THE THREE LEGGED STOOL

A sermon given on Sunday, August 2, 2026

by the Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

In the name of God who feeds us with divine compassion. Amen. 

So I think it's always helpful to know who is this preacher who's preaching?

So my name is Thad Bennett. My spouse George and our cat Harvey moved to Easthampton about a year and a half ago. And I've been ordained in the Episcopal Church for just over 46 years.

Not quite as exciting as a birthday that apparently isn't getting mentioned, but it's pretty exciting.

So one of the things I love about being an Episcopalian is we go by this thing called the three legged stool. We try to figure out what God is up to. We embrace scripture, then we look at the tradition of the church, the history, what's been going on, and then we engage our brain, our human knowledge.

So I'm warning you already this morning, I'm going to ask for some interactive work beyond… 

Gracious, Grayson's usual! And he's outside. I need him to come back. 

But you're going to get asked, so just be ready.

So the gospel story is a famous story. And I wonder, does anybody know what the shorthand name for that gospel story is? Any hints? The feeding of the 5,000. Exactly. Of course, the problem is that it's not quite right, but we'll get to that in a minute. But yes, it's all about the feeding of the 5,000. And for those of you who are used to Bible stories or church, it's probably pretty familiar.

But we may have some people here or online who are like, oh, well that's interesting. What could that be about? So let's look at that story. You know, there is Matthew telling us a whole bunch of people are going to get fed. And it's easy because in his day there were lots of stories about special people feeding lots of people. This isn't unusual. What is unusual is it's the only story that appears in all four gospels. Clearly something is up. Clearly everyone wanted to make sure people heard this story about Jesus.

So I guess we have to pay attention. Now, there are three parts of this story that I'm going to bring up and I'm going to wonder which one of them connects with you that you might ponder in the days of the week that come along.

So the first one is the feeding. Okay, who was hungry? What do you think? Everybody. But I gotta wonder. The disciples are the one who went, well, you know, maybe they were hungry, right? I mean, they were like, okay, isn't it, isn't it time? Let's get rid of all these people. But they come to Jesus and say, oh, guess who's hungry? I have a little suspicion it might have been about their stomachs, too, because they were ready for their dinner.

So the disciples perceived the need, maybe it was to take care of their own. And they bring it up. And who do disciples think should take care of this? Right? So here are the disciples saying to Jesus, yo, send them away. Now, Jesus, not unusually, decides to turn the tables. No, no, no. This is not my responsibility. You feed them. 

Well, they're not happy about this. It's - whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait, wait! We only have, you know, five loaves and a couple of fish. Oh, they think that is for them. We have five loaves and a couple of fish. 

And Jesus again turns the table and says, oh, take what you have. Give it to me. And then Jesus does something just quite simple. Blesses it, gives thanks, breaks it, and then says to the disciples, give this to the people.

Now, you and I both know it's not enough. I mean, five loaves, a couple of fish, apparently 5,000 people or more. And yet this is exactly what happens. Everyone is fed. There are leftovers. And if you were there, if we were disciples, I think we would be scratching our heads, going, what in God's name, so to speak, just happened? So it appears that the message is, even when you think you don't have enough or that you want to keep what you have, Jesus is going to suggest that you share it.

Yay! Grayson is back. It's an interactive sermon, so I'm going to be glad for his participation.

God will bless it. God will involve others, will break it open, and there will be enough for you and for them, and you'll be amazed about the leftovers. So that's the first one. 

The second one is the people. Now, we are. We. We call it the miracle of the 5000, but it should be the miracle of the more than 5,000. Again, these feeding miracles, they happened all the time. Stories got told all the time. But in that culture, feeding people meant feeding men. There are more women in this room than there are men. And in that culture, you didn't count. It was about men, males. But in the miracle story, Jesus feeds everyone, even the lowly and the unwanted, even women and children, even Grayson.

Everyone gets fed. He has just turned the stories on their heads again. Not only take what you have, bless it and share it. Share it with people you consider not much better than property. Share it with people who do not merit much respect. Share it with everyone. Lesson number two. 

Finally, the timing of this miracle story. Now, this is totally extra credit. You're going to need to know your scripture. Does anybody know what happened just before this miracle story in scripture? Yes, Jesus has just found out that his good friend who baptized him, John the Baptist, has been beheaded and killed. Just found that out. 

And what happened just before that? This one's a real tough one. Exactly. Oh, Grayson, you nailed it! Jesus was at his hometown, and the hometown reaction to him was, we know you. We watched you grow up. You're nothing. Get out of here. We have no respect for you. And he left his hometown. 

So just before this, he's getting in a boat to sort of get some away time by himself. He's been rejected by his hometown, and he just found out that his friend John the Baptist has been killed. But what does he do? He's hoping to go off and be alone, maybe to pray and spend some time. But no, that doesn't happen. The crowds seek him out. They figure out where he is, and they show up and he decides that they need him and he has compassion on them.

Now, there are other times in scripture where Jesus does go off and pray and spend time alone. So I want to be careful here. This is not God saying, put your needs to the side always and take care of people. Jesus at times goes off and prays, but in this particular moment, he decides he's going to have compassion and be with this group of people.

So maybe there are times with us that we need to go off and spend some time by ourselves, be alone, and that's okay. But there's a discernment of what does God want me to do?

And it may be God wants you to go off and be on your own. And it may be that God wants you to show compassion and help.

Exactly. See, you know, I love it, Grayson nails it so many times. Whoa, look at that! I can both get some time away, but I need to discern if some compassion is needed.

So, my friends, on this Sunday, which part of the story are you going to take into the week? And I invite you to think on, to pray on, to consider.

Is it about you have enough, share it, it'll be okay. Is it about even women and children, even those who we don't think are worthy of need also to be knowledgeable and receivers of God's love. Or is it, I need a break, but right now, I need to help that person. 

May you ponder this in the days to come. 

Amen.