Here’s what happens to me — sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the need in the world. There are so many people who need help…Foster kids and refugees. Homeless folks and people with addictions. Families in countries devastated by wars. Families in communities devastated by fires and floods and storms. People who can’t pay their rent and people who can’t pay their medical bills. Folks who need help keeping food on the table and folks who struggle to find…or keep …a job. Adults and kids with depression and anorexia and all kinds of mental illnesses…who fight to make it through an ordinary day.
There is an endless list of folks who have been hurt …physically and spiritually…folks who always seem to get the short end of the stick…you know how one thing after another goes wrong….who have never had the luck we had…..getting to go to school…having family or a community that cared…not having to spend every day just figuring out how to stay alive.
The need…in this world…is overwhelming. And we hear about all of it. Thanks to our digital age…the news of all the globe is in our hands…on our screens…24 hours a day. And we can feel helpless. What can we do, after all, in the face of all those who need our help?
Jesus and his disciples did not live in our global age. They didn’t have to contend with a constant influx of “Go Fund Me” campaigns….but trust me, they still knew what it was to be overwhelmed by the constant need of others. They lived in a world where there were beggars on every corner…where every lame child and blind man and sick woman…had no other option, but to ask help from passersby. And these were the ones that were most drawn to Jesus…they followed him everywhere…by the thousands…crowds…mobs. Even when he tried to get away and rest…they tracked him down. It was as relentless as social media. And the disciples are ready to send them away. “Jesus…it’s getting late and they’re all getting hungry — and it’s not like we invited them to follow us out here in the middle of nowhere — tell them to move on. Go get their own supper. We’ve done enough.” It’s too much. They are done. Overwhelmed. And Jesus says…”nah…you feed them. You’ve got your dinner — 5 loaves and 2 fish — share it.”
Now…we all know that that is not enough for 5000 people. Not even close. Not even sort of close. This is ludicrous. But here’s the thing. In the face of overwhelming need….Jesus wants us to quit worrying about how little we have…and just care about people. Do what we can with what we have….and trust that somehow, that will be more than enough. Trust Jesus…that it will be more than enough.
Do what we can with what we have. But, Jesus…what if we need it later? And he just says, ‘Trust…that there will be more than enough.’
This is what it means to live by faith. This is what it means to be the church. We use what we have, when we have it, to love the world. And we trust Jesus that it will be more than enough.
We trust Jesus…when we are overwhelmed by the need of others. And we also trust Jesus…when we are overwhelmed by our own circumstances. I love that these two stories…of the hungry crowds and the terrified disciples…come right after one another.
Battered by waves…the disciples in the boat don’t even recognize Jesus when he comes to them walking on top of the water. They are so overwhelmed by their own fear….they see Jesus and cannot imagine that he is real. But he is. He is real. And he is really there. Right along side of them. Unruffled by the storm. Unbattered by the waves. Jesus comes to them….and asks them to trust him. To not be afraid.
But Peter is not content to just trust. He wants to be like Jesus. He wants to be able to walk calmly through the storms as well. But of course, he can’t. The storms are just too much…and his fear sinks him. But Jesus is there…and he catches him with his hand….holding him fast and putting him back in the boat.
This makes sense to me. Because the storms of life can sink me so easily. And sometimes it doesn’t even take as storm…I’ve seen a teeny tempest in a teacup sink me. Fear is so sneaky…it creeps in at the slightest opportunity. Fear of the future. Fear of being wrong. Fear of looking foolish. Fear of strangers. Fear of conflict. Fear of the unknown. Fear of not having enough. Fear of not being enough. All those fears creep in…and threaten to overwhelm us. Drown us. Why? Because we can’t walk on water. We’re not Jesus. We don’t have all the answers and we can’t help everybody and we can’t save the world….we can’t even save ourselves.
But we don’t have to. Thank God. We don’t have to.
You and I do not have to calm the storms of life…we aren’t called to singlehandedly stop the chaos around the world. And we don’t have to figure out how to feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. All we have to do…is trust Jesus. All we have to do…is do what we can with what we have…and trust Jesus. That Jesus is enough. That Jesus is exceedingly, abundantly, more than enough.
In these stories, the disciples…and us along with them….are invited to quit worrying about not having enough…about not being enough. They …and we…are invited to stop being afraid. And to trust the abundant love and grace of Jesus. With everything we have. The need of the world may overwhelm you…but it doesn’t overwhelm Jesus. The storms may overwhelm you…but they won’t overwhelm Jesus.
Here’s the thing. We go along so often…thinking we have to handle this all our selves. And we won’t. We can’t. We’ll sink. Our fears will get inside us and we’ll panic. But Jesus is there.
Yes, just like Peter, when we are sinking…when we cry out “Lord, Save me!”…we will find that Jesus is there. When we turn our eyes off ourselves and look to Jesus to save us….we will realize he’s got us by the hand. He’s had us by the hand all along. We’ve always been safe. It was never up to us.
Dear friends…that’s what we need to remember this morning. When the need is overwhelming and the storms rage….the Lord of all creation…the Lord of wind and rain and daily bread…the Lord of exceeding abundance…has got you by the hand. Jesus,the Savior of the world…your Savior….has you and holds you and won’t let you go. Amen.
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