sunday sermon snippet 14 dec
“‘Look: the virgin is pregnant, and will have a son, and they shall give him the name Emmanuel,’—which means, in translation, ‘God with us’” — Matthew 1:23
This week’s posting of the Sunday Sermon Snippet comes from this past Sunday’s sermon, “The Present of the Presence of Jesus.” As I said yesterday,
Christmas presents us with the opportunity to learn all over again what it means to open God’s gifts to us, and that all those gifts are ultimately bound up in the gift of his Son.
And one of the gifts bound up in his Son is made clear in the text above, the angel making it clear to Joseph — and us with him — that from the very beginning of his life, one of the names of Jesus would communicate one of the gifts of Jesus — that he is Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.”
We proceeded in the sermon to see, from John’s biography of Jesus in John 6:1-25, two examples of the power of the presence of Jesus. I’ve included a brief section of that sermon below.
And if you’d like to check out the whole sermon, just click here.
Stories of the Power of the Presence of Jesus
John 6:1-15 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. 3 Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a Jewish feast, was near. 5 So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” 6 Jesus asked this to test him, for Jesus himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered Jesus, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have even a little bite.”
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
This is the Word of God.
Let’s observe a few things.
It is no accident that this is happening near the Passover. Friends, it’s a holiday, bringing to mind in God’s people the way things are supposed to be — rescue, deliverance, salvation, abundance, provision, and Promised Land of milk and honey, freedom. All things worth feasting, which is why God gave them a feast to celebrate, a time of nationalistic zeal. And yet, here they are, at a holiday, experiencing oppression, conflict, grieving over loss, surrounded by poverty (barley bread is the bread of the poor, meager rations of pickled fish). It’s a sad state of affairs, and they’re longing for the Messiah, Prophet, and King to deliver them.
Jesus sees this huge crowd coming to him, and he knows what he’s going to do as the supplier of people’s needs. And so, just as Moses asked God in the wilderness about where he’d get meat for the huge crowd he was leading, Jesus asks Philip where they’ll get bread for this huge crowd. He does this to test him, to test his faith, to create a circumstance which will answer the question — will Philip (and the rest) trust that due to the presence of Jesus there will be ample provision?
Nope. All Philip can see is a massive need beyond their means. Even if they had 8 months of wages they still wouldn’t have enough for every person to have a tiny bite. And Andrew, poor Andrew, I mean picture this guy. A little boy comes up to him, shows him his pitiable poor man’s bread of bland barley, and a couple pickled fish, willing to share. And Andrew turns to Jesus, possibly, with a bummed-out resignation, “Man…what is this for 20,000? We’re cooked Jesus.”
But there’s also something really good here. Something we can take from Andrew into our lives and practice — when we’re resigned, and overwhelmed, and feel we’ve nowhere to turn, bring it to the attention of Jesus. He’s always right there with you, ready to hear you out. You may bring to him meager resources that in point of fact are ludicrously inadequate to the need, but bring them to him just the same. Bring it to the attention of Jesus. “You can never tell what he’s going to do with it, though part of the Christian faith is the expectation that he will do something we hadn’t thought of — something new and creative.” (N.T. Wright)
Friend, bring what little you have to Jesus in prayer, and then wait in eager, patient expectation for him to do marvelous things. Like providing a feast, giving you as much as you wanted, filling you full with leftovers besides.
If you’d like to check out the whole sermon, just click here.
