When we are faced with people with needs, we must understand that God has already given to us what we need to help them. Sometimes the needs are physical, but more often the needs are spiritual and emotional. So many of our friends need hope and peace, that can only come from God. We have enough hope and peace from God, so that we can give it to others.
My brothers and sisters, as is always the case with miracles, we have to always look deeper than the surface. This morning’s miracle is obviously about something greater than food. Christ was in the middle of nowhere and the crowds had come to him. Crowds and crowds, and crowds, the English word says throngs. Nobody even uses that word anymore. Crowds and crowds were gathered and the gospel says he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. But when evening came, the disciples … Remember now, this was a nowhere place. The disciples said, “This is a deserted place and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
The disciples had some food. They had enough for themselves, and they realized that we can’t possibly feed all of these thousands of people. And Christ says they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. You see, my brothers and sisters, when we are faced with those in front of us who have needs, we have to understand that God has already given to us what we need to give to them. Sometimes it’s food. Of course, we have our weekly soup kitchen and we feed the poor every week. And our philoptochos takes care of the physical needs of the poor. But this gospel goes much deeper than the physical needs of the poor.
Think of all of your friends and your neighbors and your family members and your co-workers. Don’t think about their physical needs, but think about their life. How many of our friends need hope? How many of our friends live such anxious lives they would give anything for one day of peace? My brothers and sisters, we have hope and peace to give to them, not because we have so much of it ourselves. We also live anxious lives. We also struggle to find hope for tomorrow. But God has given us the opportunity through his grace to see beyond the anxious life, to realize that as I like to say, it’s never as bad as we imagine it to be.
We always think something is going to be worse than it is and we get anxious and we lose our sleep and this and that. How often do we turn to God? Do we come to him on Sunday liturgy? And in a few moments in the Cherubic hymn, we’re going to say, let us lay aside all the cares of life. This is our opportunity, my brothers and sisters, to leave the anxiety aside and to find the hope and the peace that is in Jesus Christ, the king of peace. But it’s not just for us. There’s always enough for everybody else.
And so I invite you to hear the words of Christ when he says, “You give it to them.” My brothers and sisters, each and every one of us this morning has been called by God to go out to our friends, our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and we give them what they need. Hope in Christ. Peace to see beyond the anxiety of life, whether it is the economy or the housing market or whatever the case might be. We give them hope and peace and invite them to come to Christ. And I promise you, because God promises us, there’s more than enough God’s hope and peace to go around. We don’t have to worry about running out. But the gospel says that he gave the food to the Apostles and the Apostles gave it to the people. You see, my brothers and sisters, we are God’s vehicle for his hope and his peace, and his mercy and grace. So you’ve been called to a high calling today. Be ambassadors of peace, be witnesses of hope, and bring people to Christ so that they can get what they need from him because God knows everyone needs God. Glory to God for all things.
