Jim VanNorwick taught me how to be a man. As a young boy my father wasn't around. I lived in a house full of women and while that gave me an unsettling insight into the ambiguities of womankind it did not provide me much of an example of what it means to be a man. But as He often does, God compensated for my absent father by providing me an example of manliness in Jim VanNorwick. Mr. VanNorwick was not an MMA fighter, he did not drive a Harley Davidson, to my knowledge he never wrestled a bear with his bare hands. Mr. VanNorwick was a librarian, he drove a sedan, and on more than one occasion I saw him wash the dishes with his bare hands.
In the evening, Mr. VanNorwick liked to relax in the living room with a good book. The entire family would congregate in the living room. We boys would be glued to the television and Mrs. VanNorwick would be knitting. Eventually Mrs. VanNorwick would say, "Jim, you know what sounds good, Some Dairy Queen." And before she was even finished with her sentence Mr. VanNorwick was up on his feet putting on his coat. The rest of us would excitedly shout out our ice cream orders. As Mr. VanNorwick left the house he would always say, "I live to serve."
For years now, those words have stayed with me. "I live to serve". When I got married those words rang in my ears "I live to serve”. When I became a father, they echoed thrice more "I live to serve", "I live to serve", "I live to serve". And when I was ordained into the public ministry, the words "I live to serve" became a deafening cacophony of sound.
While serving others is a very manly thing to do, service is not something only men do. Indeed, serving others is not just manly; it’s Christian. Serving others is a Christian thing to do. As Christians we all live to serve. We serve our spouse, we serve our children, we serve our fellow man. Today Jesus is going to encourage us to be people of service; to be people who live to serve.
In chapter six of John’s gospel we read, “1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near.” John mentions that “the Jewish Passover Feast was near.” This would then be the spring of A.D. 29, approximately a year before Jesus’ passion at Jerusalem. No doubt during every Passover season Jesus was filled with mixed emotions. Soon mankind would be set free from sin and delivered from death, but the price that was to be paid… In a little more than a year’s time, Jesus would offer Himself as the Lamb to be sacrificed at the Passover Feast.
The upcoming Passover Feast was a constant reminder to Jesus that He would not be long in this world. I suspect that is why when John tells us, “Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him”; a crowd that Jesus described as being like sheep without a shepherd; a crowd that Jesus knew He Himself would not be able to humanly serve much longer, Jesus took the opportunity to train His replacements.
John tells us Jesus “said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Jesus presents His disciples with a problem. There was before them a great crowd; later the disciples report the great crowd to be about 5,000 men. If you assume there were an equal number of women and children in the crowd, the disciples are looking at a crowd of more than 10,000 people. People who were a distance from home and getting hungry. Jesus says to Philip, “what are we going to do about this problem?” Now, full disclosure, the “problem” that Jesus present to His followers is not really a problem at all. John tells us Jesus “already had in mind what he was going to do.” The reason Jesus presents His followers with this “problem” is so that He can teach them a lesson about serving others. (Makes you think about how many of our “problems” are placed before us to teach us a similar lesson.)
Jesus leaves His disciples to think over the problem. (It is interesting, is it not, how Jesus often allows us to wrestle with these problems for a time. Instead of instantly presenting us with a solution, He often forces us to be engaged in thought.) Well, the disciples do what any one of us might do when faced with a problem, they form a committee. Philip informs the other disciples of the problem they face, and they begin to discuss their options and propose solutions. Like a church council meeting to be sure, but also not all that different than many of the conversations that happen around your dinner table during a family meeting. A “problem” of some sort is before you. Information is gathered, clarifications are made, resources are evaluated. Negative Nancy pleads her case. Callous Karl pleads his. Impractical Pete pleads his. Eventually the group has a few ideas of what to do about the problem.
The disciples come out of their committee meeting with three action items to suggest. Philip presents Jesus with their first action item. In verse 7 John tells us, “7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Philip appears to be the negative Nancy of the group. Philip has added up the cost and determined there is nothing that can be done about the problem at hand. Philip estimates it would cost about $30,000 to feed the crowd and at $3 each that’s not even a happy meal at McDonalds. “We can’t do it. We just don’t have the resources.”, Philip concludes. Philip’s suggested action item is to do nothing. (I wonder how often we come to the same conclusion as Philip? It is easy for us to be a Negative Nancy; to see the problem before us and immediately start to think of everything that we can’t do, why it won’t work, and how limited our resources are. I’m afraid we, like Philip, often conclude that there is nothing we can do.)
Noticing that Jesus does not seem to be receptive to Philip’s “let’s do nothing” action item, the disciples present Jesus with their second option. This action item isn’t in John’s gospel, but In Matthew’s accounting of this event he tells us “As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.””[1] This action item must have come from the Callous Karl of the group. Probably trying to improve upon the “let’s do nothing” suggestion, the disciples point out that the people themselves could be the solution to their own problem. “Why don’t they get their own food!?” It is a, not so subtle suggestion by the disciples that the problem before them was not really their problem. It was the people’s problem and the people should be told to solve their own problems. Once again, the suggested action item is to do nothing. (Again, I wonder how often we have tried to justify doing nothing by telling ourselves that the problem before us is not our problem. Standing on our moral high ground we reason, “we didn’t cause the problem, we are not part of the problem, should we really be expected to solve the problem?” I am afraid, like the disciples, we often conclude there is nothing we should do.)
In Matthew’s gospel Jesus once again dismisses the “let’s do nothing” action item saying, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”[2] Jesus reminds His disciples He has made this problem their problem. The disciples are down to their last suggested action Item. “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Andrew must have been the impractical Pete of the group. Barley loaves were the worst of all the loaves, closer to dogfood than bread and the fish was a salted or pickled fish similar to our sardines. You can understand why this was their last proposed action item. “Hey Jesus, we have some dogfood and sardines to feed the people!?” The idea seemed foolish to the disciples, even more so when they considered how little they had and how much they needed. “There’s not much we can do Jesus, but we will try”, Andrew offers. Though he doubts it will make much of a difference, Andrew’s suggested action item is to try to do something. (Often, what we have to offer seems unsatisfactory and insufficient; our time short, our talents lacking, our treasures limited. It seems foolish for us to even try to do anything. We don’t see how we can make a difference, but skeptically we agree to try to do something.)
Skeptical though the disciples be, finally, Jesus is presented with an action item He can work with. Likely, Jesus was less than pleased with their attitudes, but at least they were finally offering to do something. Jesus tells His disciples, “Give me what you have and watch what I can do with it.” John tells us Jesus “took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” And not only did they have enough to eat they even had leftovers. John tells us “twelve baskets” full!
Now, there was no doubt who the problem solver was here. Jesus pointed them to heaven in thanksgiving for the food they were about to receive and then Jesus miraculously supplied all the food the people received. Jesus knew all along that He was going to be the one to solve the problem. He just wanted His disciples to have a little skin in the game first. He wanted them to understand that, as His followers, they were to do something; they were to do anything, they were to be of service to others.
Jesus is the source of all blessings, but He wants us to be the distributers of those blessings. He wants us to have some skin in the game. He invites you to offer your time, talents, and treasures in service to others so that you too can see what He can do. He does not tell us how and to what extent He will bless our service and I am not saying this is going to happen every time, but I cannot help mentioning that last Sunday our church was full. There was standing room only. Literally, there were people standing in the back of the sanctuary because even after we set up extra chairs there was no room for them to sit. That gathering of hundreds was a result of faithful service on your part. You might think you didn’t have much skin in the game, but God took the meals you prepared, the donations you made, the time, effort, and energy you expended, and He blessed your service, He blessed it in ways we did not anticipate and more than we were expecting.
Later Jesus would reinforce this lesson on service by telling His disciples, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[3] Jesus has done a great service for us; He has given His life as a ransom for you and for me. Jesus served as our substitute for the times we think there is nothing we can do, and Jesus served as our sacrifice for the times we convince ourselves there is nothing we should do. Jesus gave His life for us so that we could give our lives to others. We serve because He first served us. To live for Christ is to live to serve. Amen
[1] Matthew 14:15
[2] Matthew 14:16
[3] Matthew 20:28