Abundance vs. Scarcity

A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC
Sunday, August 3, 2008

Text: Joshua 1:1-9, Matthew 14:13-22

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Our gospel story today features what appears to be a scene of urgent scarcity, a serious, perhaps even dangerous shortage of food. A huge throng has followed Jesus into the wilderness. No one seems to have given any thought about how to feed such a crowd. Neither the leaders--the disciples of Jesus-- nor the followers, bringing their sick with them. The shadows lengthen, the day draws to a close, and, apparently, some have begun to ask, ‘What’s for supper?’

I have just returned from Ohio where I was part of a group of 300 cyclists crisscrossing the state. We were following the path of the legendary Underground Railroad, which led slaves to freedom in the decades prior to the Civil War. Put 300 bike riders onto lightly traveled, rural roads; have them descend, wave after wave, onto an isolated crossroads store, in search of restrooms and food; and, I can tell you a bit about scarcity. Maroon those same 300, tired and hungry cyclists at a remote public high school at the end of an 80-mile ride, a site where hot water for showers quickly runs out, and those at the end of the chow line find themselves looking for the peanut butter, and I can tell you a bit more about scarcity. The good news is that we all survived this grand adventure, more or less intact. We saw some lovely sites. We learned a lot of history. And I, for one, returned home to abundant food, clean clothes, safe shelter, and your abiding love, giving thanks to God for all of the above.

This is as God would have it. As Jesus will demonstrate today, our God is a God of abundance. God has created the world good, providing abundant resources of food, water, shelter, even energy-- enough for everyone.

But, as our Presbyterian Church “Brief Statement of Faith” reminds us,

We rebel against God . . .
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves . . . ,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.

From God’s abundance we humans create scarcity. The object of our game is to get a corner on the market, control supply, boost demand, then drive up the price and rake in the profits. This is capitalism. This is the way our system works. Problem for us is that we Americans, we Westerners, are no longer in this game alone. We’ve got competition from the developing world. In fact, there are other nations, other regions of the world who, having learned our game, are now playing even better than we ourselves. Need I mention $4.00 a gallon gasoline? Experts tell us the problem is not supply--there is still plenty of oil in the ground. The problem is demand. Too many private automobiles on too many roads--the world over. Too many power plants trying to heat and cool too many oversized homes and offices. Too many manufacturing plants using too much energy to produce consumer goods we don’t really need and mostly can’t afford.

And that brings to mind the current credit crunch. And the rising cost of food. The skyrocketing costs of medical care. Falling stock prices and the tight job market. Now, to be sure, these and other problems have complex origins, multifaceted causes, and few obvious solutions. Scarcity, real and imagined, is just one factor in the current recession. But any scarcity is scary, even the rumor of a shortage in a commodity like rice can bring on panic. Remember last spring when Sam’s and COSTCO rationed rice? On the Tonight Show last April, Jay Leno quipped. “Do you think Americans are affected by a rice shortage? No way! A doughnut shortage, we’d be in mass panic!”

When confronted with obvious scarcity in ancient Galilee, the disciples of Jesus have a plan:

15 When it was evening, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

In other words, every man for himself, every woman for herself, and let the children fend for themselves. As for the disciples, they are apparently covered. They have pooled their resources and have come up with five loaves and two fish. No much, but enough to tide them over so long as they don’t have to share.

Now, if you are like me, you are waiting to hear about the boy. The boy whose thoughtful mother apparently sent him off with a well-stocked lunch pail. The boy who was willing to share. The little boy, as we fondly recall the story from our days in Sunday school. Where is this fellow? Nowhere to be seen in either Matthew or Mark or Luke, where this story is repeated five times. Only the Gospel of John tells us about the child: “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish”(Jn 6.9).

But this story is not about the generosity of children. It is about the generosity of God. Listen to the late spiritual inspiration, Father Henri Nouwen:

Jesus reveals to us God's abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps, and when he makes his disciples catch so many fish that their boat nearly sinks (see Luke 5:1-7). God doesn't give us just enough. God gives us more than enough: more bread and fish than we can eat, more love than we dared to ask for.

Now, here is an interesting observation from the notes in my NEW INTERPRETER’S STUDY BIBLE: “Imperial propaganda (in the Roman Empire) claimed that the gods supplied food through the emperor.” Wanna eat, you better stay on the good side of power. Wanna eat, keep the gods happy, and keep the emperor happy.

Along comes Jesus with a radical notion. You wanna eat, first thing you gotta do is . . . share. First to the disciples, and now to the Church: “You give them something to eat.” To be sure, the source of the food is God, but the means of production and distribution are human. When people go hungry, it is not God’s doing. When people over eat, when nations hoard food it is not God’s doing. Says Professor Walter Brueggemann, “The only shortage in the world today is the shortage of will to share what God has provided to us.” So, “You give them something to eat.”

Next, you wanna eat, you gotta sit down. Matthew says, “Jesus ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.” Sitting down means no pushing and shoving, no elbowing for position, no fighting for advantage. Be calm, sit down, relax. Wait your turn. Think about that in global terms today-- the global picture of 1/3 of the world over-eating, and two-thirds undernourished, many of whom are starving. What’s the solution? Every one sit down, rich and poor, old and young . . . . Every one--our nation, their nation, sit down and wait your turn.

Beyond the practical--sit and share-there is the theological. For modern biblical scholars this story is “a symbolic representation of the meaning of the Christ-event as a whole, with overtones of the Lord’s Supper-- “he blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples . . . .” There are overtones here of the Lord Supper and of what the Bible foresees as the great banquet of the Risen Christ at the end of time--when ‘they shall come from east and west and north and south-- that is, in all of the diversity of humankind-- and “sit together at table in the kingdom of God.”

Well now that’s all very interesting, Mr. Preacher, I’m sure, but I thought the theme for today--for the children’s Sunday school--was fear. When are you going to talk about fear?

Thought you’d never ask! Think about it. What holds us back from freely sharing what we have? What hold us back from sitting down, and taking turns? As individuals, as a community, as a nation? I submit that what discourages our generosity is our fear of scarcity. What if we run out? What if there is not enough to go around? Enough food, water, shelter, medical care. Enough land, enough natural resources. The teeming masses surging up from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, so needy, so eager to share the ‘good life.’ What if there is not enough?

Listen as God speaks first to Joshua, son of Nun, and now to us from the Book of Joshua: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6Be strong and courageous . . . . .” That is Chapter one, verse six. Here is verse seven: “Be strong and courageous . . . .” And here is verse nine: “Be strong and courageous.”

I think we get the idea. But how? We are so little in a world of big. Little church consisting of modest members living in a racially divided city served by a woefully under-funded state government, in a nation with a sagging economy and soaring deficit: “Do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

With that assurance . . . . With that assurance embedded in our hearts and minds we can summon the courage to share the food and the fuel, the money and the space, the air and the water with which we are so richly blessed by the gracious God of awesome abundance.

To the God of all grace, who calls you to share God's eternal glory
in union with Christ, be the power forever! 1 Peter 5:10,11