The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the
Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, July 26, 2009.
One night Uncle Arthur was late for dinner. The phone rang and a voice on
the other end of the line told my great-aunt Gladys that my great uncle had
gone skinny-dipping in a public lake and had been arrested for indecent
exposure. She hung up the phone and told me that Uncle Arthur had been picked
up for indecent exposure so we should go ahead and have dinner. I said,
“Dinner? Shouldn’t we go post his bail?” She said, “No, dear. I’m sure they’ll
release him for lack of evidence.” Aunt Gladys made a decision; she acted as
if things would be alright, and she shared a delicious dinner with me. It’s
like she read today’s readings, isn’t it?
The scripture that Florence Scovel Shinn quotes in our first reading today
comes from 2 Kings, chapter 3. In that scripture, there is a promise of rain,
but no real sign of rain yet. Elisha is told that even when no rain is in
sight, he would be wise to prepare for the rain. And he does. And the rain
does come.
Elisha doesn’t wait for clouds, or for weather reports, or signs of
confirmation. He prepares for rain, he prepares for what he needs, and he
prepares for success even before there is any sign of success apparent to the
naked eye.
In the 2003 film Under the Tuscan Sun, a divorced writer has moved
to Tuscany but is still very hurt about her marriage ending. She buys a big
house to remodel, but one day wonders out loud why she has bothered. She
doesn’t have a husband or a lover. She doesn’t have children. She wonders why
she should have bought such a big house if there will never be anyone to fill
the bedrooms, or if there will never be people to cook for in her big kitchen.
Her friend and realtor answers her questions by telling her the story of
the railroad connecting Tuscany to the Alps. He tells her the railroad was
built before there was a train that could make the journey. But they knew that
one day there would be such a train, and when there was, they’d be ready. They
didn’t build the railroad because there was a train; they built it because
there was a need for a train, and they had faith that one day such a train
would exist. And so they prepared.
The woman’s house may not yet be full, but there will be people in her life
one day. And when that happens, she’ll have a place for them. Of course, as
the film progresses, she makes many friends and builds a family of choice and
the house is full of love and laughter and she is very glad that she bought
the house even before there was an obvious reason for it.
She got the house not because she had a family, but because she wanted one
and deserved one, and so she prepared to have one. There were set backs and
disappointments along the way, but as she prepared for Good, Good was in time
made manifest in her experience. Her preparation resulted in her dreams coming
true. In fact, she realizes at the end of the movie that her wishes have been
fulfilled; she received everything she asked for, after she prepared for the
fulfillment. She finally says, “Unthinkably good things can happen, even late
in the game.”
Her miracle began with mere preparation: the seemingly odd and pointless
buying of a house, which was later filled with friends and romance and family
and joy. She dug a ditch even when there was no rain. She built a track before
there was a train. She prepared her consciousness for Good, and the Good came.
That message is repeated today in our gospel reading, as well.
Of course, as with most stories in scripture, I think what we are seeing is
more literary than literal, but we are intended to enter into the story world
and to discover truths that transcend facts, truths that are still available
to us, truths that can still offer us hope and empowerment in our lives.
In the story, crowds have followed Jesus and he sees that they are going to
need something to eat. He instructs his disciples to minister to them, but
they have a list of excuses why they can’t. They have only a little bit of
food and almost no money, and so what can be done? Jesus doesn’t say the task
will be easy, or that success will be instant, but he does say that something
can be done, and he insists that his disciples do what they can. He even
suggests that they stretch themselves to do what at first they think they
can’t be done.
How do you feed a multitude with only with only a little food and no money?
Ask any Southern grandmother… it can be done! How do you summon a miracle? A
miracle isn’t transgressing the laws of nature. In his book, Why Bad Things
Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner writes, “If anything, we find
proof of God precisely in the fact that laws of nature do not change. God has
given us a[n]… orderly world.”
So, miracles don’t amount to the Creator of the physical world breaking the
laws that the Creator put in place. Miracles are a change of perception. When
we see what we couldn’t see before, the way we experience the world changes.
That’s a miracle. How is Mark’s Jesus going to pull off of such a miracle? How
is he going to have these thick disciples see possibilities they have so far
overlooked?
1. “Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups… they sat
down in groups of hundreds and fifties.” Jesus made a decision. He decided
that they would try. An ancient proverb says, “A journey of a thousand miles
begins with one step.” Jesus makes up his mind that they will give miracles a
chance. They will try. They will do what they can. They will even try to do
something they previously doubted they could do. They will risk failure. They
will risk ridicule. Jesus decides to make the commitment to honestly try.
That’s the first step toward seeing things differently. Decide.
2. After Jesus makes a decision, he then acts as if the decision he’s made
is possible. Does he have any doubts? Who knows? Mark doesn’t tell us. Do his
friends have doubts? In Mark’s imagination they do. No one makes the disciples
look worse than Mark does. But in spite of any doubts Jesus may have, and in
spite of the many doubts his friends seem to have, Jesus acts as if miracles
are possible. He acts as if there is another way to see things, another way
things can go.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing and you will have the power.” Act
as if. John Wesley once doubted if he really had the kind of faith needed to
preach good news. A friend of his supposedly counseled him: “Preach faith
UNTIL you have it; THEN preach faith because you have it.” Act as if. How many
times have you lacked the courage to do something, but you did it anyway. You
acted as if you had more courage than you did, the courage actually caught up
to you? Act as if.
Jesus is saying, “We’ve decided to give this a try. Now let’s at least act
as if we think it might work. Put them in groups and let’s get to it.”
3. After Jesus decides to give miracles a chance, and chooses to act as if
it really is possible to see things differently in life, then he gets people
to participate in the change of perception… in the miracle. He says a prayer,
and starts distributing what little they have to these small groups… he
doesn’t tackle the huge crowd… he has seated them in groups, and he gives a
little something to each group. And in the groups, abundance begins to
manifest.
There was a time when Moses tried to do everything by himself. He didn’t
trust people to do their share, or he wouldn’t give them the opportunity to
earn his trust. If he couldn’t control every detail of it, it just wasn’t
going to happen. Meanwhile, he was growing unhappy, bitter, mean, cranky…
finally his father-in-law Jethro takes him aside and says, “You’re killing
yourself and these people too. Cut it out already.”
The actual text says, “You are not acting wisely… You will surely wear
yourself out… and these people with you! You cannot do it alone.” Jethro then
tells Moses to divide the people into groups of tens and fifties and hundreds…
sound familiar? In these smaller groups, people can minister to one another.
They then can go to Moses for big decisions, but Moses is otherwise free to
cast the vision, rally the masses, and lead the movement without having to
hold the hand of every individual, without having to look over every shoulder.
Moses can model a miracle consciousness, but each person must do their own
inner work. He must teach people how to participate in their own miracle,
their own broader view of life.
“Group them together, let them minister to one another and share
responsibility.” This is the way to empower the people and energize the
movement.
Mark has Jesus following this exact advice! When people need to be fed, he
gathers them together in ways that they can minister to one another. He then
shares what he has, modeling generosity. In small groups, the people who
probably did not go very far from home without a snack and some water, must
start pulling out the pear they brought, or the dates, or the wine, or the
water, or the crust of bread. Suddenly, in small caring groups, a spontaneous
potluck breaks out.
People get to see that when we give what we have, no matter how small it
may seem, if we all do what we can, faithfully, together our shared gifts
create an experience of abundance. Scarcity thinking is transformed into
abundance thinking, and that’s the miracle. Jesus gets people together so they
can encourage one another and take responsibility for their own growth and
development, for their change of perception, for their miracle.
Jesus doesn’t do our work for us… that wouldn’t be a miracle; that would be
enabling dysfunction. But Jesus does model how we can experience a miracle for
ourselves.
When we decide that something is possible,
and we act as if we really believe it (even if we have some doubts),
and we give all that we can to the process without doing it for others or
expecting others to do it for us, but by sharing ourselves in relationship
within the larger body; then we find our view broadens and we see
possibilities and opportunities we never knew existed. That three-step process
leads to a miracle in Mark’s story; and it will lead to a miracle in our
lives.
Decide there is another way to see things. Act as if the Good you need is
really possible. And then commit to the new vision by giving all you can to
it. Suddenly, there is more in life than you realized before and it’s all
waiting to be experienced by you.
This is the good news. Amen.