In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom of blessed memory was asked, "What is a miracle? Is it God overpowering his creation, breaking its laws?" And Metropolitan Anthony responded that it is rather God establishing and restoring harmony that had been destroyed by sin.

That's what has been broken. The laws that have been broken were not by God, but by us. And that is why we find creation in its broken, sad, divided, and constrained existence now. And the miracles that we see are heaven breaking through, revealing the proper order, the proper harmony, the proper life that is found when God visits his people and makes all things new.

We find many examples of this where God answers the depth of human meaning in something great like the parting of the Red Sea to deliver his people from destruction at the hands of Pharaoh and his hosts, or even the virgin birth uniting God and man in one person to save us. But also we find it in very common daily needs. “They have no water,” and so water is turned into the best of wine, abundant supply. Or what we hear today: the feeding of the 5,000. "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

It seems that here, especially—though honestly at every one of those things that I've just called to mind—we find the same problem at the outset: "This is impossible. This is impossible. We are talking about something that cannot be." Israel is certain that they will all be destroyed at the banks of the Red Sea. Mary does not understand how it is possible that she can bear a child, for she's not known man. Everyone is astonished at this new supply of wine. The steward is outraged at the host that he's left the best for last—you're supposed to give the good wine first. And yet this new supply that Jesus gives, where there was none before, is the best.

And so here, the disciples, when they hear this word from Jesus, "You give them something to eat," they are astonished. They feel perplexed and helpless, outraged maybe. "How can you ask us of this? All we have to feed 5,000 people is something that's so absurdly inadequate. It's better not to give anything at all." Right? You know, it's a mockery to hand out to 5,000 people five loaves and two fish. You know, it won't even feed a hundredth part of this.

And yet that is what Jesus tells them: to take what they have, as inadequate as it is, and offer it up. And so they give it to Jesus, who in turn lifts it up to heaven for a blessing and then breaks it and gives it all back to his disciples, who distribute it to the people.

And the impossible is exactly what happens—in fact, more than what they could possibly have imagined. It's not merely that they managed to just make it to the last of the people there, but rather that after they fed everyone, everyone has had their fill, then they find that they've got more than what they started out with. They were giving it away as fast as they could and they ended up with twelve baskets full of the remains, starting out with those five loaves and two fish.

And what this is revealing to us, brothers and sisters, is that the real miracle is not what we think. Now, we're thinking very practically, materialistically about these things, about what's possible, what's not possible. "Let's be realistic here. All right. I've got this many gallons in my tank. I can get this far. I've got this much in my bank account. I can afford to spend this much. I've got this much food. It'll go amongst this many people."

But we're talking about God who literally brought us from nothingness into being. That there is anything at all in this world, anything at all, is a sign of the presence and power and love of God. That you and I are here breathing means that God loves us and desires all things for us. With God, all things are possible.

The real miracle, the real wonder, is uniting human hearts with God to bring us from our low condition, our narrow understanding, our constrained and divided hearts, to take them and lift them up to heaven, to unite them with God, to bring them, as Metropolitan Anthony put it, to bring them into harmony, restoring that harmony that was destroyed by sin. That is the miracle.

There are so many things that seem impossible for us in our daily lives, amongst our families, in our community, in the world around us, in our church. We tell ourselves all the time that the obstacles are too great, our resources are too small. What are we supposed to do?

And in the meantime, in our frustration and anxiety and our certainty of what is possible and not possible, we divide ourselves one against the other. And being divided, we lose sight of the Wisdom, Word, and Power of God.

We say things like we heard in the epistle today where he speaks of the Corinthian people of the church dividing themselves into different camps: "I'm of Apollos. I am of Cephas. I'm of Paul. I'm of Christ." As if the church had any other head except Jesus Christ, as if Christ were just one among various factions that you could belong to, as opposed to our light and our life.

And having lost sight of the unity of God, his power, that light and that life, we lose our understanding that all that we have, all that we are to accomplish, everything that we are and do in this life comes from our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, we pray every day: "Our Father, who art in heaven, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And by praying those words, we are convicting ourselves because where else should we begin with that hope, that expectation? Where should we think that God will begin to establish his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, if not first in you, the one who's talking with God in that moment? You said, "Our Father," you said, "Thy will be done." So now it's time to allow that to be in you.

And if, brothers and sisters, this is where we begin—with our own hearts before we worry about anyone else—well then things begin to change.

We think the problem so often would be solved if only we could send them away—those ones who are troubling us and causing us anxiety. If they would just step out of the way, then we could set to work with a good will and accomplish the things in our life. But the Lord is saying to us, "They do not need to be sent away. You act. You give what is necessary in this moment." Not waiting for anyone else, but instead taking your own impossibly small offering, take it and deliver it up to God for a blessing, and then see what it is that he will do.

And if, brothers and sisters, we can do this with sincerity of heart, if we can begin to open ourselves up to God and his holy will for us in our life right now where we are, well then through that impossibly small opening, God will visit his people, making his home in your heart that you have at last opened so that he may come.

And through that impossibly small opening, he will bring forth all the blessings of his kingdom and make all things new. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.