Resources

Matt. 14:13-21

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8/03/08

Resources. We cannot live without them. They are necessary for life. Usually when we hear the word resource, we think of natural resources like oil, natural gas, and water. But it means so much more than that. A resource is anything that supports your life and what you do in life . And while that does include such things as oil and water, it also encompasses many other things. The food in your pantry is a resource. The clothing in your closet is a resource. The car in your garage is a resource. Your education is a resource. The people whom you know and love are resources too.

Do you see what I mean, resources support your life and what you do with your life. And you can usually spot a resource by the way it is treated. We are usually very careful with them. We measure, tally, and categorize them. We use gauges, meters, ledgers, lists to keep tabs on all of the resources at our disposal. The better part of our lives are spent in watching the gauges and meters and hopefully watching them go up. And if all our gauges, meters, and ledgers are on full, we can relax known that all is well with us.

Ah, but then there are always those rude moments for which we have no resource. The doctor says there’s nothing more he can do. The boss gives you a pink slip. The ice patch was too big for you to steer your way out of it. The pantry is empty. The problem is too big and too complex for you to think your way out of it. It is in those moments that we begin to see and understand that maybe life is not simply about the acquisition and consumption of resources; that something more is needed.

It is in this very position that we find the disciples in the Gospel lesson for today. A huge crowd of many thousands had gathered around Jesus out in the middle of nowhere. It was getting late. And there was almost no food available. Being good, resource driven, human beings they took a careful accounting and realized they didn’t have the resources. And so they came to Jesus and said “Send these people away so they can go buy food for themselves.” Sounds like a pretty reasonable solution doesn’t it? It was, in fact, the only solution that they could think of. But there was something they forgot: they forgot who they were with. They failed to consider that perhaps Jesus, the one who turned water into wine and who healed by words and touch might have a different solution. They had yet to fully understand who he was exactly. They were about to learn more.

Jesus said “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” But they weren’t getting it yet. They replied , “How do you expect us to do that! We have here only five loves of bread and two fish!” They enumerated their resources and their resources were lacking. But Jesus said, “Bring them here! to me” and then he told the people to sit on the grass. He gave thanks, broke the bread and gave it to the disciples. The disciples gave it to the people. And thousands of people were fed. There was even extra....twelve baskets full.

It would seem that when you’re with Jesus, there is more to consider than merely the resources that you can gather and quantify. In truth, you cannot begin to quantify the things that our Lord does and is doing and is capable of doing for you and also through you. But you might not recognize that because your eyes are now fixed on the gauges, meters, ledgers, and lists of life. It’s funny, No, actually its sad when you consider how God is intimately involved in our lives in every detail and yet we don’t see it because we’re too busy fooling with the gauges.

Fooling with the gauges can be fun for a time, but inevitably, everyone ends ups being overwhelmed by them. Sometimes, you can become so overwhelmed that you feel like you’ve been put in charge of driving a submarine with 100’s of dials and valves. Your life and perhaps the lives of other are in your hands, and the kicker is, you don’t know the first thing about driving a submarine! The stress is way of scale. Sweat is rolling off your face as Klaxons are sounding all around you! Your going down, down down and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Except, maybe, to snap out of it!

You’re really not in charge of the submarine you know. Your not even in a submarine! The whole submarine scenario is just something that you imagined as you were staring at your gauges and dials and ledgers. At first you found it a gratifying ego boost to think that you could be so important; that you could be the captain of the boat which is your life. But now you’ve learned that you are not. If you haven’t learned it now you will learn it later. If your like me, you’ve got to learn it several times. And each time, I must return to acknowledge who the real captain of my life is. I must return to him. You must do the same. If your already with him, that’s great. But if you are feeling that God is distant and far away from you, don’t blame him! He didn’t leave you; you left him.

“But I don’t have what it takes to return to him....nothing I try works!” “I don’t have the Spiritual resources to return him” At last, you are beginning to see things as they really are! You’re absolutely right, you don’t have what it take to even think about approaching God. You must despair of your own resources...That’s what I’m saying. For it is only when we do despair of our own resources that we are ready to receive what God has promised. God has the resources that are necessary to restore us to himself and he is happy to share them. He has given us his Son; His Son who died for a race of people who thought they could replace God with the almighty me; His Son who humbled himself before this arrogant world to save it from it’s own pride; His son who died for sinners like me and you; His Son who now now truly rules from above. This Son now stands before us with arms wide, waiting to forgive. And don’t worry, his grace is sufficient for all.

But there’s even more. Remember, Jesus promised us that when he returned to the father that he would send his Holy Spirit? His Holy Spirit works inside us stirring our hearts, opening our eyes so that we can tell ourselves the truth; giving us faith so that we will turn to Jesus and be saved; changing our lives so that instead of returning to the hellish submarine, we begin to live our lives for and in the presence of the Lord. That’s what I’m getting at. I’m not saying that it is wrong to manage your resources. God has given us work to do and lives to live and that requires that we manage stuff. What I’m saying is that it is possible and indeed most proper to do this in his presence. And when you do it in his presence there will be much more peace and much more joy. You can make a start at this way of living, by thanking him regularly for all that he has given you. If you don’t say prayers before you eat, maybe you should. And then maybe you can go a little further by daily appealing to him for forgiveness. And as that life of daily thankfulness, forgiveness progresses, you’ll begin to notice changes in the way you view your life, your work, and your resources. AMEN