12^th Sunday after Pentecost “No Such Thing as Nothing”

Lectionary 18 (August 3, 2008)

Text: Matthew 14.13-21

Phyllis Stark tells the story of the pastor’s young son who one day decided to launch all his boats to sea, and chose to launch them from the second floor bathroom. Having opened the faucet fully, the boy went back to his room to search for additional boats for his fleet. Time got away from him. Downstairs in his study, the boy’s father looked up to see water dripping through the plaster. He stepped out into the hallway and shouted up the stairs, “What’s going on up there?” His son, having already frantically discovered the disaster in that bathroom, shouted back, “Daddy, this is no time for your Heavenly Father voice. Get a mop!”

Sometimes events call on us to get a mop! The disciples, anxious about all these hungry people out in the wilderness, want Jesus to send them away. Jesus, in essence, tells them to get a mop—“Give them something to eat!” he says. Don’t wring your hands about the situation, but do something about it. I love the disciples’ response: “We have nothing here . . . but five loaves and two fish.” Have you ever noticed how they immediately start out with the negative, “We have nothing”? But when you look at life with eyes of faith, there’s no such thing as nothing.

It’s about ten years ago now that the youth group from First Congregational Church in Auburn, about twenty kids, went to Colorado, and worked on a Habitat for Humanity home. They had a really great experience, and when they returned to Auburn they came up with an idea: they would like to sponsor a Habitat home themselves, there in Auburn.

They did some investigating, and they learned that it would cost about $40,000 to be a sponsor. Usually homes are sponsored by corporations or businesses or large organizations. The Habitat people were a little skeptical, because no youth group had ever sponsored a home before. But the kids talked about it, prayed about it, and did some Bible study which led them to a key verse from Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” They decided that indeed, they could do this.

They began in a wonderful place. If they were going to raise $40,000, they couldn’t do it without complete personal commitment. So each young person made a monetary pledge for themselves of how much they would personally give to this project between August, when they were starting, and the following Easter. Corporately these couple of dozen teenagers pledged about $4,000.

Then they began to brainstorm ways to raise money. They did the usual fundraising activities, of course, but they also wrote to local businesses, spoke to service clubs, and so forth. Their one rule was that they were not allowed to use any word that had an “n’t” in it—so no “can’ts”, no “won’ts”, no “shouldn’ts.” Instead of “I can’t do that,” they had to say the key verse: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

One young woman wanted to have them sell pizzas, ready to pop in the oven, that would be delivered on a particular night. There was not much enthusiasm by the adults for this, for it sounded quite labor intensive; but the girl was convinced it would work. She was a senior at Placer High, and she set about getting the rest of the senior class involved. Out of 400 kids in that class, some 200 were involved in one aspect or another—most of whom, of course, were not involved in this church youth group in any way. They sold the pizzas ahead of time, got businesses to donate the materials, set up an assembly line. On the actual evening of the project, they did it all in about an hour and a half. When they counted their money, they had made $8,000 that night.

When Easter came and they tallied up how close to their goal of $40,000 they had come—well, their total was about $48,000. Their sponsorship became a reality, and a needy family in Auburn became the recipient of a Habitat for Humanity home.

When the disciples were given a challenge to feed hungry people, their response was, “We can’t! We have nothing!” But when these Christian young people took on a challenge to build a house for a poor family, their response was quite different. Even when others tried to say it couldn’t be done, these kids replied, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

What this Scripture lesson teaches us, you see, is that even if we think we have nothing to give, it is never true. What does the catechism say? “God provides me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all I need from day to day.” All I need. All I need. That isn’t just, “all I need for myself”; it is also all I need so that I can share. When you look at life with the eyes of faith, there’s no such thing as nothing. There is only all I need; for I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

How do you respond, when Christ asks you to feed the hungry? Is it like those disciples? Lord, we have nothing here. Do you still need to learn the lesson, that even that nothing, when you bring it to Christ, becomes more than enough—more than enough, so that all can eat and be filled? I love so much the words of a hymn by Dieter Trautwein:

Blessing shrivels up

when your children hoard it;

Help us, Lord, to share,

for we can afford it:

Blessing only grows

in the act of sharing,

In a life of caring

love that heals and glows.

There was an interesting article in the Sacramento Bee this past week about churches that are offering classes in financial management. The economy is a little uncertain, the cost of everything is going up, and many Christians are struggling financially. I’m sure that such classes have been a blessing, and of great help to many, though the fundamental principle for Christians, it seems to me, has to do not so much with managing but with giving. The ELCA has promoted a slogan among high school students: “10-10-80.” It means “give ten percent, save ten percent, and live on eighty percent.” Certainly that’s a simple and very good general approach, one that emphasizing the priority of giving in our financial life.

But in our giving, we so easily fall into the “I can’t do it” mode. When we think we may not have enough, then we grasp what we have more tightly—not just money, of course, but time, commitment, all the “stuff” of life.

I often have told a family story that illustrates this so well. My great-grandfather’s uncle, Captain Billy Johnson, lived in Texas in the 1880’s, quite near a common route for pioneers traveling farther west. Immigrants often stopped by his ranch, looking for a place to spend the night and to find some food and water. One summer there was a drought in that country, and the wells were drying up. Many people stopped offering water to strangers, but not Captain Billy. It may have been only half a bucket that he gave to a traveler, but it was always at least that much. And that summer, they say, Captain Billy’s well was the only one in the county that never ran dry.

It is a strange way that God works with us, is it not? We are always receiving from God, and always giving back. We receive, and we give. We give, and we receive. We bring these offerings to the altar, and then moments later we are receiving: “this is my body, given for you.” Receiving, giving, all bound up in one incredible circle.

The five-year-old came to the pastor’s office on Saturday afternoon with an armload of daisies, so big she was hardly visible behind them. They were from her garden, she said, and she wanted to share them with the church. The pastor was young, and perhaps not very wise. “There are so many,” he said, “Don’t you want to keep some for yourself?” “Oh no,” she smiled. “These are the kind that the more you pick, the more you grow.” In God’s wonderful economy, that’s how it is with everything! The more you give to God and to others in God’s name, the more you receive. Five loaves, two fish, thousands of people—and twelve baskets left over! And all this giving, you see, all this giving God does “out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, though I do not deserve it. Therefore I surely ought to thank and praise, serve and obey him”—and I surely ought to give, and give, and give again what God has given me. If you don’t think so, ask those disciples, each one lugging home a basket of what was left!