The Reverend Scott Brown, Sunday August 2nd, 2026

The Rev. Scott J. Brown - St. George Chapel August 2, 2026 - Matthew 14:13-21

Karl Barth famously said that a preacher should stand with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

My newspaper this week isn't The Portland Press Herald

It's my wife. Last week, Kimberly lost her business in the flood in Uvalde.

On Wednesday, July 15, the residents of her Assisted Living were evacuated to a Holiday Inn and the river behind the house was rising.

We were actually here in Maine and immediately changed our plans and headed home to find 4 feet of water in the house and a muddy mess. We spent the next 10 days emptying that house, demoing the floors and walls, and hauling all the ruined furniture to the city dump.

When I spoke to my 80 year old mother the next day she said something we’ve all thought, I’m sure. She said, “I don’t understand it. I was praying so hard for the water to stay out of the house. How could this happen?”

It's an honest question. And over the years I've heard all kinds of explanations for God’s role in natural disasters or tragedy .

When heartache comes, when trials flood your home or your heart, people say all kinds of things, always well intended but seldom helpful. They say things like:

"God was teaching a lesson." "Everything happens for a reason."

"God only gives us what we can handle." I have to tell you...

I don't believe that's the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Look at the Gospel for today…the feeding of the 5,000.

When I read today's Gospel, I don't see Jesus making people hungry so that he can feed them and look like the hero. I don't see Jesus creating the problem so he can perform the miracle.

That’s not how I think God works! I see something much simpler. Jesus sees a need. And he addresses it. That's what Jesus does. It’s that simple.

Again and again throughout the Gospels. He sees sickness and he heals. He sees grief and he comforts. He sees loneliness and he welcomes. He sees hunger and he feeds.

His instinct is always the same.

See need. Address need.

I think that's because that's who God is. I don't think God causes evil so that good can eventually happen. I think God is always bringing good wherever brokenness already exists.

God doesn't need tragedy to accomplish God's purposes. God redeems. God has been in the redemption business for thousands of years. If God had a business card it would say “God”. Then on the other side “I redeem what’s broken.”

While looking for a place for her residents to move to while we addressed the flooded house, my wife received a call from a local lady who had a house on the market for sale. She allowed us to move in immediately and charged us ZERO rent until we could get things settled and work out a deal on the house.

Redemption in the midst of chaos. A home for people in need. Food for a hungry soul.

That's the God we meet in Jesus. Not a God who manufactures suffering. A God who enters suffering. A God who redeems.

I don't know why God doesn’t stop every tragedy. I don't pretend to. But I do know this. Love requires freedom. Freedom means real choices. Real choices have real consequences. Creation itself is broken. But nowhere in Scripture do I see a God who delights in suffering.

I see a God who enters suffering. I see Jesus.

Jesus does something fascinating in today's Gospel. The disciples look at the crowd and say, "Send them away." In other words... "This isn't our problem." Jesus replies, "They need not go away. You give them something to eat."

Notice what Jesus is doing. He's inviting the disciples to become like him. He's inviting them into God's own work.

The disciples see a problem. Jesus sees an opportunity to love. The disciples see scarcity. Jesus sees possibility.

The disciples say, "We only have five loaves and two fish."

Only.

That's the language of scarcity. Jesus doesn’t speak that language. Jesus speaks the language of abundance.

"Bring them here to me." Bring me what you have. NOT what you wish you had. NOT what someone else has. Bring what YOU have.

Because in God's hands, ENOUGH has a funny way of becoming MORE than enough.

This is the only miracle outside the resurrection that is all four Gospels. So it was obviously pretty important.

I don't know exactly how the miracle happened. Maybe the bread multiplied. Maybe generosity multiplied. Maybe once one little boy offered his lunch, everyone else reached into their cloaks and started sharing what they had been hiding.

I don't know….But I know this.

When generosity begins...it spreads. When compassion begins...it spreads. When people begin seeing needs and addressing needs...abundance appears where scarcity once seemed to reign.

And maybe that's the calling for us. We become like the God we adore.

If we imagine God to be angry all the time...eventually we'll become angry people. If we imagine God keeping score...we'll keep score.

But if the God revealed in Jesus is always healing... always feeding...

always forgiving... always redeeming…

If the God we worship is simply LOVE incarnate…then little by little...we become the same. If Jesus, in his always loving, always healing way, sees need and addresses need...then that's our calling too.

Not just the dramatic needs. But the ordinary ones.

And you see ordinary needs every single day. I do too..... We don’t have to head to a flood zone

to find need. Right in our own backyard, in our own living room….Someone needs encouragement…Someone needs forgiveness…Someone needs a meal…Someone needs a phone call       Someone needs someone simply to notice them.

See need.

Address need.

Not because we can solve every problem. We can't. I can't help everyone….I don't have enough time….Enough money….Enough energy. Neither do you.

But Jesus never asks us to solve every problem….He simply asks us to offer what we have….And trust God with the rest.

Can I offer one more thought? It's almost another sermon...but I think it's hidden inside this one. The people in the crowd had to receive the bread. Nobody says, "No thanks….I'm fine….I'll take care of myself."

They received what others offered…..And I wonder if that's actually harder for many of us.

I know it is for me. I'd much rather be the one helping than the one needing help. I’d rather do the feeding than ask for the food.

As I was cleaning the flooded house, as sweaty and tired as I’ve ever been in my life, a pickup truck pulled up. A few teenagers got out. They were from a local church. They weren't there to rebuild houses. They weren't there with chainsaws. They were simply handing out cold bottles of water. One young man walked over to me and asked, "Would you like one?" And my very first instinct was... "No thanks. I'm good."

Isn't that funny? I wasn't good. I was exhausted. I was filthy. I was dehydrated.

I wanted that bottle of water more than I wanted to admit.

But something inside me would rather keep suffering than admit I needed help.

And here stood Jesus, in the shape of a teenage boy from a local church...offering me what I already knew I needed.

And I realized something….Sometimes the holiest thing we can do isn't just to give….Sometimes the holiest thing we can do is receive….To allow someone else to become the hands of Christ for us.

The crowd received bread.

The disciples learned generosity.

And all of them discovered the same truth.

God is always moving toward human need. Always redeeming. Always restoring. Always bringing good where brokenness already exists. This week I watched people lose almost everything. I also watched neighbors show up. I watched strangers become friends. I watched a woman open her home. I watched teenagers hand out bottles of water. I watched Christ feeding hungry people all over again.

Maybe that's the greatest miracle in this story.

Not that bread multiplied……But that the love of God still does.

This week I watched Christ feed hungry people…..Not with five loaves and two fish. But with an empty house offered to strangers…..With neighbors who showed up….With teenagers carrying bottles of cold water.

The miracle hasn't stopped…..It just looks different now.

Karl Barth once said that preachers should stand with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

Today...The feeding of the five thousand in one hand...Your life in the other. And I wonder what you see.

For me, it's clear. There will always be hunger in this world. Physical hunger. Emotional hunger. Spiritual hunger.

It won't go away.

But neither will our Savior.

He is still in the redemption business. He still sees our needs. He still addresses our needs. Sometimes through a loaf of bread. Sometimes through an empty house. Sometimes through a bottle of cold water. And sometimes through you.

So this week...See need. Address need. And perhaps hardest of all…..Accept need.

And don't be surprised if, somewhere in the middle of it all, you discover that Christ was already there.

Amen.