Preached on Sunday, July 30, 2011 at Christ & Saint Stephen's Church, Manhattan. The Bible readings this sermon is based on can be found here.
Last Sunday after church, I found myself in the Apple store just across Broadway. My financé Denton had to pick up his computer which he’d left there for repair. And while he went downstairs to meet with his designated Apple genius to pick up his laptop, I hung out on upstairs where all the latest Apple computers and gadgets are attractively arranged for perusal and purchase. Big mistake. It could have been the costliest 15 minutes of my life.
See, the problem is that the camera on my phone is broken. That was my jumping off point. Forget the fact that a camera on a phone is a convenience of less than 10 years vintage. You gotta have one, right? Mine is broken and that means, quite naturally, it’s time for a new phone. And why not go with an iPhone? Everyone loves them and they seem so fast and easy to use, with so many fun options. Denton has an app that tells him when the next train is coming on the Subway; so useful, so much more practical than say, looking down the tunnel for the train, right? So, since life just isn’t worth living without a functioning camera on one’s phone, before Denton was done with his Apple genius, I’d decided an iPhone was a good idea, a worthy purchase. And you might as well go for the top of the line when you do these things, right? I always regret it when I don’t. The new iPhone 4 is about $300, but when you gotta have a camera on your phone, you gotta have camera on your phone!
As I strolled around the Apple store, I began to think that I do, in fact, need to replace my laptop too. I bought it when I entered seminary. It’s been upgraded a few times, but it’s old and out of date. The corner of the case is duct-taped together where I dropped it. And it’s begun to make a weird, whirring sound when it comes on and goes off. Not a good sign.
And of course, Apple has just what I need. The MacBook pro with the 17” screen looked ideal to me. Big screen, lots of memory and power… The top of the line model, which you may as well get if you’re getting anything, right? The top of the line model is $2,500. Ok, well, a significant expense, but I use my computer all the time, every day. These things are essential parts of our lives now.
But, you know, it’s such a drag having to drag around a whole laptop. If you get the top of the line MacBook Pro with the 17” screen, well that’s just too big for many situations. Too big to tote around town. But that’s what’s so great about the iPad. It’s like a computer to go, more or less, isn’t it? Almost everything you need on hand when bopping around town or on trips -- it’s so portable. And it could really serve as a portable computer, especially if I went with the top of the line iPad with all the memory, which is only $830 with the Wi-Fi and 3G plan -- which you gotta have. I mean it’s no good without those, right?
And then there’s my tired, old iPod, with all my music on it. I take my iPod everywhere and listen to it when I ride my bike. And it’s so old now, I can’t find a cover for it anymore. And without a cover, it’ll get ruined soon. I have a lot of music on my iPod, so, I convinced myself, I really need the top of the line iPod classic which can store it all, safely in case my computer crashes. That’s $250 bucks. But you know, that iPod classic is so big and clunky. A much more portable iPod nano is great for clipping on to the strap of my big bag, so much more portable, and it’s only $180 for the top of the line nano. An iPod classic for storage and an iPod nano for every day use, and I would really use it, wouldn’t I?
After about 15 minutes waiting for Denton to pick up his repaired computer, I had convinced myself that, really, when you considered my situation fairly, I needed and was way, way overdue, for a complete technology make-over -- new phone, new laptop, new iPad and iPods. And it would only cost me just over $4,000. An idle 15 minutes, and my window shopping tab was in the thousands of dollars.
Denton came upstairs with his repaired computer, saw the little Apple logos glazing over my eyes, and got me out of the store and onto the M7 bus, and headed home for a Sunday afternoon nap which is what I neede much more than a Sunday afternoon shopping spree in the thousands of dollars borne of 15 minutes consideration and planning.
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“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy,” (Is 55:2) the prophet Isaiah asks us in our Old Testament reading today. Well, because it’s cool, that’s why! Because it’s shiny and new and I don’t have one and all the new kids at school have ‘em, and…. Besides Apples and bread, they both have fiber, don’t they? One can substitute for the other, can’t it?
Yeah, not so much, with you really think of it…
But it’s that other part of Isaiah’s pointed question that really gets me. ‘Why do you labor for that which does not satisfy?’ Now, I like shiny new toys just like every other little boy, but let’s face it. I’m here with you this sunny summer morning, aren’t I? I’m not across the street at the Apple store, which, by the way, opens every day at 9:00 am, including Sundays. I’m not there though, I am here before the altar of God, and so are you...
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Our Gospel reading this morning is a rather famous one. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle to appear in all four of the canonical gospels, not counting the resurrection. And Matthew and Mark feature an additional feeding miracle in their gospels. So we can see that for the evangelists, these miracles of feeding thousands of hungry people were central to their understanding of who Jesus was.
It’s not too hard to figure out why. To be able to feed a multitude was an impressive miracle to perform before those who live at a subsistence level. Food security was far from assured in the ancient world as it is in many parts of our world today. For many, the supply of food can be completely disrupted by flood or by drought or war. Such a severe food shortage is going on right now in East Africa as thousands of Somalis are fleeing their drought ridden country looking for food. This past week it was reported that four thousand Somalis are entering Kenya everyday in search of food. Just about the amount fed by Jesus in our gospel today. It’s no wonder the evangelists all saw this particular miracle as a compelling one.
But this particular miracle would have resonated on another level as well. For a Jewish audience the accounts of the feeding of the five thousand would have an additional resonance. For who could hear this story and not think of the Israelites who were fed with manna from heaven during their flight from slavery in Egypt. To be fed on miracle food is a sign of God come near, of God’s favor and protection coming upon the people.
And as Christians, when we hear the account of the feeding of the five thousand, we hear yet another resonance. For as Matthew tell us, when Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, “he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke and gave the five loaves to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. In a few moments, you’ll hear me say very similar words as we celebrate the liturgy of the Eucharist. For us, bread that is blessed, broken and shared is something quite special, something central to our worship this morning, something central to who we understand ourselves to be as Christians.
And it’s something that we share with the five thousand gathered on the side of the lake, the multitude that followed Jesus, kept pursuing him and listening for what he had to say. They didn’t come to that lakeside for the food. They came for something else, something of much greater import. For in him, they could sense, they could feel God come near to them. The same is true for you. You’re not here because a thin, unleavened wafer and a sip of Tokay is food enough for your morning. There’s something more there, isn’t there? Something present in the bread and wine that you hunger for, that you thirst for. We draw near the altar of God this morning, rather than the Apple store or the brunch buffet because what we hunger and thirst for is the very presence of the living God. That is what we’ve come to taste and see. And much more than what we spend our money on, it is this meal, this paltry, yet holy and sanctified meal that satisfies. For like the Israelites in the desert, like the five thousand gathered on the side of the lake, we long to know that our God has come near, we long to feel our God’s favor upon us.
And that we know, that we feel when we eat the bread of heaven and we drink from the cup of salvation. That which we cannot buy, and for which we cannot labor, that is what truly satisfies. +Amen.
© The Rev. Mark R. Collins
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