Sermon Seeds: Gathering Fragments

Sunday, July 28, 2024
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost | Year B
(Liturgical Color: Green)

Lectionary Citations
2 Samuel 11:1-15 and Psalm 14 • 2 Kings 4:42-44 and Psalm 145:10-18 • Ephesians 3:14-21 • John 6:1-21
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=p&d=66&y=382

Focus Scripture: John 6:1-21
Focus Theme: Gathering Fragments
Series: Here I Am…Following (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

They could be considered leftovers, the remnants of a meal consumed. The diners have been satisfied by a spread so plentiful that there is more than enough to supply another meal in entirety or in part. Leftovers need to be preserved for future use. Their value transcends the moment. They also hold memories of the first seating, not only of the textures and flavors found in the food. They remind the one enjoying the leftovers of the company, conversation, and conditions of the first meal. Leftovers also require a second preparation, which may be as simple as replating them, can involve reheating items grown cold, or can necessitate the crafting of a new meal combining old and new elements.

They could also be considered crumbs. They also give evidence of a meal consumed but more like dust than a potential snack for later. Crumbs typically get swept away by human hands or the power of the wind. They do not offer future sustenance nor are they expected to carry memory. They are like waste intended to be disposed of to bring the serving place back to order.

They are fragments. The whole has been broken, cracked, or divided in some way. A portion has been left unconsumed and in need of tending. What to do with the fragments?

The gospel reading from John tells two familiar stories–the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water. They sandwich a moment of retreat, mentioned so briefly one can almost miss that Jesus withdraws to the mountains to avoid a makeshift, crowd-enthused coronation. The emphasis in these three tightly compressed movements in the text is on the feeding of the crowd who gathered in response to the miraculous signs they have heard that Jesus performed.

Word had spread in the region, and the crowd gathered around Jesus. Some scholars suggest that those who were available to join the crowd were out of work. In other words, circumstances gave them time to spare to discuss the viral news of the day and to seek Jesus out for themselves. Presumably, they hope that this miracle worker can bring a change to their circumstances as well.

All four gospels narrate the story of a miraculous feeding with bread and fish, Matthew and Mark telling some version of it twice (Matt 14:13-21; 15:32-39; Mark 6:32-44; 8:1-10; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15). It is a story that merits multiple tellings, because it is rich in the kinds of detail that make for mesmerizing storytelling—a charismatic protagonist, dubious assistants, a large crowd, an unexpected outcome. Not surprisingly, this story is the stuff of children’s picture Bibles and of stained glass windows. The feeding of the multitude seems to be narrative shorthand for all that is good about life with God. Yet we must be careful when reading and telling this story, lest our sense of familiarity with its content—and its “message”—rob us of a sense of newness and discovery. The boy in v. 9, a detail unique to the Johannine story, is often pointed to in sermons and retellings as an example of unselfishness, since he offers his food to Jesus. But read the story carefully—it never says that the boy offered his food to Jesus, only that Andrew pointed out the boy and his food to Jesus. Jesus makes use of the boy’s food to feed the crowd (v. 11), but how he got that food is not part of the story. Similarly, we regularly talk about how Jesus rose to the occasion and fed the hungry crowd, but the crowd’s hunger is nowhere mentioned explicitly as a motivation for Jesus’ actions.
Gail R. O’Day

While O’Day correctly points out that we do not observe the boy willingly give his prepared lunch to the disciples, it would hardly fit the character of Jesus’ ministry to take it from him. Jesus employs an invitational approach so that even if the disciples note the boy’s provisions, it is unlikely that they would possess them without consent. It is also hard to imagine that in this crowd of thousands that there would not have been others who packed provisions for the day making the significance of this youth’s sharing more pronounced.

In the synoptic accounts, the gospel writers note that women and children were not counted in the number. Perhaps, John, the last to narrate the account, assumes the reader knows that. Certainly, custom would suggest that under normal circumstances the presence of this boy would not have been noted. Yet, his presence is instrumental to one of the most well-known and spectacular miracles recorded, and the only miracle, outside of the resurrection, to be recounted in all gospel narratives.

Without hunger, childlike generosity, and the Eucharist, a new story emerges from John 6:1-15. This story helps us understand the test that Jesus posed for his disciples (v. 6) and helps us see Jesus in a full light. Jesus does not feed this crowd because they were hungry; Jesus feeds this crowd simply because they are. Reminiscent of the parable of the friend at midnight (Luke 11:5-8), the demands of hospitality compel Jesus to attend to this crowd. Jesus does not act because the crowd expected any food from him. The story makes their motivation explicit—they followed him because of the healing he did with the sick, not because of anything to do with food. Jesus acts because his identity and responsibility as host leaves him no choice but to offer hospitality to those who come to him. To be a host is to exercise the hospitality of grace toward others, and this story shows that it does not matter whether the other is one friend who comes at midnight or a crowd of five thousand who come during the day.
Gail R. O’Day

Still, the crowd has not come for food or nourishment. They have come for change. There is more than hospitality at work in this encounter. In the synoptic accounts, Jesus has been teaching. John makes no note of that. In fact, here Jesus seems to observe them from a distance. His elevated position here allows him to see them advance toward him rather than provide a platform upon which to speak to them. This account is found within John’s Book of Signs, where the glory is revealed primarily through demonstration not explanation. As the gospel writer illustrates throughout the work, feeding and feasts form a consistent avenue for revealing the reign and realm of God.

As at the wedding at Cana, the theme in the feeding story is abundance, stunning in its quality, quantity, and its very existence. Jesus’ concern for feeding the crowd comes as a surprise, for there is no sign that they expect him to provide lunch. The story would seem to demonstrate responsibility toward the hungry. The crowd does not ask to be fed; rather, it is Jesus who takes this daunting task upon himself. The story emphasizes the wonder inherent in Jesus’ ability to feed such a big crowd with a mere five loaves and two fish, but perhaps the larger miracle is the concern to provide for others in the first place. Many ordinary individuals are capable of doing the same. And yet, the discourse that follows does not address this theme but, on the contrary, directs attention away from human needs and responsibilities and focuses instead on forms of “spiritual nourishment” that many in that same crowd refuse or are unable to digest.
Adele Reinhartz

The crowd wants to make him king, but Jesus has no need nor desire for that action. Particularly, in this account, he does not even engage in teaching to further reveal his identity. The experience is enough, and Jesus is as satisfied with it as the crowd. He retreats to the mountain where he first noticed their approach. This time, it provides a place to distance himself from their reach and also the presence of the disciples. Jesus later rejoins the disciples by walking on water to get on their boat. It terrifies them in a way that the first sign does not. Both display his power, sovereignty over creation, and divine nature. Perhaps, the terror began with the feeding of the multitude but went unexpressed. Perhaps, during the time when Jesus retreated, the disciples had a separate conversation or internal reflection that his power was too much for them to comprehend or process.

We don’t know their thoughts but the text recounts their next move: they move on without waiting for Jesus. Perhaps, it was their routine. Perhaps, they planned to return after doing some fishing. Perhaps, Jesus had shared their next destination and they thought to give him space and meet him in Capernaum. Only when they hear his voice with words of assurance are their fears calmed.

What to do with the fragments? Three unequal and seemingly disjointed stories tethered together within the Book of Signs beg the question. The answer may be found in the direction Jesus gives his committed if uncertain followers: “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” (v. 12)

Jesus wants it all. Nothing is lost. The source of transformation or provision may be found in unlikely places, yet in Christ, whatever we have, receive, and share becomes magnified. Our doubts, misunderstandings, overzealousness, and fears cannot hinder the reign of God. The abundance found in creation and re-creation not only can satisfy; it provides for the future.

Sometimes, we are the fragments. Certainly, we live in a fragmented world that specializes in othering, sowing division, and building barriers to community and the common good. As followers of Jesus, we receive the command anew to gather the fragments so that none may be lost. Gather the fragments of hope in the midst of despair, of peace when confronted with ceaseless violence and acrimony, of joy despite rising rage, and of love to overcome indifference, fear, and hate.

What is the church to do in times like these? Offer what we have to the Holy One, participate in the miraculous, and gather the fragments.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“Afro-American Fragment”
—Langston Hughes
So long,
So far away
Is Africa.
Not even memories alive
Save those that history books create,
Save those that songs
Beat back into the blood–
Beat out of blood with words sad-sung
In strange un-Negro tongue–
So long,
So far away
Is Africa.

Subdued and time-lost
Are the drums–and yet
Through some vast mist of race
There comes this song
I do not understand,
This song of atavistic land,
Of bitter yearnings lost
Without a place–
So long,
So far away
Is Africa’s
Dark face.

For Further Reflection
“I like to synthesize; I hate analysis. I don’t like to take a subject and break it down into parts; I like to take disparate parts and put them all together and see what happens. I believe the old saw that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Of course, it may also be less. But it’s the parts that interest me; it’s not the whole.” ― Gilbert Sorrentino
“Great ideas emerges from useless fragments of thoughts.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson
“Instead of adding forms where nothing existed, I would recollect the fragments I’d left behind. If I left something in every city I’ve ever lived, with every person I’ve ever loved, at every building I’ve ever called home, then I would go looking.” ― Xuan Juliana Wang

Works Cited
O’Day, Gail R. “John 6:1-15.” Interpretation 57, no. 2 (April 2003): 196–98.
Reinhartz, Adele. “John” Gale A. Yee, Ed. Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
This sermon series invites us to explore the call to Christian discipleship and to examine our response. Invite the congregation to explore what fragments within and beyond the faith community may be gathered.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/after-pentecost-10b-july-28/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.