A dilemma, one dictionary says, is “a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives…”
We all deal with dilemmas.
Often I find, my personal dilemmas are driven by my sinful human nature. Like when confronted with a choice between the good I can do and the wrong I would rather do.
A guy stands at the base of a freeway offramp and I see him. In a flash, I hear Jesus saying, “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (Luke 6:30) In the same flash, I find myself arguing with Jesus, “But, Lord, I’ve seen this guy here before. Why doesn’t he get a job?” And I sense Jesus telling me, “See previous statement, Mark. Don’t make a dilemma out of something that isn’t a dilemma. What part of ‘Give to everyone who asks you’ don’t you understand?” When the light turns green as I drift toward the intersection of ramp and road, I breathe a sigh of relief.
I nearly forget about the dilemma-that-wasn’t-a-real-dilemma until I later pray and realize I have something for which I need to repent. I feel like Paul in Romans: “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19) This I keep on doing.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Mark 6:30-44, the apostles--Jesus’ sent ones--return from a missionary journey on which Jesus had sent them. They are exhilarated. The apostles had preached and taught the good news that, in Jesus, God’s kingdom had broken into the world and that, in response, God was calling people to repent and believe in the good news about the One Who had come to die for our sins and rise to give us life with God, Jesus. People had responded to the Gospel message presented by the apostles.Through them, people believed in Jesus. The apostles had also cured diseases and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. But now, exhilarated or not, the apostles were also exhausted. So, Jesus invites them to come with Him to a quiet place so that He can fill them again with the blessings of His Word. This, of course, is what Jesus invites us to do through weekly worship, the Sacraments, and reading and studying His Word. To all who have made the wrong choices when given the chance to do the right thing...to all born into sin and unable to free themselves (that includes all of us)...to all worn out from life, Jesus says what He effectively says to the apostles at the start of our Gospel lesson, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” (Matthew 11:28)
But if the apostles thought that Jesus was inviting them to sit around a campfire with ‘smores so that they could brag about everything they’d done in Jesus’ name, they would quickly learn otherwise. Jesus, in fact, was going to present them with a dilemma. A crowd, anxious to hear Jesus’ teaching, had actually beaten Jesus and the disciples to a the quiet place they’d gone to on a fishing boat. The apostles may have been disappointed. But, Mark says that Jesus looked on the crowds and “had compassion on them.” (Mark 6:34) The root word for the one translated here as “had compassion” is σπλαγχνίζομαι. It means that Jesus looked on the crowds with a gut-deep sense of love and responsibility for them.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Mark 6:30-44, the apostles--Jesus’ sent ones--return from a missionary journey on which Jesus had sent them. They are exhilarated. The apostles had preached and taught the good news that, in Jesus, God’s kingdom had broken into the world and that, in response, God was calling people to repent and believe in the good news about the One Who had come to die for our sins and rise to give us life with God, Jesus. People had responded to the Gospel message presented by the apostles.Through them, people believed in Jesus. The apostles had also cured diseases and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. But now, exhilarated or not, the apostles were also exhausted. So, Jesus invites them to come with Him to a quiet place so that He can fill them again with the blessings of His Word. This, of course, is what Jesus invites us to do through weekly worship, the Sacraments, and reading and studying His Word. To all who have made the wrong choices when given the chance to do the right thing...to all born into sin and unable to free themselves (that includes all of us)...to all worn out from life, Jesus says what He effectively says to the apostles at the start of our Gospel lesson, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” (Matthew 11:28)
But if the apostles thought that Jesus was inviting them to sit around a campfire with ‘smores so that they could brag about everything they’d done in Jesus’ name, they would quickly learn otherwise. Jesus, in fact, was going to present them with a dilemma. A crowd, anxious to hear Jesus’ teaching, had actually beaten Jesus and the disciples to a the quiet place they’d gone to on a fishing boat. The apostles may have been disappointed. But, Mark says that Jesus looked on the crowds and “had compassion on them.” (Mark 6:34) The root word for the one translated here as “had compassion” is σπλαγχνίζομαι. It means that Jesus looked on the crowds with a gut-deep sense of love and responsibility for them.
The people were flailing under the abuse of self-serving would-be shepherds.
People like Herod, who had just killed John the Baptist.
Like Pilate, who crucified anyone he didn’t like.
Like the religious leaders, who were more interested in influencing society than they were in sharing God’s life-giving Word with people.
Jesus looked on the crowd the same way that He looks at you and me: sinners in need of forgiveness and grace, children who are born wandering far from God and from the life that only God can give.
So, what does Jesus do?
He teaches them. He probably points out that humanity is fallen and far from God and life, but that He has come to bring God near, to save all who turn to Him from sin, death, and darkness, to give new and everlasting life to all who daily take up their crosses and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He likely teaches what He has been teaching since the outset of His ministry: “The time has come...The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
Jesus has spent hours feeding the crowd and the apostles on His saving good news, His gospel. Eventually, the apostles suggest that Jesus send the crowd away so that they can buy food for themselves. But Jesus confronts them with a dilemma, “You give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:37) The apostles, so recently intent on telling Jesus everything they had done, say that can’t be done. “That would take more than half a year’s wages!” (Mark 6:37)
Jesus has spent hours feeding the crowd and the apostles on His saving good news, His gospel. Eventually, the apostles suggest that Jesus send the crowd away so that they can buy food for themselves. But Jesus confronts them with a dilemma, “You give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:37) The apostles, so recently intent on telling Jesus everything they had done, say that can’t be done. “That would take more than half a year’s wages!” (Mark 6:37)
Isn’t it amazing that whenever Jesus tells us to do something, we can find reasons for not doing it?
“We don’t have enough,” the apostles say.
We say similar things, “We don’t have the time. We don’t have the words. We don’t have the expertise.” At Living Water, we might say, “We don’t have enough people”...even though we’re larger than 75% of the churches in the United States!
Jesus will never hold you accountable for what you don’t have or can’t do.
Jesus will never hold you accountable for what you don’t have or can’t do.
And it’s good for us to know our limitations, what we can’t do.
But the God we know in Jesus can do anything! In our lesson, He takes five loaves of bread and two fish and makes it a feast for five thousand men, meaning that with the women and children who were with them, Jesus feeds between twelve- and eighteen thousand people. “Without Me,” Jesus says in John 15:5, “you can do nothing.” But consider what Jesus can do in and through helpless people: He can make the unrighteous clean. He can make the fallen sinner whole. He can answer prayers in His name, as we can testify here in this prayerful congregation. And in Holy Baptism, Jesus had made you a saint; through you, He can feed the hungry, provide for the poor, and, most importantly of all, give the saving good news that all who believe in Him have everlasting life with God, to all people.
After Jesus feeds the throng, the apostles gather up leftovers: “twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.” (Mark 6:43)
After Jesus feeds the throng, the apostles gather up leftovers: “twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.” (Mark 6:43)
A woman asked me once, “How could Jesus forgive me?” She asked as though the God we meet in Jesus couldn’t possibly have enough grace to go around for her.
A man, cognizant of his own limitations but anxious to do God’s will asked me, “How could Jesus use me to share His Gospel with others?”
When Jesus fed the 5000, there were leftovers, folks! Jesus can meet you in the wilderness and shower you with His love, forgiveness, and power. He can forgive your sins. He can give you eternal life. He can empower you to share Him and His good news with the world.
Most of the spiritual dilemmas that we face in life aren’t really dilemmas at all. They’re just instances of us arguing with Jesus.
Most of the spiritual dilemmas that we face in life aren’t really dilemmas at all. They’re just instances of us arguing with Jesus.
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asks in our lesson.
“What have you got?” Jesus asks us.
We answer, “Just me, Lord. That’s all I’ve got: just a sinful, finite, selfish, human being.”
And Jesus says, “That’s funny. You’re exactly who I’m looking for. YOU are exactly the person to whom I want to give My grace and forgiveness, My peace and My life. You’re the person to whom I want to give rest in Me, respite from a world that’s constantly telling you to do better, be more. I receive you as you are and, as you follow Me, shape you into the person God made you to be. You’re the one for whom I died and rose. You’re the one to whom I’ve given the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. You’re the one to whom I have given My saving Word. You’re the very person to whom I give forgiveness of sin every time you hear the words, ‘Given and shed for you.’ And you are the person, forgiven and made new and clean in My grace, that I unleash as My agent in the world. All these blessings and more than you can imagine are Yours for the taking!”
So, friends, take them. Amen
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