“THE RISING UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM”
JOHN 6:1-14

6:1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii [1] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,
9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.
11 Jesus then 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.
12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”
13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

I don’t have to tell you that unemployment is a big problem these days. In some places it’s as high as 70 or 80%. If that sounds a little high it’s because I’m talking about a different kind of unemployment. The Monday through Friday unemployment rate in this country is 9.5%. The Sunday morning unemployment rate in this country is 70 or 80%. You could call it our spiritual unemployment rate. It’s high because a lot of people don’t practice their faith. They don’t put their faith to work.
They believe but they don’t pray unless they want God to give them something.
They believe but they don’t really do anything to keep the Sabbath holy.
They believe but they don’t give of their time, their talents or their earthly treasures.

When it comes to putting your faith to work some people have the same attitude that a young man had when his millionaire father sat him down one day for a heart-to-heart talk. The father was troubled by his son’s lack of ambition. “Son,” he said, “I just don’t understand it. When I was your age I broke my back carrying water and cement for a bricklayer.” The son nodded his head. He then put his hand on his father’s shoulder and said, “You know dad I’m really proud of you. If it hadn’t been for your hard work I probably would have had to do something like that myself.”

These days a lot of people aren’t putting their faith to work and I’m convinced that it’s one of the reasons why this country is in the mess that it’s in right now.

The dangers of spiritual unemployment can be seen in the feeding of the 5,000. Here’s the interesting thing about that miracle. Jesus could have performed that miracle all by himself. After all we’re talking about Jesus here.
We’re talking about the Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead. We’re talking about the Jesus who walked on the water. We’re talking about the Jesus who turned water into wine, healed people who were deaf and blind and unable to walk.

Jesus could have performed the miracle all by himself, but he didn’t. Instead he asked the disciples to help him. We don’t know exactly what Jesus said but he probably said something like this: “Men, I’ve got a job for you. Why don’t you go into town and buy some food for all of these people?” Unfortunately, quickly made it clear that they didn’t want any part of that job. They quickly made it clear that they didn’t have enough money to even begin to feed all the people who were there. So, the disciples basically said, “Sorry Jesus – no can do.”

The disciples decided that they weren’t going to put their faith to work. Fortunately, there was a boy there who was more than willing to help. That boy stepped forward and offered to let Jesus use the loaves of bread that he had with him. Can’t you just see that boy running up to Jesus and saying, “Hey Jesus, if you want, you can use the food that I brought with me today for my lunch!”

When I picture this scene in my mind I see a young boy full of energy and enthusiasm running up to Jesus. My guess is that he was similar to a boy who decided to sell one of his dog’s puppies. One day a salesman saw the “Puppy For Sale” sign and decided to give the boy a little advice. “Son,” he said, “if you really want to sell that puppy get him cleaned up. Dress him up with a scarf around his neck and then raise your price. People will think they’re getting something really special and you’ll sell the puppy in no time.” Well, the boy took the salesman’s advice. The next day the salesman was a little concerned though when he saw a sign that said, “TREEMENDOUS Puppy for Sale - $5,000.” So, he went and found the boy. “Son,” he said, “I think you got a little too ambitious with your sign.” The little boy shook his head. “No I didn’t,” he said, “I sold that puppy in no time at all.” Now the salesman was stunned. “How on earth did you sell that puppy for $5,000?” he asked. The little boy smiled and replied, “It was easy. I traded him for two $2,500 kittens.”

That boy was full of energy and enthusiasm. The boy who gave his lunch to Jesus was full of energy and enthusiasm. He rolled his sleeves up and worked with Jesus to make that miracle happen. He put his faith to work!

I wonder what would happen if more people put their faith to work. I’ll tell you what I think. I don’t think we’d be in the economic mess that we’re in right now. If people put their faith to work there would be less gluttony on Main Street and less greed on Wall Street. If people put their faith to work we’ probably have less drug abuse and alcohol abuse. That’s because people wouldn’t be so stressed out chasing the American dream and bummed out when they discover that the American dream doesn’t give an inner sense of peace and joy. If people put their faith to work we’d probably have fewer pregnant teenagers, more volunteers in soup kitchens, less dishonesty in the halls of Congress and a lot more respect for others than you usually see these days.

That’s because when you don’t put your faith to work it’s all about “me, me, me.” You tend to think like the woman who decided to sue her ex-husband for additional alimony support. That happens all the time but Marie Douglas-David’s story made headlines earlier this year. It made headlines because George David, her ex-husband was the CEO for United Technologies in Hartford Connecticut and he’s\d already paid her $43 million. Marie Douglas David went to court though and claimed that it wasn’t enough to cover her weekly expenses. Those weekly expenses include $700 for her limousine, $4,500 for clothes (remember now these are weekly expenses), $1,000 for hair and beauty treatments, $1,500 for restaurants and entertainment and $8,000 for travel. By the way did you notice anything unusual about this woman’s weekly expenses? When I read the story I immediately noticed that her weekly expenses didn’t include a single penny for churches or charities!

When you don’t put your faith to work the focus is on “me, me, me.” The boy who put his faith to work and helped Jesus wasn’t like that. He wasn’t thinking about himself. He was thinking about Jesus and all those people who were hungry. His focus wasn’t “me, me, me.” His focus was “we, we, we” and here’s something else to think about.

Imagine what it must have been like for that boy when he went home that night. I can just see him running into the house full of energy and enthusiasm. I can hear him telling his mother all about it. “Hey mom, guess what happened to me today. I met that Jesus guy that everyone’s been talking about. Not only that but I gave him the food that I had with me and he used the food to feed 5,000 people. It was a miracle and I got the be a part of it!”

That’s what happens when you put your faith to work. When you put your faith to work everyone wins!

Daddy Bruce Randolph will tell you that. People around here have probably never heard of Daddy Bruce him but a lot of people out in Denver know him. Daddy Bruce died a few years ago. For years though Daddy Bruce owned a barbeque restaurant and every year he put together and paid for a Thanksgiving dinner for the city’s poor and homeless people. As the years went by the event became so big that Daddy Bruce had to let people help him and help him they did. They donated tons of turkeys, potatoes, yams and ribs. They helped him cook it and then on Thanksgiving Day professional athletes, police officers, politicians, pastors, priests and people who wanted to volunteer served the food. When Daddy Bruce turned 90 he had to stop working but the Thanksgiving dinner went on. The mayor of Denver even named a street in his honor. Shortly before Daddy Bruce died he was interviewed and in that interview he was asked why he kept the Thanksgiving dinner going for over 25 years. His reply shows a faith at work. He said, “You can’t beat love. Nothing beats love. If you give just one thing, you get three things back.”

That’s why Jesus wants us to set the example. When we put our faith to work it will encourage others to put their faith to work. When that happens the spiritual unemployment rate with come down and everyone will win! Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
July 26, 2009