Tenth Sunday after Pentecost | July 29th, 2018 @ 1.00 pm
Sermon by Sandra Martínez

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Good afternoon. For those of you who do not know me my name is Sandra Martinez-Moore. I am a member of St. Paul’s Church in Pomona. I join you today with joy. It is a precious honor to be invited by Antonio your new Deacon.

Thank you to everyone for being here in community to share and learn about what the Lord has for us today. The sacred word says that where two or three are gathered I will be there. Hence, there are more than 3 of us here, today right? And so, our Lord is with us, Amen? Amen!

The gospel we have just heard, let me give you a brief backstory about where Jesus was before this part of the Gospel. Jesus left Jerusalem after having healed an invalid in a pool in Bethesda. He healed a man who had been ill for 38 years. Jesus asked him, do you want to be healed? Then lift up your bed and walk and so it was. But that day was the Sabbath and no one was permitted to work or carry your cot or to heal. That was the Jewish Law.

Jesus then know he would have to leave because he would be followed closely so he went with his disciple to he other side of the Sea of Galilee or Sea of Tiberias that our gospel for today tells us.

So, the word got out of course that Jesus had healed an invalid. So, the people sought him and they follow him. Who wouldn’t follow him? He was doing miracles!

Now the gospel say Jesus was with his disciples and suddenly he notices that there are thousands of people, thousands following him. The Gospel says 5000 men. It doesn’t say how many women and children. I think it would double the number, don’t you think?

The disciples don’t have food to feed the multitude, so Jesus says to Philip, where will we buy enough bread to feed the multitude? Jesus had just performed some miracles but he wanted to hear what Philip would say and he says, even if I had 200 days of pay it wouldn’t’ be enough to feed all of these people.

There was a child with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I’m sure the child was happy to give up his 5 loaves and 2 fishes just to be in close proximity with the man who was teaching and doing miracles. Jesus told Andrew the brother of Simon Peter to tell everyone to sit down. Jesus took the bread and after he gave thanks to God he began to distribute it among those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, providing enough to satisfy all appetites. When they were satisfied, Jesus said to his disciple, gather up the leftovers so that nothing goes to waste. They gathered it up and it amounted to 12 baskets from the 5 loaves of bread. When the people saw this miracle that Jesus performed they said to themselves, truly this must be the prophet who was to come to the world.

What does the gospel want to say to us today?

For me it says that God has given us not only food to eat but gifts and talents. And not just for us but also to share with others.

Let’s start with the food. I think many of us here have experienced hunger, or haven’t you?

Those of us who have experienced the pains and the pangs of a stomach ache due to hunger really know what hunger is and we all the more appreciate the food we have today. Whenever I provide a meal for my daughter Karina and I notice that she has not eaten all of it I tell her not to waste any of it because there are children who do not have enough food in different parts of the world like in Africa.

Does anyone else say this to your children?

I believe she never really understood the value of my counsel to her until she participated in an Air Force youth camp and she told me that the portions of food were incredibly small. My daughter is accustomed to eating every 2 or 3 hours consuming adult portions. Well at this camp they were sooo hungry that at nightfall they began to cry. My daughter said that she became the Robin Hood of her squadron as she began to steal bread to share with her classmates. She felt responsible to help her classmates. When I went to pick them up she said, let’s go eat. When we arrived at the restaurant she was almost in tears. I asked her what is wrong my precious daughter? She said, remember when you would always tell me not to waste food because there were children in Africa who did not have enough food? I answered yes I remember, and she said well in that camp I was the child in Africa!!

How many times in our lives have we gathered up our pennies to buy a bean burrito at Taco Bell for our children. Me. Two burritos for 1-dollar years ago and even then, I would give thanks to God that I had been able to gather enough coins to make that dollar!

How many times have we taken time to help the indigent?
How many times have we taken time to help someone who is hungry?

God continues to provide bread for us, and I believe he provides it so that we can give thanks and to break it and share it with others. These loaves are not just in the form of bread but also in the form of gift and talents that perhaps many of you do not even realize that you possess.

The gift of music, the gift to sing and give praise to God, the gift of listening to your neighbor, the gift of visiting someone ill in the hospital, the gift to dry the tears of someone who is crying. The gift of speaking the truth to someone who is angry. The gift of giving your talent, time and offering to the church so that it may continue in it’s ministries. The gift of cooking and sharing, because let me tell you it is a gift to know how to cook. It is like the bread that Jesus multiplied, you must share it.

What gifts do you have to share?
We all have different gifts to share and thanks be to God for this truth.

I give thanks for many who have the gift of rising up and fighting for justice, for shouting, “Union not separation!”, as many of our Episcopal clergy have done and they have been arrested for this. The gift of marching in front of Detention centers like the one in Texas, and for the women who are immigrants and detained who waved out of the small windows to signal that they could see the hundreds of Episcopal Bishops, clergy and lay demonstrators who provided a ray of hope to the women so that they knew they were not alone.
There are thousands of children without bread to eat and even if they had the very best bread to eat if their parents are not with them, not even the very best bread tastes good, because those children cry, I think of the pain they are experiencing that may even bring them close to death and there is no bread that will console them.
Brethren, God wants us to use our gifts, to share them. Not just with our families, friends and church but with the whole world, why? Because God keeps on providing for all of us!!

Because if we want to follow the teachings of Christ and demonstrate that we are children of God, God invites us to do it with love and with our whole heart. Remember that when we go to be with Christ we must give account. He will ask us, what did you do with all the bread and all the gifts I gave you?

How many brethren did you help?
How many did you feed?
How many did you listen to without judgment?
How many did you forgive without falter?
How many times have we placed ourselves at the disposition of Jesus?
We must return what God gives us and do it every day. You may ask how?
How do I return what God has given me?

Let me tell you, perhaps this begins even at our birth, we were already giving.

What we are today, what our history is up until today, what is our history since we were in the womb of our mother’s. Because God has made us in his image, the skin we bear, the color of our eyes, our hair, we are miracles. Look at yourselves. You have 2 arms instead of 4, two legs instead of 6, 1 head, 2 eyes, and 1 mouth.
Because God is love and God has been miraculous toward all of us. All of the material wealth we have been given is of God, yes, we have worked very hard to buy certain things, but God gives us life every day to have that job to be able to purchase the things we have. Even though we can lose it all, God continues to multiply the loves of bread. The gifts we are given so that nothing is wanting in God. The love that we are given in our relationship with God like father and beloved children. We cannot buy this, we must share our relationship with God with everyone. You might be Sandra, Whaaat?

What are you talking about Sandra?
I’m talking about every morning when we open our eyes, we must give thanks for our lives today, for our family. We must say to our friends, God bless you and we must give of ourselves to God everyday and ask for forgiveness. Everyday we must say: here I am Lord, do with me what you will, I am here Lord to be in your service, make me an instrument of your glory, that people may see me and hear how marvelous and merciful Jesus Christ toward us is to use us for his service.

I pray to God that he may enlighten us and give us the gift of sharing, that we may have a thirst for justice and the courage to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.

I ask God to be merciful to us. I ask God to use us to help others who do not have anything. And for those who have much that God would give them the gift of sharing. All of this I ask in the name of Jesus Christ who loves us very much and who gave his life for the forgiveness of our sins so that we may arrive to his glory. If anyone would like to feel Gods love, I invite you to open your heart and say Jesus Christ, I believe you performed these miracles that the Bible tells us about. I believe you died for me, even though I have thought I am no one and sometimes I think I don’t deserve it but I ask you to forgive my sins. The sins I have committed consciously and unconsciously. I ask God that your Holy Spirit come and live and reign in me. That you renew my heart and to be like the bread, that you may multiply me that I may give to those who are in need. All this I ask in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen…amen and amen….