges us to love things and use people. Our society's most potent educational force, advertising, teaches that our hunger for intimacy, security, success and meaning can be satisfied by conspicuous consumption. I think we all know that the deepest human needs cannot be met by owning and consuming products, but by the sharing of love in communities, as Jesus taught that day on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The first time I visited London and rode the tube, or the underground as they call it, I was startled by the voice over head which bellowed out as the trains came screeching into the station and their doors opened, "Mind the gap, Mind the gap." Those words for me pose the Christian challenge of tending the gap between God's economy and our human societal economy. We are called to close the gap between God's world of abundance and our world of scarcity. Jesus invites us to reconcile our perception that five loaves and two fishes are not enough and tend the reality that it just might be!

As I analyzed this gap, I was drawn to a journal I wrote eight years ago while on a retreat in Cuernavaca , Mexico. During this retreat I visited a shanty town behind the rail yard in the center city where I encountered unexpected hospitality in a "home" situated amidst open sewers, and the makeshift hovels of corrugated tin and scrounged materials. This home was one room illumined by a bare light bulb housing a dog, pig, assorted fowl and a young child. I was welcomed with open arms, a joyous smile and given a flower by the woman who lived there and who proudly showed off her neat and clean home to me. It was clear she was proud of it and cared for it. An entry in my journal for January 21, 1992, written after we had spent several days among the poorest of the poor in this shanty town, reads as follows. "At home we have incredible material wealth, but have become spiritually impoverished in the pursuit of that wealth. Here I see that the people are materially impoverished, yet are spiritually rich." This is the gap Jesus called us to mind. This campesino woman showed me an attitude of abundance and that has made all the difference.

God has taught us to experience an abundant world and challenged us to distribute God's abundance in a just and merciful manner closing the material and spiritual gaps I encountered on my Mexican retreat. God's economics is indeed THE HOPEFUL SCIENCE, but our culture has taught us to experience scarcity and economics as THE DISMAL SCIENCE. If God's kingdom is breaking in, then it is our responsibility to "Analyze This: `Mind the gap.'"