Everyone Counts.

8-2-2020

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

On a Monday in January of 2012, the day after I was ordained as a pastor, I started my first day of something we used to call “Baby Pastor School,” right down the road in Malvern. Most of that week is a blur, but I remember participating in the “new” practice of “Dinner church,” pioneered by pastor, church planter, and writer, Emily Scott. Ever since, I’ve wanted to try leading one.  Obviously due to the circumstances, we couldn’t have our own “Dinner Church” on Maundy Thursday of 2020, so for the time being, will have to settle for reading about it in Pastor Emily’s recently published book, entitled, “For All Who Hunger.”

Pastor Emily didn’t grab the “Dinner Church” concept out of thin air. The Bible is full of stories about God feeding hungry people (you may have noticed if you are reading along with our 90 Day Bible Challenge!) God gave the people of Israel bread from heaven as they journeyed through the wilderness. We just heard of how Jesus fed more than 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and two fish fillets. And also on the first Maundy Thursday, Jesus shared a special meal with his closest friends.

Today we actually have a two very different meals mentioned. The first, which happened “off stage” if you will, is the birthday party of Herod. At this wild party where wealth, food, and wine flowed, Herod, rather than blowing out candles and making a wish himself, promised to grant any wish to his stepdaughter. He had just put her on display to be leered at by himself and others while she danced for him. And now, the girl’s mother, Herod’s wife, used her daughter to get what Herod’s wife really wanted: head of John the Baptist on a platter.  

When he heard the news, Jesus grieved and tried to regroup - since surely once John was gone, Jesus would be Herod’s next target. But the crowds would not let Jesus lay low for long. And instead of sending the crowds away, Jesus had compassion on them, healed their sick, and fed them.

At this surprise feast of Jesus, which some have named “the feeding of the five thousand,” EVERYONE is fully satisfied. In fact, this name “Feeding of the 5000” is a misnomer, since women and children weren’t counted in that “5000” number. Unofficial Biblical scholarship estimates that there could have been up to 20,000 people present, and to “forget” or “leave out” the women and children really diminishes the miracle, doesn’t it?

These two feasts could not be more different. In Herod’s birthday banquet, where John the Baptist was killed, the guest list was limited to a very exclusive and elite group of powerful people. In this select assembly were the regions’ rich and powerful, and they feasted on the best food and had the “best” entertainment – including gawking at a young girl. In the end this party led only to evil – child exploitation, power plays, and the silencing of a prophetic voice.

Jesus’s party leads to life – all are fed and all are healed – men, women, and the children there too. Jesus has no guest list. Jesus doesn’t ask them for their credentials, he didn’t call their references, and he didn’t demand they prove their need. Instead, he heals and feeds twenty thousand people.

Even though the menu is just two items, at Jesus’ party, there is always enough for everyone. Like the woman in Jesus’ parable from last week, taking just a little yeast and mixing it into dough to make it rise, Jesus only needs a little bit in order to do great things.  Five loaves of bread and two fish to feed twenty thousand. Just a small seed is needed for faith to grow. Just a few sproutlets planted among the weeds. Just twelve rough-necks who would later do miracles in Jesus name. Just some women at the right place at the right time, to bear witness to an empty tomb.

But the story doesn’t stop there. After Jesus takes the bread and the fish, he asked the disciples to hand out this sustaining meal, to do his work. We are the ones sent out. It may be God’s work that we do, but it is our hands that make it happen. This, after all, is the ELCA Tagline – “God’s work, our hands.”

But just like the women and children being left out in the original 5000 count… it is the women who model what discipleship actually means, at the empty tomb and beyond. All too often, we, like the male disciples, look around us and wonder how can Jesus care about all THOSE people, too? I mean, I want MY bit of bread and fish… but send THEM away, Jesus. Surely there could never be enough of Jesus for everyone. Better keep some Jesus back, just in case. Surely, there are some people who shouldn’t make it into the count.

It sounds ridiculous… but it sort of what we just keep doing isn’t it?

In her book, Pastor Emily Scott describes going to church with her parents, then going out to lunch afterward (remember those days?). On their way, they would pass kids on the street who were not so lucky as to expect a hot meal on the horizon. Scott writes, “At church, we had just celebrated a meal where everyone … was welcome…. Wouldn’t Jesus have invited them in for lunch?... We claimed that communion would feed the hungry…. What would happen if we actually did what we said we were doing?” (31). And so out of this hunger, her congregation and their practice of Dinner Church was born – sharing both communion AND a community-cooked meal, with EVERYONE who walks through the door being welcomed. REALLY welcomed. Welcomed, counted, and honored.

Even though right now, we are not equipped to celebrate communion together safely, we can still live our lives in a way that reflects our participation in the body of Christ. Just as Jesus gives life to people in something as simple as a full stomach, we are called to do the same. Especially right now. There is enough to go around if some of us can learn to stop hoarding the baskets. And stop hoarding Jesus.

There is a place for everyone at God’s table. Everyone counts in God's kingdom. Unfortunately, though, not everyone has a seat at the table, or counts where it matters, when it comes to adequate food and resources to live a full and healthy life. Millions of people around the world and here in our own country face hunger and poverty every day, and it’s only gotten worse in this pandemic.

But just as those little bits of food added up to 12 baskets of leftovers, our small actions can have a big impact. You can encourage our representatives to protect programs that help the most vulnerable among us.

The feast that Jesus provides for us – rather than the feast of the Herods of the world – is about sharing what we have been given by our generous God, no matter how insignificant the offering seems. Jesus shared his life with the likes of us, giving us his life so that we may live too. We count. And then Jesus hands the work over - to us - to keep on healing and feeding in his name, until all of God’s people are filled and made whole – spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Especially for those who the world discounts.

As Kathleen Bertrand so beautifully sang at the funeral for Congressman John Lewis – “If I can help somebody, as I pass along, then my living shall not be in vain.” “God’s work, our hands.” Thanks be to God. Amen.