A Heart for All People - Rev Dr Kelly Sprinkle 6-22-25

Reading: Matthew 15:29-39 by Gail McClain

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Going on from Tire and Sidon, Jesus came to the
shore of the Sea of Galilee, then went up into
the hills. He sat there, and large crowds gathered, bringing
with them people who had physical deformities, or couldn't walk,

(00:21):
or were blind or deaf, and many others. These they
put down at Jesus feet, and he healed them. The
crowds were astonished as they saw people who had been mute, speaking,
people who had been deformed whole again, people who had

(00:43):
been lame walking about, and people who had been blind seeing,
and they gave glory to the God of Israel. Jesus
called together the disciples and said, my heart goes out
to all the people. By now, they have been with

(01:03):
us three days and have nothing to eat. I don't
want to send them away hungry. They might collapse on
the way home. The disciples said to Jesus, where could
we get food enough in this deserted place to feed
such a crowd. Jesus asked, how many loaves of bread

(01:27):
do you have? Seven, they replied, and a few small fish.
Then he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground.
He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks,
then broke them and gave them to the disciples, who

(01:48):
gave them to the crowds. All ate until they were full.
When they gathered up the leftover fragments, they filled seven
bads bskets. Four thousand families were fed. After Jesus had
dismissed the crowd, he got into the boat and sailed

(02:11):
to the region of Magadon.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
The early emerging church seemed so idealistic that they had
everything perfect in line in Acts two. In this early
forming what we become the church. They lived together in harmony,
They sold their property and goods and gave it to
the good of all. They had joyful and sincere hearts,

(02:50):
and they were winning approval of everyone. But as we
all know, the early Church and the Church now isn't
always idealistic for er. For shortly thereafter we begin to
hear the words of Paul saying, let us be of

(03:10):
one mind. I hear that some of you eat huge
quantity of the meals that you bring for the feast,
while those who have less income later get none. But

(03:31):
disciples now and then of Jesus, we do our best
to get it right, even sometimes when we're left scratching
our heads and a bit befuddled. I was going to
quiz you today and just ask the question, who is
missing in today's readings. We're used to the story of

(03:57):
the loaves and the fish, but the small boy is
not in today's reading. Matthew doesn't even include him, even
though there are parallels. Yet, when Jesus asks them to
feed the folks, they seem like, well, we've only got

(04:17):
this much to offer, and how are we supposed to
do this for it? It appears they really don't get a
sense of what jesus ministry is yet about. But earlier
in this same gospel passage, Jesus heals the Canaanite girl
at the mother's request, and the disciples, you would think

(04:41):
would get it. Jesus is about the people, about meeting
the needs where they are. Yet, disciples, as we are,
we scratch our head, and when Jesus calls upon us,
we reply seven and a few small fish. And then

(05:05):
we perhaps are incredulous when Jesus has everyone sit down
and says to us, serve the people. Now, I suspect
that the miracle in part is that people got fed.
Some would say because of those who were not counted
necessarily for most translations of this passenger. See there were

(05:32):
this many men present, and oh, by the way, there
were women and children too. I imagine the uncounted the
women had prepared. They had probably included some snacks for
the young, and there was a bit of food there,

(05:53):
And that the seven loaves and the few small fish
of the disciples were probably multiplied because many others had
also prepared by bringing their own small fish and the
goodness they're in. Yet, we live in a day and

(06:18):
age as the Church, that sometimes we have a mindset
of scarcity. Now I'm not talking about counting up our
coins and daughters. That sometimes we live in a society
where what we have doesn't seem to be quite enough,
or sometimes we see others that are in great need

(06:42):
and wonder what we can do. I suspect that sometimes
we are hoping that there is a little boy or
a little girl has something in their pocket that mom
or dad sent along for the picnic, hoping that someone
else will rescue us when we're called upon to do
something great in the world. But sometimes the blanket has

(07:09):
been pulled out from under us, if you will, and
that we are left to figure out how to be
the church and how to be the servants in this
day and age, and in our political climate, it seems
it's even more difficult where aid is pulled from organizations

(07:31):
that have supported not just us, but the world, where
hunger is skyrocketing, some areas are left in a famine
because of war and bullets. We wonder what can we do.
I'm aware of one within my own family unit or

(07:55):
extended family, if you will, who is serving in global
ministries in a place so remote yet even known that
her name cannot be spoken aloud or the place said,
because the fear for her life and the work that

(08:17):
she does. Can you imagine It's tough. Yet we are
called over and over again to do the work that
we cannot imagine, to be those who gather the church,

(08:41):
who gather the people of the world as a place
of solidarity where we will figure out how we will
make a difference. Sometimes is that we have a building.
Sometimes it is that, well, you know, I have this
eye I've been saving for so long that I keep

(09:03):
saying I'll have use for but actually you'll probably make
better use of it than me. With it sitting in
the basement with about fifteen years dust on top of it.
We live in a world where we are called to
be disciples, where we will have to make the meal

(09:29):
stretch on and on and on. Now I've told the
story that my grandmother always planned that someone would show
up for lunch. Now her lunch is on Sunday. We're
not an extravagant affair. But we all gather around the
farm table where there were always homemade biscuits and often

(09:51):
beef stew for lunch, because at that point in the world,
the beef stew, the cut up pieces of beef were
the cheapest out there, even though I have witnessed those
prices have increased exponentially. Well, But somehow, even though she

(10:14):
was hard of hearing, she could always hear a car
door outside slam and she would start moving us around,
finding at least an extra plate or two, and there
would be enough. I'm not necessary to say she was
a divine miracle worker, but somehow there was always enough
to go around. In a world where prices go higher

(10:40):
and higher, we wonder, how can our little bit make
a difference. I was reminded of on vacation the price
of ice cream. Now I know my ice cream, which
is dairy free cost a lot. I'm talking about looking
at a menu board and seeing the price of ice cream.
In high school, I scooped ice cream, And this has

(11:04):
probably happened this month, forty years ago, that when I
started scooping ice cream, a three ounce scoop of ice
cream about this big cost sixty five cents. Now, I
never imagine I tell one of those stories that my
mother and others said, Well, when I was a child,
it only costs a nickel for a pepsi, but in

(11:28):
the Adirondacks, a single scoop of ice cream was one
penny short of five dollars. Talk about inflation. Now, I
know it's been over a period of time, but it

(11:49):
reminded me that somehow, even when prices seem exorbit that
we can still scoop up enough that every child an
adult can find ice cream if that's what they want.
That we can be those who make a difference now

(12:12):
knowing that ice cream is not the best choice for dinner,
launch or breakfast, even though we might like it that way,
but it gives a taste of something sweet and something
to save her. And isn't that what we are looking
for in our world? Something sweet? And something to savor. Now,

(12:35):
I'm not saying we always need to be eating ice
cream or your favorite food, but we have witnessed in
our midst the sweetness of God. Even when we can't
quite figure out how to distribute it. God makes a way.
During her lifetime, Mother Teresa now Saint Teresa, once said,

(13:00):
it's easy to love people far away, it's not always
easy to love those close to us. It is easier
to give up a cup of rise to relieve hunger
than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved
in their own home. Bring love into your home, for

(13:21):
this is where our love for each other must start.
So the challenge is with our fishes and loaves, and
if we try to live the idealistic emerging Church vision,
that it begins with love in our homes and in
this place, and that all that troubles us and the

(13:44):
world through us might be able to offer the scoop
of love, the bread of heaven and the fish and
all those other morsels make the world in which we
live be one that all humanity conceiver and say this

(14:10):
is good. Amen.