A sermon preached on July 28, 2024 at Community of Christ Lutheran, based on John 6:1-21.

What do we imagine it feels like to be in the middle of a miracle? Being in the middle of a miracle might be like…

• A test
• Doing the work, or 
• Having your needs met, being satisfied?

As Ted Lasso says, “All people are different people.” So, of course we are going to experience miracles—the signs that God is working among us—differently. But what if all of the different perspectives are needed? What if it’s not just Jesus who provides a miracle, but all who participate in the miracle that make it a sign of God’s kingdom breaking into our lives? It happens among us. What if we need all the different people responding to it in different ways for the event to become a sign of God’s activity in the world? 

With a show of hands, how many of you think of miracles – or at least this one – as a test, of some kind? You’re in good company. The Gospel writer John seemed to think that was important – he wrote in Jesus’ motivation, to make sure we considered this angle. “Jesus said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.” Jesus’ disciples have been called to follow him, they’ve followed him everywhere for years, but they still need some testing because … God needs more from them than they know they are capable of. (Oof. Does that hit close to home?) Can they move in the world like Jesus does? Can they weave together teaching spiritual things and meeting basic needs? Can we? 

A test like this is not something we must pass to get God to love us; that love is already a given. But to participate in what God is doing – to become part of how God is acting in the world – sure, we probably need to be stretched, pushed, tested. Nobody arrives as a disciple of Jesus perfectly formed into his image, ready to act in the world as Jesus did all the time. Maybe we need to learn to stop getting hung up on logistics. Maybe we are conditioned to think too small: “all we’ve found is a couple loaves and fish.” If we are going to be part of the signs that God is working here among us, we need to test drive a new level of trust, and start doing… acting our way into believing this is going to be God at work. 

In the midst of a miracle, there are also those of us who are good at practical responses. Logistics thinkers who don’t mind pointing out – “Do you know how far we are from anyone selling food?” Or those who are willing to suggest incremental solutions like “we do have a child here with some bread and fish”. Where are the practical problem-solvers among us? These are your people. What if sometimes being in the midst of a miracle feels like doing the work? 

You may know the story of sisters Mary and Martha, one who responds to Jesus’ visit by doing all the things, and the other who sits at his feet and listens. If you’ve ever felt “called out” by the way Martha gets reprimanded, listen: The Body of Christ needs both, the practical and the mystics. What we don’t need is anybody complaining that the others aren’t doing their share of the work “like we are” The practical problem-solvers make the miracle of the loaves and fish possible – right? They get to measure the excess when they are gathering up the leftovers – somebody counts 12 baskets! What if participating in a miracle can feel like doing what needs to be done?

Finally, for some, participating in a miracle feels like receiving what you need. Maybe not what you asked for, but what you need, because someone like Jesus saw your need and provided. Has anyone experienced that? This is more complex than it sounds. We might think: “well, I needed to get better and I did, problem solved. Thanks, God!” There are definitely more layers than that.

Miracles, signs that God is working among us, need people willing to accept help. To put their names on the prayer list, accept the meal train, to share their heartache in a group. Miracles need God’s people being vulnerable and dependent on others. 

When David Brondos preached last week at Olivet Lutheran in Sylvania – he’s an ELCA missionary at the ecumenical seminary in Mexico – he suggested that the reason Jesus sends his disciples out without even a second coat, to share the gospel, is not to test their faith, but because their vulnerability gives the people they are encountering – right away – actions they can take to participate in the mission. They can house the messengers, feed them, receive them with peace. When Jesus’ followers show up with needs to be met, willing to be “hosted” by others, we set the stage for miracles, for signs that God is at work in our midst. We are all in need at some time. But knowing this is how God works – might that change how vulnerable we are willing to be on an ongoing basis?

What if … we are in the midst of a miracle right now? We have all the characters assembled right here. We didn’t follow Jesus up a mountain with vast crowds and no food or possibility of buying food nearby – but we have similarly insurmountable problems. 

• We have huge polarizing divisions, and respect for those who are different from us disappearing into the horizon. 
• We have forces designed to be addictive – social media and news media – feeding our fears and reinforcing our prejudices like an echo chamber.
• We have intensifying “natural” disasters wreaking havoc
• We have an epidemic of loneliness 

It is going to take all of us – those who think it’s a test, logistics people, and those willing to be vulnerable – to create space for miracles in our midst, where everyone who witnesses will wonder: Did we just experience God right here?