A 13-year-old boy once read about Dr. Albert Schweitzer's work in Africa. He wanted to help. He had enough money to buy one bottle of aspirin. He wrote to the Air Force and asked if they could fly over Dr. Schweitzer's hospital and drop the bottle down to him. A radio station broadcast the story about this young fellow's concern for helping others. Others responded as well. Eventually, he was flown by the government to Schweitzer's hospital along with 4 1/2 tons of medical supplies worth $400,000 freely given by thousands of people. When Dr. Schweitzer heard the story, he said, "I never thought one child could do so much."
We are not told how old the young fellow was who offered his 5 loaves and 2 small fish to Jesus. Neither Matthew nor Luke even mention him. They simply record that in answer to Jesus' request the disciples came up with 5 loaves and a couple of fish with which to feed a vast throng. The Gospel writers even differ in their estimate of the size crowd.
There is a time-honored story about a young minister preaching his first sermon in a tiny country church. He was so-o-o nervous. His nervousness showed as he tried to expound on this text. "The Master fed the multitude," he said, his voice quivering, "with 5,000 loaves and 2,000 fish."
An old fellow sitting on the front row chuckled sarcastically and said, "Why I could do that."
The next Sunday the young pastor tried again. "Last Sunday I meant to say that the Master fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 tiny fish." Then he turned to the old man and asked, "Could you do that?"
The old fellow grinned and said, "I could if you'd let me use what we had left over last week." The size of the crowd doesn't really matter. The point of the story is Jesus' compassion and his ability to feed the hungry.
Even though the lad who offered the 5 loaves and 2 fish is not mentioned in our text for the day, I am glad that the Gospel of John brings him to our attention. We have young people in this church and they are so important to the work of Christ. Every once in a while, when something important needs to be done, a young person will step forward and make a difference.
THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO GO TO BED HUNGRY EVERY NIGHT.
Someone has noted that the average person BLINKS his eyes 13 times every minute. This person also noted that 13 PEOPLE STARVE TO DEATH every minute in this world. That means, of course, that every time you and I blink our eyes, another person has died from starvation.
In an article sometime back in the CHRISTIAN CENTURY, Tom Peterson described the tragedy of world hunger like this: "Imagine a DC-10 preparing to land; it is filled with preschool-age children. Some of the children sleep; others play and laugh; still others cry out for pestered flight attendants' attention. But just before landing, something goes wrong, and the plane plummets to the ground, killing all aboard.
"Ten minutes later--even before emergency vehicles arrive -another planeload of children crashes right next to the first. Ten minutes later, a 3rd crashes.
And the tragedies continue: every 10 minutes, a jet falls to the earth, all day and night, day after day, month after month.
"Such a great number of deaths is not farfetched.
The same number of children--40,000--do die each day from hunger-related diseases."
40,000 children each day. The mind can hardly grasp the scope of such a catastrophe. Millions of people go to bed hungry every night.
THIS HUNGER PERSISTS IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT WE LIVE IN A BOUNTIFUL WORLD.
Annie Dillard describes what she calls God's "extravagance" by using the example of a rye plant. In 4 months a single rye plant can grow 378 miles of root and 14 billion root hairs. In one cubic inch of soil the length of these root hairs would total 6000 miles. What an abundant world!
The battle to feed the world's people is not a hopeless one. God has given us the resources. And in some places in the world real progress is being made. For example, when we think of hunger, many of us still think of the nation of India. Yet in 1986, India grew so much grain that it didn't have enough room in its storage facilities to hold it all. And 17 years ago a famous rock concert was staged to raise money for the malnourished of Bangladesh; these days, Bangladesh is self sufficient.
In our own country, of course, farmers are still producing far more food than we can possibly use. Lee Iacocca tells about a California dairy farmer who was so productive that the government paid him $8 million to slaughter his herd.
In the 1950's and 1960's scientists were predicting world famine by 1985. They were wrong. There is plenty of food to feed the world's people. We don't really have a food problem. What we have are people problems. Some of these problems we can't do anything about. For example, we can't do anything about the political problems of governments that use food as a weapon to conquer their own people. And, we cannot control the ravages of climate in parts of the world. But there are some things we can do.
WE CAN RE-THINK OUR OWN STEWARDSHIP OF THE EARTH'S RESOURCES.
Somebody's eating more than their share! We spend 10 times more money on the feeding of cats and dogs than the sovereign country, Guinea, earns as its national income. We are an indulgent, wasteful people. Each of us needs to examine our stewardship of the bounty with which God has blessed us.
WE ALSO NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT AS CHRISTIANS WE ARE ACCOUNT-ABLE FOR THE NEEDS OF OUR NEIGHBORS--WHETHER NEXT DOOR OR AROUND THE WORLD.
The leader of the mission group answered, "We can't come today. We have an appointment downstream this morning. We will come another day."
The chief persisted, "No you must come today and tell my people about your great God."
Again the leader tried to explain that they could not go with him that day, but would be glad to come another day.
This did not satisfy the chief. As the mission team pushed off to leave, the chief waded out into the water calling after the missionaries, "White man, if you don't come tell my people about your God, I'll tell your God on you!"
I hope nobody ever tells God that we heard that 40,000 children are dying each day from hunger-related diseases and we did nothing to help.
In 1930, during the Great Depression, a man named Golden Rule Jones was mayor of Toledo, Ohio. During his term of office, he sometimes sat as the presiding judge in night court.
One night a man was brought in for stealing money from a grocery store. His defense was that he needed the money for food and that he was simply a victim of hard times. Nevertheless, Golden Rule Jones found him guilty. "You did not steal from society." he said. "You stole from a private citizen and you broke the law. I'm fining you 10 dollars. However," and he reached for his wallet, "I'll pay it for you." Next he instructed the bailiff to pass the hat around the courtroom. "I'm fining everybody here at least 50 cents. You're all guilty of being members of a society that made it necessary for this man to steal. The collection will go to the defendant."
I believe that salvation is by grace and grace alone, but I wonder if one day the Divine Judge won't hold those of us who have so much accountable for those who have so little. The teachings of Jesus on such things ought to make us tremble. We are accountable.
FINALLY, WE NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE HUNGERS IN THIS WORLD FOR MORE THAN BREAD.
But then, she noticed that the reception desk at the hospital was vacant and the children's wing had no clowns and laughter. The blind listened for a friendly voice that never came and the crippled were imprisoned in wheelchairs that never moved. Flowers on church altars withered and died. Children in nurseries lifted their arms but there was no one there to hold them in love. The search for cures for diseases was cancelled for lack of interest. Symphony halls and museums were dark and still. Alcoholics, prisoners, shut-ins, the poor cried out in despair but no one came.
Erma continued, "I sought in my sleep to regain a glimpse of the Ship of Volunteers once more. It was to be my last glimpse of civilization....as we were meant to be." There are hungers besides those for bread. Many of you are already involved in meeting those needs.
Of course, the greatest hunger people have is for the Bread of Life which is Christ. The Christian missionary enterprise will not be completed until every child in this world has a full tummy, a safe and comfortable home in which to live, and knows deep in his or her heart that he or she is a child of God. That is an ambitious dream, is it not? I believe that is a dream worthy of the followers of Jesus Christ.
A relief official had just returned from the famine areas of Africa.
He wrote a letter to a New York City newspaper telling of the young people, the young volunteers, he had found there who were giving their time and energy and who were making sacrifices to help the impoverished and suffering Africans.
The young people were living in mean and difficult conditions, and the official was terribly impressed with them.
He wrote in his letter to the newspaper: "As we passed the day together, I took a moment to ask each of them `why'--why had they volunteered?
Charles Petre, who had just finished his MBA program in France and planned to become an international consultant, said he was there, "to make a contribution." Ann Levin, with a masters degree in economics, said, "there was a need." And Mary Crickmore said it was her "Christian commitment."
Tell me, what is it that you are doing because of your Christian commitment? Each of us can do something. Each of us has some kind of fish and loaves to offer the Master. What's yours?
