“Impossible Possibility”

Third Sunday in Lent

March 8, 2026

Ephesians 3:17-21

Mark 6:31-44

Children’s Message:

Today we heard the story about Jesus feeding a crowd of people. He and his disciples were looking for a quiet place to rest and eat in peace. They were hungry and tired. But the crowd ran after them, following them from long distances. Why do you think they were following him?

Well, as they gathered, more people kept coming. And Jesus gathered them into a large area. More than 5,000 families were there. Jesus began teaching them. What do you think he told them about?

After a while, everyone was getting hungry, including the disciples. They wanted everyone to go home so they could finally rest and eat. But Jesus told them their work wasn’t done. He wanted the disciples to feed the people. They didn’t have enough to feed them. Jesus told them to gather whatever food they had. And they came up with five little loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Is that enough to feed a crowd?

Jesus blessed the food and gave it to the disciples to distribute. How many people ate that day? Can you explain what happened? Me neither. But nobody went hungry. When we don’t think we have enough—even for ourselves—God always provides.

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for our daily bread. May all your people, Lord, be fed. Amen.

Message:

Last year, when SNAP benefits were abruptly cut for millions of Americans, we heard story after story of compassionate people stepping up to help feed the hungry. One of those stories featured a coffee shop in Portland, OR, called Heretic Coffee Co. The owner, Josh White, described the situation that faced them: “It was a very simple thing. We have food. And we can give away that food to people who are hungry.” When told that their generosity could cause the café to go bankrupt, White responded: “That’s fine. If we literally have to shut our doors, if we go broke making sure children have food for breakfast, I’m really OK if that’s the reason why we lose our business.” Instead, they raised over $184k to help feed their community.

One of the founders of A Sanctified Art—our seasonal resource for Lent—tells about her own congregation in North Carolina. In 2022, Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity was part of the strategic planning committee for her church, Black Mountain Presbyterian in Black Mountain, NC. They were discerning new mission and vision statements when a committee member pointed to the words carved into the communion table: “Has everyone been fed?”

They chose that question as their statement—which took a couple of years to pass all the various committees, seeing as how that’s the typical timeline of church decisions. In September, 2024, their head pastor preached on the statement, and a few days later, Hurricane Helene wiped out homes and businesses, decimating the entire infrastructure of the area.

Many began making their way by foot to through neighborhoods to assess the damage and check on friends and family. Rev. Garrity and her family approached the church and found church members emptying the church pantry and cooking up anything they found in the freezer using gas-powered cooking stoves. One person was going down the line of hungry people making notes on additional needs they had—water, blankets, formula.

Garrity says, “Without any plan or pre-thought, they opened the doors wide and began feeding anyone who showed up. Within a few days, the church was feeding nearly a thousand people a day.” It took over a week for supplies to reach them, and eventually the meals moved to a local restaurant with the space to operate the ministry. Now, at the end of every communion distribution, the pastor asks the congregation: “Has everyone been fed?” And the congregation replies: “Not yet!”

The miracle of Jesus feeding the crowd is about so much more than multiplying five loves and two fish in order to feed a multitude. It’s about the obedience of the disciples who had no idea how they were going to meet the need. It’s about the crowd who longed for Jesus’ wisdom even more than they longed for bread. It’s about recognizing that, no matter who you are or where you come from, hunger is something everyone experiences. And hunger is something no one should have to live with. Access to food is a human right.

Food insecurity is one of the issues Justice in Action has taken on this year, and it’s a doozy of a project. There are so many elements that feed into this problem (pun intended). There’s the issue of rising food costs and stagnant or declining income. There’s the issue of transportation and food deserts. How does a community change a system this big?

We can’t continue to rely on mercy ministries to fill the gap because the gap is widening at an alarming rate, and resources such as SNAP, church ministries, and local food nets are being hit with declining donations and increased need. That’s why Justice in Action is an organization that focuses on systemic changes—shifts in the overall system to alleviate the need. We’ll get to hear more about the planned systemic solution on March 26 at our Solutions Briefing Rally—along with plans about the other issues, as well.

And then, on April 30, we’ll gather a crowd. It won’t be a crowd of 5,000, but even a crowd of 1500 will be powerful. Because, you see, when faced with a multitude, officials are forced to listen. A crowd gathered around Jesus that day, and it would have been a perfect time to mobilize an army and start a revolution. They could have amassed even more and marched on Herod’s palace and overthrown the puppet king. But then what? Install Jesus as king? His kindom is so much more than a palace and throne. It’s so much more than power over people. His kindom is power WITH people. Power FOR people.

So, instead of starting a war, he fed his people. He fed them with God’s word, and then he fed them with bread. It reminds me of his temptation in the wilderness. He had been there for 40 days without food or drink. He was weak and hungry. And satan showed him a way forward. “Turn this stone into bread and eat.” And Jesus responded, “One doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

A temporary solution to his personal suffering wasn’t part of God’s plan. Not then, and not on the cross. Instead, his refusal to accept satan’s suggestion is a call for all of us to resist the unjust system-preserving solutions that serve only ourselves. It’s a call to restore humanity, share abundance, and become a collective force of liberation.

The crowd would eventually go home. And they would become hungry again the next day. But they will have received something that would never run out—what they heard and saw the day they gathered around Jesus. Now, they would recognize someone from the crowd and know they were not alone. They would consider the bread they had and perhaps share it with the beggar on the street. They would cling to the communal experience of that day and extend it long after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

And that extension of hope and abundance would become a force against oppression, against scarcity, against fear. It still lives on in us. Every time we gather to share with and support one another. Every time we put another’s needs first. Every time we show God’s love and abundance to a hopeless world, we become those apostles who had no idea how they would feed so many but trusted God and just started. It’s how the impossible becomes possible.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE