Enough for Everyone

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
July 31, 2011
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Matthew 14:13-21
“Enough for Everyone!”

“There is enough in this world for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.” These words from Ghandi remind us of a simple truth: There is enough to go around. At the heart of our faith is the belief that no one should go hungry, no one should hoard, and everyone should have enough for their needs.
This truth begins with creation. God provides the plants and animals for food. But human beings seem to believe that they know better. Over and over again the kingdoms of the earth realize that food is a powerful political tool. With it, they can control their workforce and ensure that people stay in line. Nowhere was this truer than in Egypt. Out of hunger all of the Israelites willingly submit to slavery because they are hungry. Those who are deeply hungry and live with uncertainty about food often make bad long term decisions in order to eat. God’s response to this kind of abuse is clear. God punishes Egypt for the use of food as a weapon and people as tools.
When Israel travelled through the desert God provides manna for them to eat. When God provides the food it comes with an ideological bent. Exodus sixteen shows again what God expects humans to do with food. Whether people can fend for themselves or not, everyone has according to their need. Anyone who is not physically able to fend for them still has enough. And anyone who hoards food finds out that it rotted. Food is not to be used as a weapon, it is not to be hoarded and everyone should have what they need.
Years later, when Israel had become its own nation and had its own kings it seemed to internalize the lessons learning in Egypt. The nation faced a food shortage and as a result the poor, the widow, and the orphan were left to fend for themselves. This does not make Israel unique. After all, empires always act in this way. When there is little to go around, Kings and other leaders will cut back in ways that impact the poor most harshly.
In the midst of what really is a manufactured food shortage, God sends Elijah to a struggling widow. No attention is paid to the deliberations of the kings and leaders during this national crisis. I suppose it is because we already know how those debates will turn out. The cuts will come at the expense of those already struggling. But in this story, God’s story, we are reminded that God wants us to pay more attention to those who are ignored by those in positions of power.
In I Kings 17, God sends Elijah to see a widow who knows something about food insecurity. While this story usually focuses on the Widows’ faith, it highlights how far Israel has gone from God’s intention. If the leaders of the country knew God’s desires, if they remembered God’s commands, there would not have been any starving poor in their land. God does provide for the widow in miraculous ways, but if we stop with that interpretation, we miss that this is intended as a critic to the Imperial policies of Israel. There is enough to go around.
The struggles with food and food insecurity were also part of the life of the Judean peasants. A new Empire arose that did not know the ways and desires of God. They turned food into a commodity, exacted taxes and created a new system which leads to more widespread poverty. And anyone who was a serious threat to this system was killed. And that is where our scripture picks up today. “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” What was it that Jesus heard? John the Baptist, his cousin and another troublemaker was beheaded by Herod. When Jesus heard this, he was aware of the danger and went away into the countryside alone.
While Jesus goes away, he is followed by the very people who supported John and were moved by Jesus’ teaching as well. These are the people who were at the receiving end of the current Imperial policies. And when Jesus has compassion on them, it is not something that should surprise anyone. However, it should not be seen only as an act of charity. It is a critic of those who turn food into commodity and a concrete lesson on how to survive when food is used as a weapon in this way.
The disciples of Jesus have trouble with their memory. They have forgotten the manna story and they have forgotten about Elijah. When the disciples of Jesus forget the stories of God, their memories and imaginations are trapped by Imperial myths and propaganda. And what does the imperial myth want us to believe? If people are hungry, they need to fend for themselves. The marketplace will provide. Food is supposed to be a commodity like everything else. There is not enough for everyone so let people fend for themselves because there is nothing we can do against the injustice of the day. It is in direct opposition to these myths and against the imperial market policies that Jesus feeds five thousand without money.
How is this possible? Bring me what you have Jesus says. Focus on what you have! Jesus then begins to organize the crowd. He is teaching the disciples and the crowd how to share. No one would have gone into the wilderness without some food in their pocket. What Jesus is showing them is that they do not need to set up an elaborate feeding program to rival the power of Rome. Instead, what he is showing is how God works. If everyone shares what they have, there will be enough to go around and more. Sit down in groups, take what you have, put it on the table and watch what happens. The crowd watching Jesus and the disciples respond and begin to pull out what they have. And by the time it is over there is more food than five thousand people can eat!
In our own time, the disciples of Jesus need to be reminded of how trapped we are by imperial myths. The imperial myths today tell us that there is not enough to go around. We just assume that food is a commodity on which some will make money and others will not be able to partake. The most vulnerable in society are being ignored and we all know it. We know that when our leaders talk about needed cuts, what they mean is less for the middle class and poor because we cannot cut back the cash going to Wall Street. We know this story but we cannot be overwhelmed or in despair because of it. The disciples of Jesus needed to be reminded to begin with what we have.
So what do we have? What do we see when you look around? Do we see a church of just a few people, too young or too old to make change? Do we see a building and community that was a shell of its former self? If that is what we see, we have been trapped by the imperial myths. It is time for Jesus to sit us down and help us focus on what we have. There is enough here already. We do not need to wait for this or that. We do not need to go quietly into that good night. We need to be reminded of our faith that says; God works at the edges, in the wilderness places, with often unnamed and unnoticed people. We already have enough to do the work and ministry of Jesus in this place. There is enough. There is only one question left, the answer to which comes by our action. And that question is, do we really believe that or not?
Amen? Amen!