Will I Be Blessed and Broken?
Matthew 14:13-21
by Jim Westmoreland
Charles Swindol tells a funny story about a nine-year-old named Danny who
came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every
direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he
grabbed his Daddy by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those
people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down, smiled, and asked the
boy to tell him about it.
"Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them.
So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was
gettin' closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air
Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon
bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!
By now old dad was shocked. "Is THAT the way they taught you the story?"
Well, no, not exactly," Danny admitted, "but if I told you the way they told it
to us, you'd never believe it, Dad."
We live in a day that prefers complicated action-adventure stories to stories of simple
faith and trust. If God allowed us to write the script for Jesus' life, do you think it
would have been simpler or more complicated?
On one level our scripture this morning is about Jesus feeding the five thousand with five
barley loaves and two fish. That focuses on Jesus meeting the needs of the people. On
another level though this story tells us what happens when Jesus begins blessing and
breaking what is given him. Like the mustard seed and the leaven in the parables last
week, Jesus took something small, something that appeared to be far from enough, and He
made it more than enough! He took a small meal and made it a big meal. He took what was
inadequate for a crowd and made it more than adequate for a multitude!
Several miracles occurred as Jesus blessed and broke the resources brought to Him. There
was the miracle of provision, the miracle of plenty, the miracle of excitement, the
miracle of the Kingdom of Heaven and of Kingdom Living. All of these were made possible by
the blessing and breaking by Jesus of what was given to Him.
The question for each of us to consider makes us look beyond the fish and barley loaves;
it makes us look, not at the past to Jesus and the first disciples, but to the present and
to who we are as His disciples now for the needs of our world. The question is "Will
I be blessed and broken?" You see, this morning I want to
suggest that we are the loaves and fish that Jesus wants to bless and
break to provide for the needs of the people around us. And so I ask again, "Will
I be blessed and broken?"
Just as Jesus is making us more aware of the needs around us, isn't it human nature to
respond to with our own feelings of inadequacy, or our need to distance away from
something that is going to require commitment, energy and grit to get it done, or our need
to put it off a while, to delay any immediate action. All of these and more are typical
human reactions to potentially stressful and challenging situations. In Mt. 14 we see how
the disciples reacted to the great need of the multitudes that had followed them.
Phillip Yancy tells about the story that occurred in Mt. 14 this way. He points out that
only one miracle made it into all four gospels. It transpired on the grassy hills by the
shores of the Sea of Galilee at a time when Jesus' popularity--and also his
vulnerability--was cresting. Wherever he went, a throng that included many deranged and
afflicted trailed behind.
The day before the big miracle, Jesus crossed the lake to elude the masses. Herod had just
executed John the Baptist, Jesus' relative, his forerunner and friend, and Jesus needed
time alone to grieve. Doubtless, John's death provoked somber thoughts of the fate
awaiting him.
Alas, there would be no secluded retreat. A huge swarm of yesterday's multitude made the
ten-mile journey around the lake and soon hundreds, even thousands of people clamored
around Jesus. "He had compassion on them," says Mark, "because they were
like sheep without s shepherd." Instead of spending the day renewing his spirit,
Jesus spent it healing the sick, always an energy drain, and speaking to a crowd large
enough to fill a modern basketball arena.
The issue of food came up. What to do? There are at least five thousand men, not to
mention the women and children! Send them away, suggested one disciple. Buy them dinner,
said Jesus. What? Is he kidding? We're talking eight months' wages!--Philip
Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, 1995, 175-176.
We know how the disciples felt when the crowd showed up... Throughout our lives, things
happen to upset our plans to take time to rest, to get away, to grieve, whatever our need
has been. Life sometimes piles up on us. One couple wrote, "We hadn't had a night out
without the kids in weeks. We finally got away. The waiter had just brought our appetizer
when the baby-sitter called and said the youngest had a high fever and had started
throwing up." Or, may the situation was We'd been planning a vacation for six months.
Our reservations were all made and, three days before, mom calls and said your Dad is
going to have a quadruple bypass as soon as the doctors can get his sugar stabilized.
Or maybe we haven't had a day off in three weeks. Friday morning, Sis calls and says her
father-in-law has died and wondered if we could take her kids for the weekend. Or may
we've had a very long day. We woke up before dawn because our arthritis hurt so much. We
had to go to the grocery store and take our dog to the vet, and, on the way home, the car
started to act up, and we had to leave it at the garage and get a taxi to get home. Or, we
are exhausted and all we want to do is go to bed when the phone rings, and it's our friend
who lost her husband last month, and she just needs somebody to talk to.
And always, when we think we have given all we have to give, there is always more need. We
know how the disciples felt. Matthew doesn't have to tell us. --Roger G.
Talbott, Good News For The Hard of Hearing, CSS Publishing Company.
When the disciples looked out around them and saw the overwhelming needs of the people
that day, they wished they would just go away. If Jesus were to come to where we live and
ask us to take him around to see what the needs are around us, where would we take Him?
How long would we stay out with Him before we were ready to come back home and rest? I
don't know about any of you, but, I have a kind of insulated look when I begin looking at
some of the needs around me. I see people and families that are hardened from living
without God in their lives. I see broken homes and neglected kids running up and down the
streets, hanging out late into the night. I see people living hectic lives trying to work
to afford all of their wants and to pay for their insatiable desire for entertainment and
pleasure. And, despite all of their efforts, they are not happy.
I see all of those things; yet, there is something that keeps me at arms length from
getting involved. For many of us, it is our great sense of inadequacy that keeps us
backpeddling and getting involved in ministries that God wants to be involved in. That is
what is so special about this day in the life of Jesus and the disciples. All the
disciples could see was that they were tired and wanted the crowds to get away from them,
and they could only see five barley loaves and two fish. They only had a little to try to
do a big job. That sounds exactly like what Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like. It
is like something that is small that grows big. It is like something that is insignificant
that becomes significant.
It is so very hard to hear and believe that. Yet, that is exactly where the miracle begins
in this incident. It begins, not with our knowledge and perspective on the resources
needed to accomplish God's purpose, but it does begin with Jesus knowledge and
perspective. Jesus saw the needs of the multitude that day. He saw the resources
available, five loaves and two fish. But then, the scriptures tell us that Jesus blessed
and broke what had been given to Him, and the disciples distributed what had been blessed
and broken by Jesus. The results were overwhelming! They were beyond anyone's expectation!
It was a jubilant, exciting time celebrating at what Jesus had done!
Now, Jesus wants to do this miracle again in our day! In fact He's never tired of
wanting to meet the great needs of people, and we are the loaves and fish!
That's right, what He asks us to do is to give to Him all that we have and are. We may not
feel like we have much, but, just like the boy's lunch in this story, it was more than
enough.
Why? Because Jesus took what had been given to Him and He blessed it and broke it, and it
was more than enough! And so, we again ask ourselves, "Will I be
blessed and broken?"
Something happens when we give our lives to Christ openly and completely. I think that's
what the "broken" part means to me. It means that my desire to be first or great
has mellowed into a desire to serve however Christ will use me. It means my willfulness
and stubbornness has been tempered by Jesus willingness to stop and talk and touch and
minister to people. Being broken by Jesus means giving up the pretense of appearing
religious to others and becoming involved with some who may be at the margins of
respectability.
To be blessed and broken by Jesus is to start seeing things differently, start doing
different things and for very different reasons. To be blessed and broken is to have a
deep spirituality that is tuned into God's perspective and His values. To be blessed and
broken is to live a life of power and miracle, even though others do not see it or
acknowledge it.
Hear some simple words of guidance and encouragement from one whose life truly was blessed
and broken:
"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive
them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind
anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank
anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, there may be jealousy; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world
the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never
between you and them anyway." - Mother Theresa
What does it mean to be blessed and broken? It means to bring to Jesus all that we are. As
we live our lives in His Spirit, we come to know the richness and wonder of His blessings.
Then, we are lovingly broken and shaped to do His work to love and heal a needy world.
This morning, are you being blessed and broken? You can be.