What’s in Your Basket? | 6/21/26

• Reflection Questions

  1. Jesus didn't shame the disciples for their scarcity thinking — he just told them to sit down and watch what would happen. When you catch yourself slipping into a scarcity mindset, what would it look like to extend yourself that same kind of grace instead of guilt?

  2. What's actually in your basket right now? What gifts, time, resources, or even ordinary things do you have that you haven't yet thought to offer up?

  3. Jesus met the crowd's physical hunger first, before tending to anything deeper. Where in your own life or relationships might meeting a practical, immediate need open the door to something more meaningful down the road?

  4. "Analysis leading to paralysis" is a real temptation when you sense a nudge to act. Is there something right in front of you right now that you've been overthinking instead of simply stepping into?

Transcript:

It's a joy to be here with you this morning. And what in the world does a preacher say on his last Sunday with the congregation, on his last Sunday as a United Methodist pastor under appointment? First of all, I do want to say this — would you take a moment to celebrate with me women in ministry and the good news that for seventy years, the United Methodist Church has been saying yes to the call of women to preach and teach and share the good news of the gospel? And I am grateful to have served the last few years alongside Reverend Marisa Gertz, and I'm grateful to Reverend Claire Carter, who I see sitting in the back, who is our deacon in full connection, who is a part of our team and leads the Circles ministry. And for the twenty-seven years of co-pastoring that I got to do with my wife, the Reverend Katherine Price, who is now our district superintendent — would you celebrate women in ministry with me?

It has been a tremendous privilege to serve alongside these women and others over the years as a part of my ministry in this denomination, and I'm so grateful.

So our story today is a familiar one — you will probably recognize it. It is the only miracle story that actually shows up in all four of the Gospels. We get miracle stories in each of the Gospels, but this is the only one that is in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The version that I'm going to read for us today is the only one that includes a boy as a part of the story. So I invite you to follow along — listen in as I read for us the beginning verses of the sixth chapter of John.

After this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he 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 months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

This is the Word of God for the people of God. And God's people say, thanks be to God. Would you pray with me?

Come, Holy Spirit, and breathe life into the words that I speak, that they might carry a word from you into our hearts and lives this morning. Amen.

It was just one boy's luncheon. Five little tasty cakes of bread that mom had baked that morning, and the two fish that he had caught on his way there. It was just enough to tide a growing boy over until he could get back home that evening for dinner. But in the hands of Jesus that day, it would become so much more.

You know, I love Jesus's playfulness with the disciples in this story today. He already has a plan — John tells us that — but he's eager to hear what his friends, the ones that he has surrounded himself with, think. What have they learned from him so far on the journey that they have shared up to this point? Apparently they need some more time to figure it all out.

First, Jesus asks them. He says, "Philip, where are we to buy enough food for all these people to eat?" And Philip is the first one to respond — the bean counter, the one who starts counting the dollars and cents in his head. "Jesus, six months' wages would not be enough to buy even morsels for each person here." Then there's Andrew, the realist. "Well, there is this one boy here with his Lunchables, but what's that among all of these people that are showing up?" I imagine that the others were murmuring as well — "What in the world is Jesus thinking? We don't possibly have enough to do what you are asking."

Their responses reveal a familiar human tendency in us all to retreat into a mindset of scarcity. And one of the things that catches my attention about this story is that Jesus doesn't shame them for thinking the way they think. In fact, I can almost hear the laughter in his voice as he tells them what to do next: "Just tell them to sit down. It's going to be a good day. Just tell them to sit down." And so they do, and Jesus feeds them. And in that moment, he gives the disciples and the others who are gathered on that hillside another object lesson in God's abundance.

Going deeper in this story, what we notice is that Jesus sees the people's hunger — and not just the physical hunger. He sees the deeper longing that has brought many of them there that day. John tells us at the outset of the story that many people were following Jesus along the way, wherever he was going, because they had noticed the way he had healed the sick. And if Jesus had healed these other people from what was ailing them, might he also mend the broken places in their lives? Could he make them well too?

Jesus intends to meet them in their need, and he'll start that day by satisfying the physical hunger. You know, that's a great model for the church, by the way. Long before Maslow shared with us a hierarchy of needs that we all have as human beings, Jesus saw it. And what did Jesus do, time and time again? He met people in their physical needs — the things that were troubling them in real and raw life — and he tended to those needs so that then it might open up a door for him to tend to the deeper spiritual needs that they had as well.

And what we also notice in this story is that to accomplish his purpose of feeding the people that day, Jesus starts with a young boy's free-will offering of his Lunchables.

This is a story that communicates two important truths of the gospel — truths that show up in other places, not only in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but in other places across the pages of Scripture. But I love the way in which John ties them together in this story.

First truth: in Jesus there is limitless grace that will not be confined or compromised by the stunted imagination of others around him. Jesus will feed everybody that day — not just some, but all.

And secondly, Jesus wants to use what we have to offer in sharing that grace with the world. Jesus could do it all by himself, but he invites us into the work. He invites us into the practice of loving and extending limitless grace to a world in need.

So my question for today is: what's in your basket? What do you have to offer that God can use in the days ahead?

Let me offer three guideposts as you ponder that question.

The first one is: don't sell yourself short. Do not minimize what you have to offer. God has gifted every one of us in some way for the well-being of the world. Do not minimize the way in which God has gifted you, and don't let comparison be the thief of joy. Don't lose sight of how God has blessed and gifted you to make a difference by putting too much attention on how you see God blessing others to make a difference. Your gift, friends, is never insignificant in the hands of the God of the universe.

Second, do not withhold what was a gift to you in the first place. Everything that we have is a gift. It came from God. It belongs to God. And part of life is us figuring out how to give it back to God by sharing it with others around us in ways that bless the world. What God has entrusted to each of us was never meant for us alone. You know how parents love to see when children start learning how to share what they have — what a joy that is, right? And God, the greatest giver of all, the greatest parent of all, takes delight and joy in watching the children share what they have in ways that bless others.

Don't sell yourself short, and don't withhold what was a gift in the first place. And lastly, don't miss out. Do not miss out, my friends, on what may be right in front of you, on what God wants to do — not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not a year from now, but what God wants and can do through you right now. Do not let analysis lead to paralysis. You know what I'm talking about, right? You know that there's something that you can do, a difference that you can make. But your brain starts running through all the reasons, and maybe all the excuses, of why right now is not a good time, or there are too many other things that need your attention. Friends, when the nudge of the Spirit comes, pay attention and do not miss out. Do not get caught waiting on the sidelines. Sometimes you just gotta jump in and do the thing and say yes to what it is that God is wanting and can do through you.

One more thing. The boy offered his whole basket. Did you notice that? He didn't look in his basket and decide what he was going to pull out of it and say, "I'll give you this." He offered his whole basket.

Your life will never be better than if you go all in on what God wants to do in and through you — with your whole self, not just a part of yourself, but your whole self. So don't hold back.

I know that God has things in mind to do through each one of you, and I also truly believe that God is going to do something special through the people called Trinity in the season that is coming next. Friends, I will be praying for you, and I hope you'll pray for me too. I'll keep listening as well.

And now to him who, by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine — to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.