Miracle Worker
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sermon Note
During this sermon (9.36), there is a quote from Ginger Barfield’s Commentary on John 6:1-21 as published by Working Preacher on July 29, 2012.
Scripture: John 6:1 – 21
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing for the sick. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
On Sunday we’re going to read one of the best-known miracle stories in the gospels. It’s the story of when Jesus fed 5,000 people with nothing but 5 loaves of bread and a couple fish. (We’re also going to read a brief account of Jesus walking on water, but in John’s gospel, which we’re using on Sunday, this miracle-event is written more like it’s an aside – a by the way event – than something extraordinary in its own right.)
Can you imagine being part of the crowd Jesus fed that day? These days I can barely imagine what it would be like to be part of a crowd of 15 people, never mind 5,000! What would it have been like to realize that you’d just eaten your fill, as had everyone around you, on nothing more than 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? I wonder if we would ever leave such a man’s presence. How would we interpret such an inconceivable act?
According to the gospel of John, the people were so amazed by Jesus’ miracle that they would have thrust Him upon Israel’s throne, sure that He was the long-awaited Messiah who would return them to their glory days as an empire in their own right – an empire that not even Rome would dare confront. But Jesus withdrew from the crowd. He went into hiding. He refused to allow their expectations to define Him.
Jesus was a miracle-worker. There’s no escaping that fact. He did things that were and are impossible. Sometimes Jesus’ miracles caused people to adore and worship Him. Other times, like when the disciples saw Jesus walking toward them on the water, His miracles inspired fear. Sometimes Jesus’ miracles are denied or explained away, and other times there is no other explanation possible than that Jesus did something miraculous.
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps look back over the last 16 months (ever since COVID shut us down) and ask yourself what miracles you have witnessed or experienced in that time. What makes them miracles? How do those miracles you’ve experienced or witnessed make you feel? As you reflect, consider if you might be willing to share the story of your miracle with the rest of us.