SIT DOWN AND BE COUNTED
JOHN 6: 1 -13
The gospel according to St. John is vastly different than all of the other gospels. While the other three are called the synoptic gospels, which simply means that they give a synopsis or summary of Jesus’ life, John is after something different. John encourages us to understand not only what Jesus did but who Jesus is. In fact, some of the most important language in the Christian faith is found in the gospel of St. John. For it is in John’s gospel that we find the words “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whosever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” It is in John’s gospel that we are told “if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” It is John’s gospel which tells us “this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
In John’s gospel Jesus speaks directly to us about himself and who he is in relation us. “I am the light of the world ------I am the good shepherd ----------I am the living water--------I am the way the truth and the light no man comes to the father but by me.” While other writers devote themselves to telling us how Jesus sought to hide his identity or to inquire who did the people say he was, in the gospel according to St. John we are made to gain a deeper appreciation for who Jesus is.
This Men’s Day morning we are asked to consider a familiar passage of scripture, the miracle of the feeding of 5000 men. You should know that this is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Five thousand men----what a number. --- I heard the songwriter say “give me some men who are stout hearted men ------ who will fight for the right they adore. ------Start me with ten who are stouthearted me and I‘ll soon show you ten thousand more.” The Bible says that there were five thousand men out there in the countryside with Jesus. We don’t know how many women and children there were but you do understand that if there were five thousand men there, there had to be a whole lot of women and children somewhere close.
One of the areas in which we in the body of Christ have dropped the ball is in the area of men. For some reason Christian men are perceived to be weak. Young men who find themselves in the criminal justice system go off to prison and when they come back they tell us that they are not Christians, they are Muslims. The perception is that Christian men are not strong enough and that somehow the call to follow Jesus is a call to be a weak person.
But if you and I are to really make a difference as men and in the lives of men when so many especially but not exclusively African – American men are killing one another in the streets, becoming part of the prison system or confused about their sexual identity we are going to have to reach out to men. -------Many women come to church every Sunday who have husbands, sons, fathers, or brothers, nephews for whom they are praying to come to know Christ. ----------- Many men cannot understand why we need to come to church to listen to another man tell us what the Bible says.
In this miracle of Jesus that we encounter in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel Jesus has tried to take his disciples to a private place to get away from the crowd. How many people know you can’t run with the crowd all the time? Sometimes you have to tell the crowd y’all go on without me. But it looked like the more he tried to get away from the crowd the more the crowd wanted to get closer to Him.
Now Mark’s gospel tells us that it was at the end of the day and that it was Jesus’ disciples who looked out on the hungry crowd and realized they didn’t have enough food for all of those people and they came to Jesus and said look it is getting late and these people are hungry ------ send them away that they may buy food for themselves. Look at that for one moment Mark 6:36 “Send them away that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.” Mark’s gospel really lifts up the challenge to the Christian church today with so many people hungry for what only Jesus can give in so many instances we have said send them away so they can figure it for themselves. Send them away so they can take care of themselves. Send them away so they can get a grip on life and how to make it in a world gone mad all by themselves. I don’t know about you today ---- but I’m so glad that when I came back to Jesus and said Jesus I don’t want to try to make it on my own any more that Jesus didn’t send me away. Those disciples of Jesus said send them away we can’t solve every body’s problems. Send them away we don’t have the answer to what they are going through. We don’t have the answer to the crisis of that person’s soul. Send them away and let them work it out for themselves.
But I wish I had somebody in this place who could testify with me if I had thought I had the answer myself I wouldn’t be here today. In fact when I thought I had the answer myself I was not here. But the fact that I am here means that I realize I am hungry for something more than the world can give me. The fact that I am here means that I understand that I do not have the answer for whatever may be happening in my life, or mind, or spirit. So I don’t know who this is for but you need to know today that “Jesus is the answer for the world today above him there is no other Jesus is the way.”
I like what the gospel of John does with this miracle because in John’s gospel it is not the disciples who discover that the crowd is hungry and tell Jesus to send them away so that they can fend for themselves. In John’s gospel Jesus looks out and sees the hungry crowd. It is not the disciples who go to Jesus but Jesus who goes to the disciples and asks Phillip “where shall we bread that these may eat? But Jesus said this to test him because he already knew what he would do.” John’s version just makes more sense to me because what John suggests is Jesus saw their need before they even knew they had the need and that Jesus already had a plan. Can I just tell you that there is not a need that can come up in your life that Jesus does not know about? Can I just tell you that there is not a crisis, a problem, an obstacle, a difficulty, or a setback that can come up in your life that Jesus does not already know about? Not only does Jesus already know but I can shout when consider the fact the he has already worked it out. ------ Y’all didn’t hear me ---- I said he already worked it out. I know what the doctor said but he’s already worked out. I know what the test came back but he’s already worked it out. I know you wish you could take those words back that you said to that person but he’s already worked it out.---- I know what the landlord or the bank or the credit card people said they were going to do to you but is there anybody here who knows today that Jesus has already worked it out? ---I know the lies they told and the rumors they are spreading on you have got you all upset but my Jesus has already worked it out.
Is there anybody here who can testify I know that’s the truth pastor because in my own life he worked it out? Even after I messed it up he worked it out. Even when my faith got weak he had already worked it out. I think I can understand what the hymnologist meant that said “why should I feel discouraged, and why, should the shadows come, and why, should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, a constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow and I know ----- he watches me.”
I like the way John puts it in his gospel because it encourages us that Jesus already knows what our needs are and had already worked them out. Isn’t that Paul was talking about in Romans 8 when he said “and we know that all things work together for good for those who love the lord for those who are the called according to his purpose?”
What grabs me today is the fact that the Bible says that Jesus told the people to sit down and when they sat down there were five thousand men. There is no mention of how many women and children where there. We could explain that away by simply saying that Jesus lived in a male dominated culture, and that women and children were not counted because in that time and in that culture they had no standing, but I believe there is something more. I believe there is a message in that for us as men today. Those men who were there with Jesus had a need. They had seen him heal sick people and they had followed him even though he tried to get away. All men have needs Men have physical, emotional needs and spiritual needs. We don’t like to admit it, because it seems as though admitting it is to convey a sign of weakness. But those men who were there recognized their own need to be in the presence of a Holy God. They needed to be in the presence of something greater than self. They needed top be in the presence of something that reminded them that there is more to life than working, watching sports, fishing, and shooting pool. Somewhere at sometime something has to give meaning to it all. I believe they counted the men to let us know how many other men are wrestling with those same issues. Five thousand men were there. What does that mean? That means that brother you may think that you are the first one or the only one who has ever been through what you are going through but the fact that there were five thousand men there let’s you know that there are other men who are haunted by the same demons and wrestling with the same issues. Men do have deep issues. Over in Marks’ gospel it talks about the woman with the issue of blood but blood is not the only thing that people can hemorrhage, you can hemorrhage your self control, you can hemorrhage your sense of who you are, you can hemorrhage your self worth or self respect. Men may not have an issue of blood but men do have some deep issues.
If you ever read any of the books by this man E. Lynn Harris he writes about men who appear to have it “going on.” On the outside they look perfectly normal, but many of them are wrestling with serious issues with their sexuality on the inside which cause them to become involved in unfortunate and ungodly behaviors. Just think about this for one minute. What were all of those men doing there anyway? Didn’t they a game to watch? Shouldn’t they have been at work somewhere? Shouldn’t they have had something else going on with their buddies which, was more important than following Jesus around? They had come to the place in their life where they appreciated the fact that there was something more important than the game, something that affects me more than working and that is having a real encounter with Jesus. They sat down and they were counted. As long as they were standing there the Bible makes no mention of how many men there were. But when Jesus told the disciples to have them sit down on the grass the Bible tells us that there were five thousand men. Well pastor why did they have to sit down to be counted? ----- Well, notice what the Bible says that there was much grass where they were. So Jesus told them to sit down in the grass so they could get comfortable. And I want to tell you today men that we all have to come to the place where we are comfortable in Jesus. Men always think that we are supposed to do something. Men are used to being providers and protectors, and in control. As long as I am standing on my own two feet I am in control. I can come and go as I please. I can go over here or over there because I am in control. But when I sit down I am giving up some of my control because I am no longer standing on my own two feet. Jesus wanted those men to know that it is okay not to be in control when we allow Jesus to be on control of our lives. They sat down which meant they meant they may not have been seen. We think we have to stand up to be seen. We think we have to stand up to get attention, to be first, from the time we are children we are socialized that we will be affirmed when we win something, when we come in first place, when we are better than the next guy. If I sit down will I be overlooked, will I be forgotten about, and will I be taken for granted? If I sit down will I give up some of my uniqueness, my individuality, my self identity as a man? Sitting down with Jesus means spending quality time with Master. Sitting down with Jesus means allowing Jesus to minister to those hidden places in our spirits. Sitting down with Jesus means surrendering control over my life to say not my will be done but thy will be done. Notice that every time in the gospels that Jesus was trying to spend quality time with his disciples the Bible says they came to a place and he sat with his disciples. Sit down and be counted, and know that Jesus loves you today and it has nothing to do with what you achieve or accomplish or provide or bring to the table or have to offer. Jesus loves us because we belong to him.
They sat down and got organized. When men get organized in fellowship with other men miracles can happen. They sat down which meant they were not relying on self. “The poet John Donne said correctly that no man is an island, entire of itself----any man’s death diminishes me. Because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee.”
We cannot make it all alone. Those of us who have tried and continue to try are well aware that we have failed and continue to fail. When men organize and work together there is nothing we cannot accomplish through the power of God. Why don’t you sit down and be counted today. Jesus has something for every man. There were five thousand men there and all Jesus had was some bread and fish that a little boy had brought for his lunch. You can’t feed five men with that let alone five thousand. But watch what happens when that bread and fish passes through the hands of Jesus. There were five thousand men. Do you know how many personalities that was? Five thousand men, do you know how many ideas that was? Five thousand men, do you know how many ways of getting something done that was? They say two women can’t share a kitchen. But have you ever seen two men who both know how to do the same thing? Five thousand minds, five thousand attitudes, five thousand histories, five thousand pieces of baggage of a poor family history. Five thousand men, which meant there were five thousand pieces of baggage of no father in the house. Five thousand men, which meant there was the baggage of having been molested as a child and never talked about it, the baggage of a wife who cheated on them or the painful memories of a young child who has died. There were five thousand men, which meant that there were potentially five thousand messed up minds, bad understandings, and crazy ways of thinking. Let’s just say we forget about how many women and children there were. Actually, we don’t know because the Bible does not tell us. There were five thousand men who came with all of their stuff, and all of their baggage, and all of their history, and all that they had on them, but Jesus feed them all. I came to tell you today men that you are unique, you are an individual, you are special, you are a leader, there is not another like you in all the world, and even if nobody else can appreciate all of that you have been through Jesus can feed your soul today. Jesus will reach where nobody else can reach and Jesus will do what nobody else can reach. Sit down and be counted Jesus can give you what you need.
I heard Bishop Paul S. Morton Sr. describe how that conversation must have gone one time with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus asks his disciples how will we feed these people. Andrew comes back and says we have five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are they among so many? Jesus says no Andrew count again. Andrew looks --- Jesus I see five barley loaves and two small fish. Move Andrew ---- Phillip, Andrew can’t count come over here. Phillip what do you see. Hmn -- Jesus we have five barley loaves and two small fish. Move Phillip ----- Matthew, you used to be a tax collector I know you can count, come here. Count and tell me what you see. Well, now let’s see, Jesus, I see one – two—three—four—five – Five yes that’s right Five barley loaves, and one – two and two yes that’s right two small fish. Jesus I see five barley loaves and two small fish. No wonder they put you out of the tax collecting business Matthew, you can’t count. Peter, come here Peter, I can always count on you Peter we have five thousand men here that we have to feed, tell me what you see. UHHH ----- I see ----- well, Jesus uhhh, you see Jesus it’s like this Jesus I see. Well, Jesus let me just ask what do you see that we have? Peter I am glad you asked, I see five barley loaves, two small fish, and me.
I just came to tell somebody that when you sit down to be counted in the presence of Jesus you won’t have to worry about insufficient resources, you won’t have to worry about an inadequate supply, you won’t have to worry who’s going to do it if I don’t do it, you won’t have to worry will I be seen, or overlooked, ignored, or forgotten about because whatever is there when you add Jesus to it becomes more than enough. The Bible says there were twelve baskets left.
I wish I had one witness here that He is more than enough to heal your body. He’s more than enough to restore your family. He’s more than enough to fix your situation. He’s more than enough to answer your prayer. Jesus is more than enough to supply your needs. He’s more than enough to break the curse of your fathers, he’s more than enough.
