“ye Canny Change The Law Of Physics”! Jesus Did, And He Did It For Us.

This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 3rd August 2011: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).

Summary: “Ye canny change the law of Physics”!!! Here in the story of the loaves and the fishes, Jesus did. Recorded on all four gospels, it is a miracle with more powerful than credited; a miracle that is the basis of our lives being changed.

Genesis 32:22-31 Psalm 17: 1-7, 16 Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:13-21

Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts and our minds to your message this morning that we may hear you speak into our hearts words of encouragement for the future. Amen

Gospel reading

Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew’s Gospel chapter 13, verses 1 to 9 and 18 to 23: “Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"

"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty“.

Introduction:

That was a very familiar gospel reading this morning, the story of the loaves and fishes but what is truly unique about this story is the fact that it is recorded in all four gospels. It is one of the few stories where Matthew, Mark, Luke and John testify, and this therefore signifies great importance. So let us dive straight in and see what treasures are laying there.

At first you are probably saying, this is simply the old story where Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes to feed the multitude, so what, but it is the story that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and his true nature as God.

In fact, there were three distinct reasons as to why this miracle was performed:

1. It illustrates Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life, the one who was to be broken for the sin of humanity on that cross.

2. It is used to show that the man who was prophesied as the Messiah; (the one who was to be declared greater than Moses), was actually in their presence. This was necessary because the Jews revered Moses; as because Moses delivered the slaves from Egypt and in doing so had given the Israelites bread in the wilderness. Now Jesus in John 6:32 sets the record straight by reminding them that God gave the Hebrews the manna in the wilderness and not Moses, and that He, Jesus was the true bread of God about to be broken.

3. And thirdly, this miracle demonstrates Jesus power as the Lord of all creation.

This great miracle, (and earlier, the miracle of transforming water into wine), are the only miracles recorded in the bible where Jesus actually used His power to actually create something. Now, I don't know if you noticed that in all the other miracles that Jesus performed, He used resources that were already present.

Here Jesus creates something from nothing, and that totally changes the laws of physics. Mr Scott said in Star Trek, ye canny change the laws of physics; yet according to the bible, Jesus did and the law I am talking about is the law where you cannot create nor destroy matter.