“Eat. Eat. Eat.” “Eat. Eat. Eat.” “Eat. Eat. Eat.”

These are the words I hear from my almost two-year-old daughter, Avery, when she wakes up in the morning. Sure I normally get a “Daddy” to start with followed by a heart lifting smile that stops time, but it doesn’t take long to get to what she wants…something to eat. She utters these words at other times during the day, and she does this because she knows what she wants and she knows who to go to. Mommy and Daddy.

Our gospel text today contains the only miracle, apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection, recorded in all four gospels – the feeding of 5,000. We know the story and as such there are typical interpretations of the miracle. One interpretation focuses on Jesus meeting the physical needs of the crowd, and how he is able to meet all of our needs as well. This interpretation resembles the morning ritual in my home. We must recognize, like Avery does, where we should go to get what we need. We go to Jesus. It’s where we can eat, eat, eat.

Now John’s account of the feeding is the only one that mentions the little boy, and the little boy’s role is often used to emphasize our need to come to Jesus with our meager offerings. Just as the little boy offered to Jesus his simple meal, so we are to come to Jesus with what we have, no matter how insignificant we think it is, and he will work a miracle from it.

Having our needs met by Jesus and laying before Jesus our humble offerings for future miracles are the two most common applications of this miracle. I lay them on the table before you this morning because I want us to be on the same page. For now it is time to wipe the table clean. We need to let go of these interpretations. They are not bad readings of the text. I have no doubt that there are some here today who need to hear that God is able to meet your needs: physical, emotional, spiritual. There are others here who feel insignificant and the role of the boy in the story encourages you to view yourself as valuable to God and an important part of God’s work in the world.

These interpretations are okay, but they are not explicit in John’s version of the miracle. Those interpretations are all about us, the focus is on us. John’s version is about Jesus, about the One at work in the feeding of 5,000 and who later walks on water. John’s version gives us something different to chew on than the other gospels.

What makes John’s version of the feeding of 5,000 unique is that Jesus is the one who initiates the food conversion. He asks Phillip where they are going to buy bread for these people. The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, have the disciples coming to Jesus at the end of a long day of healing and asking him to dismiss the crowd so they can go eat. Implied in the synoptics is the physical hunger of the people. It is the end of the day and they are ready to eat. People were probably grumbling verbally and internally, blood sugar levels were dropping and the disciples were tired of dealing with this hungry crowd.

In John’s gospel, the crowd does show up hungry. Only they were hungry for miracles of healing. They had watched Jesus heal the sick and they kept coming for more. So they followed Jesus and his disciples to a mountain expecting some more signs. Jesus was ready to perform a miracle, just not the miracle they had in mind.

So Jesus is seated on the side of a mountain and the large crowd is approaching him. It is at this point that he asks Phillip where to get the food. Phillip responds like a good church business administrator and points out how ridiculously expensive it would be to feed a crowd this big. But Jesus already knew what he was going to do when he tested Phillip with the question. It was Jesus who wanted to feed them. He initiated the whole event. And thus we begin to see that John’s version of the feeding is not about the crowd or their needs. It’s about Jesus. It’s about what Jesus wanted to do. It’s about grace, abundant grace. Jesus feeds them not because they demanded or expected it. Jesus feeds them out of sheer generosity. It is all about grace.

One of my favorite movies is the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. For those who may not have been around in 1986, let me summarize. The main character, Ferris Bueller, is a high school senior who is determined to have a day off from school. So he plays hooky and goes gallivanting around Chicago with his girl friend and his best friend. The movie is all about his daylong adventure and the feeble efforts of his principal to catch him in the act of skipping school. Now let me go ahead and state the obvious. Youth and children, and let me go ahead and include the adults, it is not okay to skip school or work or anything that you are responsible for or to. This is a movie. I bring it up because of a favorite and pertinent quote said by Ferris Bueller himself. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Let me repeat that. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

The crowd who is filled with the miracle meal provided by a generous Lord misses it. They fail to see what has been given to them. They are awed by the miracle and seek to make Jesus fill their other desires. They want to make him king so he can provide everything they could ever hope for. Jesus had given them something to chew on and they swallowed it without tasting the goodness of his gift of grace.

It still happens today. Gregory Boyd pastors an evangelical megachurch in Minnesota. He was often approached to give his blessing to conservative political candidates and causes. The requests varied from would he announce during the church services that there was a rally being held against gay marriage; to could someone setup an anti-abortion table in the narthex. He was asked if the church would distribute voter’s guides that all but endorsed Republican candidates, and finally, with the country currently at war, could he please hang an American flag in the sanctuary. Eventually, Rev. Boyd was fed up. So prior to a recent election he preached a series of sermons entitled “The Cross and the Sword.” In these sermons he said the church should steer clear of politics. It is not that he disagreed with what people wanted him to say. In fact, in many cases he agreed with their views. He just didn’t feel it was the churches place to push this agenda over that one. The response from the congregation? Well, they didn’t get it. They missed it. So much so that the active membership of the church decreased by 20%. Some of whom walked out during the sermons and never turned back.

Before we wag our finger at those whose agendas are more conservative than our own, we too must consider how we seek to enthrone Christ for our own purposes and agendas. We can mask it under thoughtful theological language and back it up with scripture. But the determining factor should be is God’s grace present, or is this about power. It is easy to miss the grace that is so present in our lives, that touches of very lips and fills our stomachs. It is even easier to abuse that grace for our own agendas.

The good news is that grace is present. We have been given something to chew on. Grace is present in the smallest crevices of our days. Meals, smiles, a handshake, a hug, a cool breeze (or the hope of a cool breeze), pleasant aromas, a child’s laugh. The grace of God is abundant and it is present in our lives. If we don’t stop and look around, we just might miss it.

There is another miracle in our text for today. Another well-known story; Jesus walking on water. It too speaks strongly of the grace that comes to us, only this time it is during rough seas and strong head winds. And do we ever need it, do we ever need grace during life’s stormy seas.

We need grace because of our professional lives. It is hard to get out of bed to go to an unfulfilling job. Hard to face coworkers who are on your last nerve, every day. Meetings. Meetings. And more meetings. Some of you grieve not being able to go to meetings. Not having coworkers. Not having a paycheck in the mail. The winds grow stronger.

We need grace because of our relationships. Marriages failed or failing. Children rebelling. Silent meals and empty stares. Friendships broken or lost because of betrayal. Lonely nights wondering if it will always hurt this much. The waves grow taller.

We need grace because of illness and death. Depression and anxiety. Insomnia and grief. And through it all, we just keep on rowing. As the winds grow stronger and the waves grow taller and we feel as if we are going nowhere in all areas of life, we just row as best we can.

And while we row, heads down and arms tiring, Jesus walks on the water that is the chaos of our lives and says “It is I; do not be afraid.” Literally he says “I Am.” These powerful words ensure us that we are in the presence of the holy, in the presence of the sacred. It was “I Am” who made promises to Abram. It was “I Am” who speaks to Moses through a burning bush. It is “I Am” who comes to us as we row through difficult circumstances and brings with those words a grace filled presence.

What really stands out about this miracle is how the text mentions nothing else about the storm. Nothing else about the wind or the waves. We know from other stories that Jesus is able to speak and calm the chaos, but in this story there is no mention of it. All we are told is that immediately the boat reached the destination. The storm might have continued.

The miracle is about Jesus bringing grace to us in the midst of difficult situations. His grace filled presence does not mean all that is bad will be made good or that every ill will be cured. It simply means “I Am” is present and with this presence comes abundant grace. Not because we need it, but because God wants to give it to us. Grace is present even in the midst of difficulty and pain.

Grace is present in all of our lives. Whether things are good or bad. Up or down. God gives us grace because of who God is. Jesus fed 5,000 because he wanted to. The crowd might not even have been hungry yet. He came to the struggling disciples on the stormy lake because he wanted to. It was certainly not the first time those fishermen had encountered and fought through a storm. Jesus brought his grace filled presence because he wanted to. God gives us grace because God wants to.

One last thing. I haven’t forgotten about the little boy. We cannot be certain whether he willingly gave his lunch over or if the disciple Andrew began the age-old church practice of volunteering someone else for a task. What we can be certain of is that God wants to use us, and does use us, willing and otherwise, to pour out grace upon the world. I Am uses each one of us to reach out to those around us in order to extend grace. Why? Because God wants to. Because that’s grace. Now that’s something to chew on. Amen.