Sunday, July 28, 2024
/Proper 12
2 Kings 4:42-44; Psalm 145:10-19; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21
The Rev. Jeff Bohanski
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
I like to pray these last of Psalm 19 when I speak at this pulpit because the Dietrich Bonhoeffer family prayed them regularly. I’ve read that the family prayed Psalm 19 on New Year’s Eve when the clock finished chiming twelve. They also prayed Psalm 19 as part of their family’s birthday celebration ritual. The Bonhoeffer family made the words of Psalm 19 their words in prayer. I use these words and strive to do the same. The Bible teaches us to pray. The Book of Common Prayer is mostly scripture.
I must admit, this week I struggled with the words in these readings this week. I didn’t feel much like eating bread. I didn’t want anyone to be in my boat but me. I was having my own pity party.
After the power came back (Which was a week after hurricane Beryl), we noticed we had two water issues. So, this week we’ve been dealing with contractors, plans of action, and our insurance company. We’ve spent countless hours waiting for workers to show up in their awful time windows, you know, “We’ll be there between 12:00 and 4:00, but we’ll call when we are on the way.” Poor me.
Then there was the rain. I bet you are as tired of the rain as I am. I heard yesterday that Houston has had over 11 inches of rain just this month! This weekend we went to a downtown hotel so we could enjoy a nice swimming pool in order to celebrate Victor’s birthday. Of course, it rained! We only had a couple of hours in the pool as it rained then stopped and started again. It was cool day — a mere 80 degrees. It was not the hot sunny July day we had hoped for. Poor, poor me.
This week I’ve had a difficult time being in the house because it looks and feels like a warehouse. The guest room mattress is propped up against our dresser. We have to move the mattress to get clothes from the dresser. We’ve had an endless parade of workers parading through the house pounding and removing Sheetrock. We have a gaping hole of about 5 feet by six feet in our guest room ceiling. Don’t get me started about the noise a drying fan makes. I couldn’t walk outside because it was always raining! I know these are first world minor problems, but poor, poor, poor me.
So, I struggled to write this sermon. Struggling is not necessarily a bad thing. We struggle in all our relationships. Why shouldn’t my relationship with God and Scripture be any different? I think struggle can be a sign of honest life.
Anyway, yesterday I revisited the podcast, Working Preacher’s Sermon Brainwave for some last minute inspiration. In this week’s podcast one of commentators mentioned that in John’s telling of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes story a boy is mentioned. She suggested a person preaching on today’s readings might spend time thinking about the boy. She wondered out loud who the boy was. She asked what he felt or thought of when he remembered the day as an adult. This special day when he gave his lunch of fish and bread to Jesus and Jesus fed the great crowd with it.
This morning I’d like to add my two cents about the boy. My first thought was about my father. He would say that he had an aunt that would say children should be seen and not heard. He remembered how he had to be extra quiet when this aunt was visiting.
I know Jesus didn’t and doesn’t feel the same was as my father’s aunt did concerning children. I know Jesus believes children should be seen and heard. Children are full members of our community. I believe Jesus most likely looked at the boy with great love and kindness. I bet when the boy met Jesus’ gaze and felt his love, he offered his small lunch of bread and fish freely and with great joy. I’m sure the boy was quite proud he could help Jesus. And I’m also sure Jesus hugged the boy and said, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
The Miriam-Webster dictionary gives the definition of of righteousness as: acting in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin. I believe the boy was righteous. He fully experienced Jesus’ full and complete love and showed it by giving his bread and fish freely with love. Look what Jesus did when a boy gave out of love for Jesus.
I wonder if the lesson of the boy in my ponderings is that we are called by Jesus to bring ourselves and our stuff to Jesus. The boy brought himself, gave his gift and Jesus fed the great crowd. We can bring ourselves and our fears, our sorrows, and our stress to Jesus. He will love us for who we are and change our fear to courage, our sorrows into comfort and our stress into peace. We can bring him our struggles, our frustrations, fears, anger, and anxieties and he will love us for just who we are and be with us. Our feelings, our stuff will become bearable.
I like to think Jesus’ invitation to the boy is our invitation. My friends, I invite you to individually and collectively to bring you, yourself and your issues to Jesus and his love will make you whole. His love will give you/us strength. I invite us all to walk in Christ’s love. Amen