Lenten Stories: Work With Me (Luke 9:10-17)

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The four Gospels were written by four different writers, from different perspectives, for different intended audiences. They include different episodes from Jesus’ life. They include different teachings.  

Very few events—only three—in Jesus’ ministry before His crucifixion are included in all four Gospels. At the very beginning, all four include His baptism. Near the end of His ministry, all four include His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In the middle, all four include ‘the feeding of the 5000.’  

This is not just a story. This is not just a flannelgraph-Jesus miracle. There's more going on here than just a reminder to feed people when they're hungry. This is not an argument for some prosperity doctrine, where if we give Jesus a little bit, He'll make us rich. This is not just Jesus showing off. Something important happened on that grassy hill in Galilee, in the season of the Passover before the Passover of the Last Supper. 

So what did the Twelve Apostles learn? How did it shape them, and what difference does it make for us today?  

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In its context, the story begins with miracles and power, and with Herod up in the palace saying, “Who is this guy?” (Luke 9:9). It ends with Peter providing an answer to that question: “You are the Christ of God” (John 9:19-22). With Jesus telling the apostles for the first time what its implications are: “I will die.” This is the first time that Jesus tells them what's going to happen. That is the story in its context.  

It’s kind of perfect that the feeding of the 5000 happened immediately after the successful mission of the Twelve going to village to village (Luke 9:1-6). I mean, imagine the headspace they must have been in when they came back from that adventure. They had spent two years following Jesus, seeing Him work, seeing Him defend the oppressed, seeing Him challenge the short-sightedness and lack of imagination of the powers-that-be, seeing Him argue with pointless rule keeping, seeing Him heal on the Sabbath, breaking the rules. Seeing Him free people who were captive to evil spirits and to physical illness, people who were captive to the limitations of disability. Restoring people to their families and communities, raising people from death. Telling a sea storm, “Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!” Patiently, endlessly answering questions and seeing the people He could have ignored, like we saw last week.  

They spent two years steeping in and learning Jesus’ gentleness and grace, His fierceness and faithfulness. Jesus was impressive.  

And now He had sent them out to do His work. His power had flowed from their fingertips, flowed from their lips to do those same amazing things: healing, speaking truth in a way that captured hearts and minds, setting people free. How awesome was that? And how just-a-little impressive were they? 

Now they were back together, feeling the joy of sharing that experience with each other.  

In this moment of triumph... They walk straight into a wall. 

Thousands of people. No food. No clue. No energy. No answers. 

Empty hands. Empty pockets.  

All they had was Jesus.  

So what did they learn in this event, and what difference did it make for them in the future? 

I would suggest that they learned through this event, in a way that they had not understood before, that Jesus was Lord.  

He was Lord not only of the big, dark things like demons and storms and illness and death. He was also Lord over the little things—the stuff of everyday life. Lord over what is good. He was Lord over an early summer day when the grass is green and the harvest is in. He was Lord of companionship and friendship and laughter and surprise. He was Lord over food and satisfaction and abundance.  

But even more than that... The apostles needed to learn that Jesus was the lord of empty hands, and empty pockets.  

Fast forward. Past Jesus’ death, past His resurrection, past His return to heaven, past the day of Pentecost when the Spirit fell in power on the church gathered together in that upper room.  

One afternoon Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter and John (I love this) looked directly at him. (Acts 3:1-4)

I've spent enough time working with folks on the street to know that one of the things that it is natural for us to want to do when we see someone sitting and begging is to avoid eye contact. Some of that is our own discomfort because we don't know how to respond. We don't know what to say. Should I give him money? Should I not give her money? These are natural moments that we encounter in life. Someone is there in our peripheral vision, and we don't look. It's natural, it's understandable. But it’s not what Peter did.  

Peter looked directly at him. Peter saw him, and so did John.  

Peter looked directly at him, as did John. ... But Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” (3:4-6)

What did Peter have in that moment? What did John have in that moment? Empty hands. Empty pockets. The name of Jesus. The power of the Spirit who had filled them all at Pentecost. Peter, standing there, was filled with helplessness, and he was filled with power and faith.  

That's a tension that we all live with as believers in Jesus.  

We are all unique and gifted individuals. We are all shaped by God to be who we are. We are all the sum of our experiences, the things we've learned, the things we've lost, the things we've gained. 

We come to Jesus filled with the desire to work with Him, to do something... but with empty hands and empty pockets. Filled with a desire to make a difference. Filled with a desire to make the world better for people. But with empty hands. With empty pockets. And that is hard. 

We've had some conversations recently in our Bible study about what it’s like to encounter folks on the street who we do not understand. Who we wish we could help. Our heart breaks for them. But there's nothing that we can do.  

We watch the news at night with empty hands and pockets. We see what's happening on the other side of the world and we wish we could help, but we can’t. 

We walk the street and we see homeless folks and we wish we could help, but we can't. 

We answer the phone in the middle of the night and hear a voice we recognize, telling us that something has happened. We listen with empty pockets and empty hands.  

A lot of churches today struggle with emptiness. Empty pews. Those rooms that used to be filled with kids in Sunday School, now empty. Sometimes churches even deal with empty offering plates. Wondering how we can change the world when we can’t even keep the lights on. 

The New Testament writer Paul wrote about this in his second letter to the Corinthian church. He struggled with this too, but he found an answer. He found an understanding of empty hands.  

He says, you know, I thought I was I was impressive. In fact, I knew I was impressive.  

I thought I was something. In fact, I knew I was something.  

But Jesus... Jesus picked me up by the ankles and shook me until my pockets were empty, then He set me down. Paul writes:  

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

When we come to Jesus with our empty hands and our empty pockets, it gives Him the opportunity to fill those hands with what He has for us to give away.  

Yes, we are all individuals with gifts that He has given us for serving Him and doing His work. But He has also called us to offer our empty hands to Him and to say, “I'm not impressive. I'm not something. But I will do my best to serve you as a “good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23).” I may not be a clever servant or a talented one, a strong servant, or a rich one, a powerful servant, or a servant who has all the answers. But I can be faithful. I can be trustworthy, I can be a believing servant.” 

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Coming back to that story of Peter and the man who was begging at the temple gate, it occurred to me, as I was rereading it, to wonder... who was Peter really talking to? When he was eye-to-eye with the man and saying, “I don't have any money, but I will give you what I have.”  

Was he talking to this man who in a moment would be standing and leaping and running and telling people the good news?  

Or when Peter said, “I don't have anything, but what I have I give you?” could he have been talking to God? Could he have been in that moment, praying, “I want to do something for you right now. I want to serve you here. I want to make this world better for this man, who you love. But I have empty pockets. I have empty hands. All I have to offer you is my courage. My faith. Myself.” 

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