In St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians that we heard today, Paul offers a prayer for the people. He prays that they may be rooted and grounded in love. And he also prays that they may know the height and length and breadth and depth of the love of God. A love that surpasses knowledge, Paul says. When people are filled with this love, he says that God, through us, can do infinitely more than we can ask for or imagine.
Love. Scripture offers a consistent witness and testimony to God’s love. From beginning to end, from the first creation to the new creation and everything in between, time and again we hear of how much God loves us. Sometimes directly, and sometimes through the story we hear of the ways that God loves us. Scripture says not only does God love us, but God is love. Love is not just an action, it is not something that God does, but love is the core of God’s very being. It is God’s identity to be love. So when we say that Jesus is the Incarnation of God in this world, another way you could put it would be that Jesus is the Incarnation of love in this world. Just like the old Christmas hymns puts it:
Love came down at Christmas.
Love all lovely, love divine.
Love was born at Christmas.
Stars and Angels gave the sign.
Jesus, in his life, shared that love, radiating that love in both word and deed. He would teach about it. Remember when he was asked what is the greatest commandment? He said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Not only does he say these two are the greatest of all the commandments, he goes on to say that every other commandment is also grounded and rooted in love. For he says, on these two hang all the law and the prophets. All of it goes back to love. All of it has to be understood through the lens of love. When they push back and ask, and who is my neighbor, he says it is pretty expansive. What is the height and length and breadth and depth of that love? Your neighbor has to include the person who annoys you, and the person who makes your blood boil. It also must include the person you might call your enemy. Jesus says this love has no exceptions. Love encompasses everyone. That is the height and the length and the breadth and the depth of the love of God. It surpasses knowledge, because it is really hard to do. But that is what Jesus asks of us. That is the kind of love he wants us to embody in this world.
Jesus also shares that love through his actions, like when he has compassion. Time and again the Gospel says Jesus had compassion on them, or Jesus had pity on them. He is exuding and radiating that love. He also shares that love when he heals people. Time and again when he heals people, he is sharing that love.
I would also argue he is sharing that love in our Gospel today when he feeds the five thousand. When I was in college, our college chaplain used to start every meal with a blessing: Food, God’s love made edible. I think that is what Jesus is getting at in the Gospel today. He is feeding the people, giving then food, satiating their hunger, but also feeding them with love. He is filling that spiritual hunger to be loved that every single one of us has. It is more than just the food. It is love. Jesus is sharing love in deed, in action.
How does this feeding happen? There are five thousand people, more than six month’s wages would be needed to buy the food, but Jesus does it with five loaves and two fish. There are two theories, but I would like to point out that the Gospel does not tell us how it happened. The first theory is that Jesus makes more, which is a good theory. He is God and he can work a miracle. The second theory is that the kid who offered the five loaves and two fish was not the only person with food that day. What are the odds that only one person in five thousand happened to have food with them and no one else did? It is probable that people brought food with them when they left their house. And when they saw the kid share his food and saw Jesus’s faith that it would be enough, they also shared their food. When the basket came by, some people took and some people put. In the end there was so much food that there were leftovers. Both of these interpretations are miracles. God made more, the people shared more. Both are miracles of God’s love.
The abundance of God’s love is so enormous. Remember the height and length and breadth and depth of God’s love means that there are leftovers. There is so much love to go around that there is more than we need. That is the way of this world, the way that God has made this world. We get so afraid there won’t be enough that we keep it all to ourselves. But Jesus says, no. There is enough of God’s love in this world to be shared, and he wants us to share that love. With Paul’s prayer, to be rooted and grounded in that love, and to understand the height, length, breadth, and depth of that love, God, through us, can do infinitely more than we can ask for or imagine, just as God did with that kid who shared his love by giving his food to feed the people. When we do these acts of love, when we share that love, it creates a ripple effect that keeps radiating out.
So, my friends, take some time this week to think on this love. Spend some time reflecting on how high and how long and how broad and how deep this love is. Every time you think that you have grasped how large it is, remember it is beyond knowledge, so it is even bigger than you imagine. Keep stretching your imagination into this larger and larger vision of love that God has, a love that leaves leftovers. As you spend time reflecting on that, filling your imagination, filling your mind, filling your heart, filling your being with that love, then go and share it. I promise you will not run out of love. There is always more. God will keep filling you up. Go and share that love with your friends, with your family, with strangers, even with your enemy. Share that love, the love that God offers you.
AMEN.
