Pastor Ralph Douglas West - God: The Host | Mark 8:1-13

0:00 This is the day the Lord has made. We rejoice and we are glad in it. Thank you. While you're standing, open God's word to the gospel of Mark, chapter 8, beginning at verse 1, and hear what God says to us on this beautiful Lord's day. On Mark 8, beginning at verse 1, God reveals himself afresh in the person of Jesus Christ in one of the grand images to help us understand the ways that God work in the world in Mark chapter 8. During those days another large crowd gathered Since they had nothing to eat Jesus called his disciples to him and said I have compassion for these people They have already been with me three days And have nothing to eat If I send them away hungry Back to their houses they'll collapse on the way because some of them have come a long distance his disciples answered but where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them Jesus asked how many loaves do you have they replied seven he told the crowd to sit down on the ground when he had taken seven loaves and given thanks and broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people and they did so they had a few small fish as well he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them The people ate and were satisfied.

2:08 Afterwards, the disciples picked up seven baskets full of broken pieces that were left over, and about 4,000 were present. After he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Damanatha. This is the word of God. You may be seated. more and more people are having difficulties believing in God anymore that difficulty rises to the surface in the form of a question how do you believe in a good and loving God in a hell of a world like this you don't have to be a sociologist or an ethnographist to pick up the paper or to scroll the headlines from one of your mobile devices and just read the headlines or tune in to the scrolls on CNN or MSNBC or Fox and you'll start asking yourself can you believe in a good and loving God in a chaotic world like this?

3:29 Now, this is not a question that's off limits to anybody. Children ponder over this question. In their infantile way, they may not say it with the sophistication that you would ask that question, but they do grapple with that question about believing in God. They've been taught in their Sunday school classes, their Bible studies, that God is good. And then when they see in the way that they perceive evil in the world, maybe like Harry Potter did, they wonder, can you really trust a good and loving God? Hey, adolescents ask it. Just as early as last week, one of our young people asked me a question on the line of that subject about believing God, not losing faith, as she was grappling with what she had been trying to interpret in the news. ICE agents, the abuse of immigrants, children being wrestled down to the ground by people who have been badged and law enforced to defend and to protect the rights and decencies of American citizens.

4:52 This young person asked me that. Young adults ask questions like that as they're trying to prepare for their future. Settle on a mate possibly. Make their first decision on what houses they're going to buy. You know college students ask it. They enter into their philosophy classes and they read people like Nietzsche. They stumble across Descartes and these questions start raising to say can you believe in a good and loving God?

5:26 Now I know you think that you're off the hook because you're the chronologically matured. But nobody is exempt from it. Even they who comes to the moment where the sun is setting in life begin to ask that question, can you believe in a good and loving God in a hell of a world like this? I've been working through this passage and that question since 1987 when I came across Edmund Steinle raising that question in this particular chapter in the book of Mark. Can you believe in God in a chaotic world like this? One of the suggestions that was made out of Steinle's writing is that you give attention to the images that the Bible uses to help us understand God.

6:25 And God is understood in many ways through these beautiful images that we come across in the Bible. No image tells everything because you can't box God in. But they do open a window to help us to peer out, to look and say, that looks like God. It's happened to you when you've read through the scriptures. As you have read the Bible, you come across these beautiful images that describe God because God is a mystery. We need help. Being a mystery doesn't mean that you cannot know God. It means that you don't know God all at one time. You grow into knowing God. God is mystery. and so when we read the Bible the Bible gives us pictures images and metaphors but here images of God you've come across them bridegroom lover shepherd king even warrior none strikes the nerve as much as the image of father particularly today because of our gender sensitivity and identities when we read the scriptures we want to make sure that they're not overwhelmingly masculine and for others the image of father comes across as being too paternalistic and so we opt out to say God our mother and because nobody wants to be offended about these images but they are helping us. Take a key to unlock the mystery of God. How do we know this God? And how do you know this God in a world like the one that we live in? Some of the images that comes to mind when you read Mark 8 is the image of God as host, H-O-S-T, as host. The God is this host. Can you imagine that? God as host. Not God as host as sometimes the Old Testament uses it to speak of his battling or

8:37 worrying, but God as host. God as host. Inviting you to a meal that you can sit down with him. And we see these ways that God has done that. For instance, we go back and we see Israel on the march and they're moving toward Canaan land, a place that has been promised to them. And on the way, God feeds them with manna from heaven. God has gone into the kitchen and baked bread, this special wonder bread, and he drops it down on the people every day for them to eat. And then what about Psalm 23? One of our favorite Psalms, even if we don't read much of the Bible, we come across Psalm 23, almost know every word by heart and every translation. And then we come to that line, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And I mean, what's the most famous meal? All of us know it. It's the farewell meal, the love meal that Jesus establishes with his disciples and here he breaks bread and says this bread is symbolic of my body my life and the cup that we drink from my shed blood for the removal the erasing the renewing and the giving of life the rebirthing of a person for the forgiveness of your sins and so we we we see these images and they do help us. They help me. They help me understand God. I remember when Pastor O.C. Johnson would crank it up at the end of the sermon. He had a trumpet in his throat, music in his mouth, and harmony in his heart. And he would say things like this, he's bread. I can hear it literally saying, he's bread. He's bread. Oh, bread. And then I could hear him, he's a horse pouring in the valley. I can hear him saying that he's a rock, a stone hewed out of the mountains

10:46 of Babylon tearing the wonders down. I can hear him saying it while I'm there. And all of these images were these kinds of pictures to help us understand how God had kept us, particularly as black folk at a time where we could not worship in certain places and spaces and how God was our bridge over troubled water, how God was our shelter in a time of storm. I remember, I remember that. And so here this book opens up, this passage, this chapter that you and I on this day are bold enough to engage, to remind us of the images of God. They don't tell us everything, but they do let us in on how God may work in certain situations. Not in every situation, but in certain situations. And here we see God as a host. But you probably picked up when you read this that he doesn't seem like much of a host because unlike a good host, he doesn't provide nothing for the outdoor picnic.

11:58 I mean, it's the truth. You read it and he provides nothing. The role of the host inviting you to a picnic, a banquet, is that the host has already prepared. You just come and respond or RSVP and I'll provide for you. But here he is an unpredictable host.

12:23 Quirky at best. That he provides nothing for the outdoor picnic. I mean, it's hard for people who have been in church all their life or most of it. Especially if you've grown up in it to listen to a person like me. Talk about God this way because you push against it. The pulpit, and I respect all the men and women who do their work there, but sometimes we have so reduced God down to a deity of manageability that this God that we preach so often is enterprise to do nothing but for me, for me, until we reduce God to say, God says, I don't even know who you're talking about. and I can say all of that and still a group of people listening has already muted me because they say I don't want a God like that or they're saying now well he's reading it wrong but when you read it he's an unpredictable host at best he provides nothing for the outdoor picnic nothing I mean you go back and you look at these stories and you sense how unpredictable God is okay he feeds Israel with manna or wonder bread coriander bread or seed and he rains it down on and he doesn't change the menu one bit and he provides for their daily bread and then he says this, eat all you want, but no doggy bags allowed.

14:09 None. Read it. I'm not making it up. Read it. And then can you imagine thou preparing a table? That is beautiful. In the presence of my enemies. I mean there are ways that you can turn that poetically to say that God feeds you, lavishes you, so that your enemy can look at you and you eat sumptuously as I've heard people say in front of your enemies. God's not all that interested in all of that other stuff. He's preparing a table for you to remind you that I take care of you even when the weather is unpredictable. when the streets were ice over, when half of America would be shut down, when flights will be canceled, when planes will be at the terminal, I want you to know no weather event prevents me from taking care.

15:05 He prepares a table for us in the presence of what is unexpected around us. And this is our hope as Christians that God provides for us in the midst of everything that's unpredictable. If you're still hung up and you're saying, pass this, I'm not talking about food now. I'm talking about God's provision. How God takes care of us and how God has taken care of us and how God shall take care of us. A message that we pass down to our children.

15:40 And then go back to the farewell meal. Look who's up there. his disciples for sure at the table and then you're at a dinner that you've been invited to by God here in Jesus Christ revealing himself through the image of host and we're breaking bread and drinking wine. I mean if it's wine there there's always some merriment there. There's joy and excitement. You don't have to sanitize the Bible. Don't be afraid to think. and in the middle of the meal Jesus says this as a host and by the way one of you are going to betray me I mean we've heard that so much until the sting is gone but imagine you sitting at the table in your home where you've invited a group of people to eat what you have bought what you have prepared, what you have served and said, and one of y'all gonna betray me.

16:46 It just changes the mood at the moment. How in the world do you plan us to continue to enjoy the meal if we have a betrayer at the table and the only question that you wanna ask is, Lord, is it I? Judas is not the only one asking that. James and Peter and John and Bartholomew, all of them are asking because all of us know we have the characteristic tendency that we too could betray God when he needs us the most. here at that table, God is a host with unpredictable qualities. And beyond even that, you notice when he does it, he goes in and he says, we're out in a remote place and H-E-B is going to be closed and the last fiestas that we have.

17:49 and somebody even prayed today, I think. We were led in worship, you know, pay attention to all the cautions, charge up, you know. So how do we serve God in this remote place? Well, you know, no internet access and things like that. And so, they've come a long way. They brave Houston streets. to come here, to eat. And they've been journeying with me for a long time. They're sitting around us. how are we going to feed them? I don't know.

18:39 You know, do they have anything? I don't know. They've been journeying three days, whatever they had in their lunch pail is probably gone now. And then Jesus asked a question. What do you have? Now I want you to let that settle. what do you have? he turns toward those who have been with him and asks one question to them see this for me god didn't provide it he wants to know what do you have which raises the question is this a miracle story or is this an epiphany story?

19:30 Those of you who are following along in the text, you know, with your Bible, you're saying, hey, this is chapter eight. This is the feeding of 4,000. Two chapters earlier in chapter six is the feeding of the 5,000. Is Mark redundant? preserving these same stories? No, I don't think so. I want to lean that both stories have their own purposes to serve. I believe the Mark 6 story may be leaned more over, which is more descriptive to a miracle story, like the story of the stealing of the storm in chapter 4, or the healing of the man of Gadara in chapter 5 or the cleansing of the woman in chapter 5 or the raising of the daughter in chapter 5.

20:30 These are miracle stories, no doubt about it. Over nature, demons, and life that God works miracles. I believe that. And miracle stories have characteristics to them, don't they? Like awe and wonder and surprise. And God's full of surprises. I mean, he is. God is full of surprises. right when you didn't think in your life that you could make it, all doors closed, everybody has said canceled, and then God said, but you're walking in the wrong way. Just turn around. I got another door. I made another way out of no way. Yeah. Full of surprises. And I pray today that if God hasn't surprised you lately, that you can reconnect. In fact, one of the things that you can do since you're going to be shut down for a couple of days is to say, let me not just binge and catch up on my TV shows.

21:33 Let me spend a few minutes with my Bible in my hand so that I can reconnect with God so God can surprise me. Pastor West, God hasn't surprised me in 30 years. Yes, he did. He surprised you today when he woke you up. He surprised you. the preacher of old would say sometime it was not your alarm clock that went off to wake you up this morning you were touched with the finger of love full of surprises and look at where God works his man so is it miracle epiphany I want to believe today that this is more of an epiphany story I believe the chapter six is the miracle story I think that chapter eight is the epiphany story. Epiphany means how God reveals himself, manifests, makes himself known.

22:31 Maybe next year on the first, second, second, I need to revisit this since it's epiphanic to the congregation. But it's epiphany. Notice what I'm getting to is, is that who he's revealing himself to. He's not talking to the crowd. He's trying to get the disciples. to catch on to who he is. That's what he's really trying to get. If I can get these disciples. In some ways you could say that the disciples are symbolic of the church. If I can get these people who with me every day to understand who I am. Maybe they can preach and teach and sing and witness better to a world that's waiting on what I have provided for them. but I got to get y'all straight first. He wants to get us straight first.

23:25 He wants to get you straight first. And so God's full of surprises and unpredictable and God is at work in the world. And I believe again, this is epiphany. What do you have? What do you have? The New Testament scholar, Charles Barkley. najbardziej William Barclay says that this is epiphany because when he asked a question what do you have maybe no one in or at the outdoor picnic had anything or maybe they were concealing it maybe when Jesus said what do you have speaking of his disciples and he says I have bread and fish.

24:20 And they began to... unpacked their lunches and put their bread in view and their fish that the people in the audience saw what those who were leading were doing and imitated what they were doing. As the disciples gave their bread and fish, they said, well, let me stop holding on to mine. Let me take out what I have left over and share it with the people who are around us. I don't know if it's true or not. That's really not the issue. But what is the issue here is, is that God expects for us to put in his hand that which we have. What we possess, God says that I want you to put it in my hand.

25:21 Now, you can keep it in your hand and all you got is five loaves and two fish. But if you put it in God's hand, you have enough to satisfy the hunger of a multitude. And you know that's the truth, isn't it? That certain things in certain hands really make a difference. I like the golf I still like the golf but you put a golf club in my hand all you've done is put a club in my hand but you put a golf club even now in Tiger Woods hand and Tiger Woods make the game look exciting Michael Jordan has been retired for years the argument is who's the greatest basketball player on the planet. In the words of Charles Barkley, he said, I hate Michael because he's so good because when you put a ball in his hand, you come up with championships. And when you put what you have in God's hand, God has a way of multiplying what you have to satisfy the needs around us. Oh yes he does. So here he said what do you have and they put it in his hand but can I give you one more thing about what's happening in his life. Do you see where God is doing what he's doing in Jesus? Whether you want to call it a miracle or epiphany. Do you see where it's taking place. It's taking place in between. In between. There's a kind of in betweenness of life where God goes to work. I mean, go back to the stories that project the image of God and Jesus Christ as host. Notice when does he feed Israel? He feeds them not in slavery.

27:29 he doesn't feed them in Canaan either how do I know because in between God took care of them for 40 years how do I know if you read the record of numbers what do the community of Israel say we wish 접