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This story in Scripture contains
a key Biblical truth for me. That truth is this: there is
sufficient abundance in Jesus for everyone.
No matter what you need, Jesus
is sufficient to that need. If you need to be mentally
stretched—intellectually challenged—Jesus will do that. If you
need to be spiritually fed, Jesus will do that for you. If you
need a close personal friendship, Jesus will be that
friendship for you.
If you need practical counsel
on living life on the highest possible plane, Jesus offers
that counsel. He offers it not as a law, but as a lifestyle.
Perhaps that’s why the Beatitudes were read at Communion in
many United Methodist churches years ago. If you need peace in
the midst of a storm—whether that storm is just beginning to
gather, or whether it’s raging in your life—Jesus is that
peace.
Jesus fed 5000 people at one
time, one afternoon. Scripture says he fed them from a very
meager offering by one small boy. And there was more than
enough. The stories vary slightly, but most of them say there
were 12 baskets of leftovers when everybody had eaten their
fill. Some people think those 12 baskets stand for the 12
tribes of Israel, or the 12 disciples! I think they stand for
the fact that there was more than enough for everybody’s need.
Perhaps that’s why Paul says a few years later that God is
able to do exceeding abundantly beyond what we ask.
Jesus is sufficient to meet
every need you and I have, and more. That’s why the Lord’s
table has been central in our tradition for 2000 years. Yes,
it is a story taken from the last days in the life of Jesus on
earth. Yes, the story has its roots in the Old Testament
Passover. But the church continues the sacrament because we
believe Jesus is the center of all things, and the complete
banquet for life.
There is a place in the old
city of Jerusalem that is sometimes referred to as the center
of the world. It is a place where Moslems, Christians and Jews
have recognized something special for centuries.
The “center of the world” has
been a bit difficult to determine recently.
·
September 11, 2001
knocked many of us off center.
·
Persistent
stubbornness and warfare in the Holy Land keeps us wondering
and off center.
·
The seeming need
or desire to wage war with Iraq is unsettling and uncentering.
·
Lack of any stock
market or investment equilibrium keeps us off balance.
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There are
financial uncertainties that plague several homes here in this
sanctuary this morning.
·
Area high school
kids are killed in senseless auto accidents, leaving us off
center.
At times, we are not really sure
where the center of the world is anymore.
I want you to know that I
believe Jesus is the center. Jesus is the sufficient abundance
to everything you need. Jesus is the centerpiece, the fulcrum,
the balance, the stability. Jesus is the comfort zone in loss
and uncertainty. Jesus is the full course banquet of life.
Come and receive the bread and
the cup this morning. Know that Jesus is sufficient abundance
for every spiritual yearning, and for every need you now have
or ever will have.
Jesus says, “Take, eat. There
is more than enough. I promise you unprecedented abundance.
Do you trust that promise? |
