John 6:1-21
October 11, 2026
Sermon preached on Pledge Sunday at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, California.
A cute prayer from a child might be, “Dear God, how come you don’t do any miracles now?”
Not only children, but many of us, perhaps all of us, here this morning wonder why God doesn’t seem to perform miracles anymore.
In the Bible, we see miracles and in today’s lesson, there are two of the well-known ones: the Feeding of the 5000 and Jesus Walking on Water. In our modern minds, we ascribe such miracles to Jesus because this would be the kinds of things God would do. And when we add the Resurrection of Jesus that defies human comprehension, we begin to define Christ’s divine origin and nature.
Since the Enlightenment when the scientific method and rational logic are applied to premodern happenings, we end up with plausible explanations to what may have happened.
One popular interpretation of the Feeding of the 5000 to explain the abundance of food generated in terms of people’s deciding to share hidden stashes of provisions with their neighbors is being shamed! After a young boy’s willingness to give up his loaves and fish, the people felt embarrassed. The miracle happened because the little boy shamed thousands of adults to do what’s right.
In the other miracle, Jesus walks on water. Some scholars in unpacking the meaning of the Greek word, epi could mean walk “on” or walk “by.” Maybe Jesus was only walking on the beach but it looked like he was walking on the water!
Our insatiable appetite to explain away miracles begins to lead us down the path of seeing only the ordinary and not the extraordinary.
Lakeshore Doing Church
For the past weeks, we have faced many issues that maybe should have been addressed earlier. But we are facing them now; it’s never too late!
We said goodbye to Pastor Allison Tanner and will celebrate some more on Nov.1st with an Appreciation Luncheon. Two weeks ago, we voted to close our Children’s Center that has been in existence before most of us came to Lakeshore. Times have changed and it became obvious that we have successfully completed that mission in the community. We are saying goodbye so that we might be able to say hello in the future.
Your capable financial church leaders are working very hard to understand the financial health of this church so that you can trust the numbers and begin to live and serve within your budget. The Pastoral Search Committee has completed the tasks of reading resumes, conducting Zoom interviews and preparing for you to meet their choice for you to consider as your next pastor. By the way, the search committee is performing the best practices of any human resource department to call your next settled pastor.
Last month, some of us came down to dust and wipe clean our church home to get ready for the Fall holiday seasons. I particularly vacuumed up the dust balls around the pulpit and reglued this little table up here. This was our Fall cleaning but when I went home that day, my own house still needed cleaning!
It is very unlikely that any of these things, we would label as miracles. Boards and committees meet and you serve your duty and your term. We set reasonable and attainable goals, make workable plans, put them into action, and carry out these endeavors with the resources at hand. We hardly view these tasks as a venue for God’s glory and mercy to break into the world but only as our chores and assignments. But this is not so.
Miracles Among Us
From every one of these acts of ministry that are appearing in front of us at Lakeshore, these are ways that in the name of Jesus, we are revealing God’s power through us.
Take the Feeding of the 5000. If we only understand this miracle as neighbors being shamed by the little boy’s willingness to give up his loaves and fish, then its focus is on our human ability to transform the human heart to be generous. A shame-base explanation focuses on our human ability to solve our own problems motivating proper human behavior. God is no longer a miracle-worker unbounded by human laws, but a social manipulator who reminds people to share. Then you don’t need a pastor/prophet, you would only need a psychologist!
When Jesus walked on water, we can make the mistake that Christ’s desire is to accompany the disciples in their work and not be a threat to their livelihood as fishermen. The problem lies not in the disciples’ desire to have Jesus join them on their journey, but in their inability to recognize Jesus as he approaches. The point here is that they regain spiritual companionship only by listening to Jesus’ declaration of his identity and invitation to reject fear. Jesus said, “It is I; do not be afraid.” The disciples recognized Jesus! The disciples’ recognition of Jesus is the miracle!
Are we afraid of what may happen to us as a church in the future? God is telling us to not be afraid of the future because even in the routine things that we are doing, God is doing miracles in our midst.
Let’s go back to this text. In verse 5, Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him. Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six month’s wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
Today, Jesus is asking us, Lakeshore, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” God is testing us. Do we have faith that God will provide when we might feel that we have great needs? Not only is Jesus recruiting Philip, there were also his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Today, God is not just calling out one person to feed the approaching crowds of Oakland coming toward this church, God is calling all of us, young and older, long-timed members and newer members to distribute the resources that we have for the world.
Having Enough
We are knowledgeable people at Lakeshore. We have people who have advanced degrees; some continue to take continuing education classes to continue their search for knowledge. There is no way that I can stand behind this pulpit on a Sunday morning and not be prepared! We have people who have life skills who can navigate through life. We have people who have wisdom from having lived long and prospered as the result of it. But in our pursuit of knowledge, in our pursuit of answers to problems and crises that maybe have no answers, we end up failing to see miracles.
Is there an answer to a tsunami that destroys many innocent people? Would we ever have a satisfactory answer to a loved one dying from cancer? Why would little children die when they have yet to grow up? Why do people suffer? Whatever answers we might try to come up with, it’s not enough. But in this passage of feeding the 5000, not having enough is not the final answer. When we placed our trust and faith in the hands of Jesus, our human weakness, our human limitations, our human doubts and fear for the future become more than enough.
In 1946, Mother Teresa came face to face with the masses of suffering and dying in Calcutta. She experienced what she called the “call within the call,” namely, to serve those suffering the most. Certainly, her knowledge or her wealth or her wisdom would not be enough to fulfill a calling to the poorest of the earth. Yet love’s knowledge fueled the passion of that call, and with that passion she began the Missionaries of Charity, a small order of 13 members. In the ensuing decades, the order grew to thousands of members giving care in many orphanages and charity centers. Love’s knowledge multiplies the meager resources and makes a way forward when knowledge comes to its end.
With all the knowledge and experience that we have at Lakeshore, can we transform that to love’s knowledge of feeding the masses with bread and fish and the Bread of Life?
In 1976, when Millard and Linda Fuller began Habitat for Humanity International, there were few resources and a great need for affordable and decent housing for the working poor. With a few tools and a small group of volunteers, it would have been easy to ask, “What are they among so many?” Yet the passion for justice grounded in the incarnation of Jesus compelled them forward. Today Habitat for Humanity serves as a clear testimony to the multiplying power of love’s knowledge.
Can we on this Pledge Sunday pray over what we have, how little you might thing you have, in our commitment to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in the world in both our deeds and words that we have more than enough to make a difference? Would you join the one percent club at Lakeshore?
When the little boy gave up his loaves of bread and fish and Jesus’ disciples became empowered to feed the hungry, are we ready to give up our loaves of bread and fish for the work of God’s realm on earth? When the disciples followed Jesus’ plans, a miracle happened. What if we “gather up our resources leaving nothing to be lost,” might we see miracles too?
God’s Work
My last point from this John passage is that God is in control. When we believe that we know everything and that we can control the world, these may be the reasons why we don’t see miracles anymore. We like to be in control and even in matters that we might not totally understand, we like to manipulate them to explain it in a rational way.
When the hungry people were fed, the people were coming to take him away by force to make him a king. But Jesus withdrew to the mountain by himself. When the disciples in the boat wanted to take him into the boat, the boat immediately reached the shore.
Jesus is not someone to work for humanity but rather Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God who lives among us continuing doing miracles in our midst. In Jesus’ name, we gather together, we leave nothing behind. We leave no one behind, no one is lost, and when we do this, miracles begin to happen.
When you give to the 2027 Church Canvass to support the ongoing ministries here, you will miraculously welcome and affirm LGBTQ people who are seeking a place to faithfully serve God. When you support the Hunger Task Force, you will miraculously put a turkey on the tables of families on Thanksgiving Day. When you place your offerings in the plates, you are miraculously keeping the doors of this church open for people on their journeys seeking for a place to call home.
And when you make your 2027 Church Pledge, you will welcome a new pastor to shepherd you to feed the multitudes and to get to know Jesus again. It is nothing short of a miracle!
Let us pray.
O God, show us that when we act on your behalf, when we love on your behalf, when we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly on your behalf, we will see miraculous things happening all around us. Guide us like we were like the little boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish who shared generously and in so doing, Jesus worked a miracle that fed 5000 people. Inspire us, O God, to gather up all the resources that we have that were originally from you and utilize them for your work in the world. Help us not to waste anything but to employ all your blessings and gifts to bring Good News in the world. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.