Making a Sale?

He did tell us, though, many times, with details such as what would be done to him, “crucifixion”, and where, “Jerusalem”, and how long it would last “for three days”.

But we didn't understand, or maybe we didn't want to understand.

And that was when Jesus changed.

While earlier he seemed to laugh, and listen to us as we talked in the evening, now he seemed to have a restlessness.

He wanted to get away from the crowds .

Oh, he said that we needed a rest, but I thought differently.

Now Jesus seemed to have an air of urgency about everything he said and did, even when he asked us to get in our boats and sail to a quiet place apart.

We were sailing along the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, when I looked to the shore and saw to my consternation that a crowd was moving along the shore, keeping pace with us.

“They just won't leave us alone for a minute,” I exclaimed.

After awhile, Jesus pointed to an inlet that had a grassy hillside behind it, and asked us to pull to shore there.

In fact, that was where the crowd was gathering; nothing private about it!

I heard him mutter “God have mercy...sheep without a shepherd.”

And when we got close, he began to teach, using story after story, reaching their hearts and minds with the mercy of God who forgives and redirects sinners.

But as the day wore on and the shadows began to lengthen, I became impatient.

Jesus was forgetting all the practical things.

So Philip and I whispered to him, “It is getting late; send these folks away to get food and a place to stay the night.”

“No,” he said firmly, ”you feed them.”

Was he joking? This was an impossible order, and therefore I made a snide joke in return.

“So, I should break into my great treasury and take six month's wages to buy bread ...somewhere...for this crowd?”

He didn't laugh, but only asked what food we did have.

My nosy brother Andrew piped up that he saw a lad with five barley loaves and two fish, probably sent along by a protective mother looking out for her adventurous son.

Jesus said it quietly and firmly, that I should get the people to sit down, and what a problem that was!

But at length, they were sprawled out on the grass, wondering what was next.

And Jesus took the loaves and fishes in his hands and gave the mealtime blessing we all knew, which begins “Blessed be God, who brings forth bread from the earth...”

As we are standing close by wondering what was next, Jesus turned to us and said that we should take baskets and distribute food among the people.

And we did it, in amazement, until everyone on that hillside had been fed.

I would have laughed, had not everyone been so stunned, and so glad to get the food.

Jesus was right and I was wrong!

In spite of common sense, reason, and experience, Jesus could and did feed whole populations with word and bread.

Stumbling in amazement and pride, we went among the crowd and gathered up 12 baskets of leftovers.

I guessed right away what that meant: there was food enough and word enough for feeding the whole of Israel, all 12 tribes worth.

Bursting with pride and excitement, we came back to Jesus, but he didn't give us a chance to congratulate him.

He saw that there were some in the crowd who were ready to make him a king in the old-fashioned sense, and he would have none of that.

So he sent us off by boat to return by boat whence we had come, while he announced to us that he was going to the mountain to pray by himself.

I don't know how he managed to slip away from that crowd, but he did.

“Who is this Jesus?” is the question everyone was asking.

What is the point of his healing and teaching, his words and wonders?

What did it all mean?

We were challenged again and again by what what we heard and saw, and later by Jesus himself.

We understood only a little until we faced the horror of Jesus' brutal execution and then his glorious resurrection.

And then we remembered all these things.

…...

We can sense some of the excitement, joy, apprehension, confusion, and finally, confidence that Peter shows in his relationship with Jesus.

He speaks for himself, but he also speaks for us.

We have pondered the Jesus-stories as we hear them week after week.

We are fed at his table each time we gather, and wonder about what it all means, even as we act it out.

We hear his promise made whenever we baptize, and are reminded that he has said the same thing to each of us.

And then Jesus' question is squarely put to us: “Who do you say that I am?”

We'll officially hear that lesson on September 13 this year, but it pursues us not just once, but all the time.

Is Jesus the Son of God, Lord of heaven and earth, who is to be honored above all others,?

Or is he merely a wise teacher, whose advice can be followed or ignored as the mood strikes us?

In Peter we encounter a bundle of conflicting thoughts and emotions about the question “Who is this Jesus?”

But then we also know that Peter was one of those who witnessed that death has no power over Jesus.

The conflict settles for Peter on the word confidence;

--confidence that Christ is risen,

--confidence that Jesus will do as he promises,

--confidence that there is room within the community of the church for the most grievous of sinners, who by the gift and promise of Jesus are brought to repentance and amendment of life,

--confidence that Jesus will continue to do great things, perhaps even through us.

We talk often about the acids that eat away at life and faith today.

The 1600's were no picnic, either!

The Thirty-years' War repeatedly devastated towns and territories.

Pestilence and disease could and did strike savagely and often.

The author of our hymn, Johann Franck, grew up in this atmosphere, where life or faith might come under attack at any time.

He has sorted through all that he has, and gives his answer to Jesus' question “Who do you say that I am?”

Jesus, Priceless Treasure, he sings!

May we, in times when faith is sorely tested, conclude as the apostle Peter and the hymn-writer Johann Franck, and say confidently, “You are the Christ, Jesus, Priceless Treasure.” Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.