"Finding Optimism"

By Dr. Mickey Anders

South Elkhorn Christian Church

Lexington, Kentucky

July 26, 2009 

Text: John 6:1-21

The ABC network carried a program this week featuring Michael J. Fox.  It was entitled, "Adventures of an Incurable Optimist," an interesting title because Fox has an incurable disease, but he is still an optimist.  When he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease nearly 20 years ago, he never imagined how much it would change his life.  But he says that he has been an optimist throughout his struggles with the disease. 

In the program, he interviewed cancer survivor Lance Armstrong who says his optimism is inspired by his mother, who overcame her own set of challenges as a teen mom.  Then Armstrong says, "I don't think it's a stretch to say that none of ... my success on the bike would have been possible without that disease.  Life wouldn't have been necessarily empty, but it would not have looked like this." 

Fox said he found "the most relentlessly cheerful guy you've ever met" outside a New York City subway.  Oscar Smith Jr. works two jobs, including one handing out free newspapers on a street corner.  Every weekday, rain or shine, Smith greets commuters with a huge smile and a boisterous "good morning"  and people can't seem to help but smile right back.

Fox's pursuit of happiness took him to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and also took him across the globe, to one of the happiest places on Earth. In Bhutan, in the Himalayas, they measure "gross national happiness." 

This program portrayed the benefits of having an optimistic view of life.  The examples were truly inspirational.  It made you want to be optimistic as well.

Everyone knows there are two kinds of people - the optimists and the pessimists.  The optimists see the glass as half full and the pessimist sees it as half empty.  The optimist wakes up and says, "Good morning, Lord."  The pessimist wakes up and says, "Good Lord, morning."  An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.  And Winston Churchill once said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." 

Today I want us to look again at the passage of Scripture for today and look for the optimists and the pessimists in the text.  I think it will be easy for us to see who is which!  Jesus, of course, was optimistic.  The Bible says that he already knew what he was going to do.  But we are looking for an optimistic follower of Jesus.

We find Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where a large crowd has found him again.  They are attracted to Jesus because of the signs that he was doing with the sick.  Verse 10 tells us that there were 5,000 people there that day.  In Matthew's Gospel, the writer makes it clear that the 5,000 only counted the men.  So there may well have been 10,000 people that day. 

Jesus may have already been concerned about the pessimism of some of the disciples.  I am sure that he had accurately sized up the personality types of all of the Twelve.  We find him testing Philip by asking, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"  Verse 6 makes clear that Jesus was testing Philip.

What kind of test was it if not a test of his optimism and of his faith in what Jesus could do?  Maybe Jesus had noted long before this that Philip was a glass-half-empty kind of guy.  Jesus had been trying to get him to think more positively. 

I find it interesting that Jesus asked the "where" question, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"  But Philip answers a different question, "How much will it cost to buy bread for these people to eat?"  Jesus question assumes that they will buy bread and can buy bread.  Philip's answer makes it clear that he doesn't think they can buy that much bread, no matter where the bakery is.

Philip was a realist.  He knew they did not have that kind of money.  It would be more than six months' wages, and that would only buy a little for each person.  Philip was a problem solver, maybe an engineering type.  There was the number of the crowd - X, there was the number of people one loaf could feed - Y, there was the price of each loaf - Z.  Therefore he quickly calculated the cost (C) to feed the crowd equals X divided by Y multiplied time Z.  (C=X/YxZ) 

Even with today's loaves, the price would be staggering.  We know from the story that X=10,000.  That's the 5,000 men plus another 5,000 estimated to cover the women and children.  Suppose Y=5, five people would eat one loaf of bread.  And Z-$2, about the price of a loaf of bread today.  Then X divided by Y=2,000 loaves required.  Multiply that by Z, $2, and Philip's formula reveals that the cost would be $4,000!  (C=10,000/5 x $2,  C=$4,000)

So Philip answers in his typical pessimistic fashion, "Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."  Notice that Philip never thinks about the possibility that Jesus could provide an abundance of food.  He only considers the cost, and he knows they don't have much money.  He focuses only on the scarcity - not enough, never enough. 

There is a place for realism, for bean-counting, and for knowing the cost.  In Luke 14, Jesus tells the story of builders who started building a tower but were unable to finish it because they did not count the cost to see whether they had enough to complete it. 

But I am suggesting that Philip let his negativity get in the way of thinking about the possibilities.  Those who fail to think outside the box, those who see the glass as half-empty, those who only count the money at hand, often fail to see the potential and the possibilities.  Philip would not have been an inspiring leader because he would always be saying, "We can't afford that." 

The next person mentioned is almost optimistic.  Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish."  Rather than sitting around wringing his hands about six months' wages and where the bakery was, rather than analyzing the problem using advanced mathematics, Andrew has been scouting around the crowd to see what is available.  He seems to be a practical sort.  When confronted by a problem, he didn't sit down and figure it all out, he moved through the crowd looking for food!  It took some audacity, some optimism, for Andrew to even mention such a small amount of food.  It was a ridiculously small amount of food.  But to Andrew's credit, he at least told Jesus of the resources available.  That shows some optimism, some faith in Jesus.

But then he blows it by adding a note of pessimism, "But what are they among so many people?"  He has enough faith to bring the meager resources to Jesus' attention, but not enough faith to think that so little could do any good at all. 

Andrew was better than Philip because he was not stuck on counting the money at hand.  He, at least, looked for other resources.  In fact, there was some food available, just not enough.  Andrew would be the kind of leader who approaches a problem with a positive attitude, looking for creative solutions, believing that unexpected resources can be found, but he was still overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.  "But what are they among so many."  He could bring himself to dream a modest dream; but he did not have the faith to dream of abundant possibilities.

No, I am afraid neither Philip nor Andrew qualify as optimistic people.  Neither of them really has faith that Jesus can solve the problem. 

So where are we to find an optimistic person in this crowd?  I want to suggest that the real optimist is the unnamed and unseen little boy with the five loaves and two fish. 

Apparently, he was the only one of 10,000 people to bring a small lunch.  He was optimistic that the crowd would, indeed, find Jesus and that he would get to hear Jesus speaking for several hours, maybe even through lunch.  The other 9,999 weren't sure they would find him, and then didn't expect Jesus to talk very long, so they brought no lunch.  So we have in the crowd 9,999 pessimists and one optimist! 

And I believe the boy was optimistic about Jesus.  He gave his small lunch because he believed Jesus could use it to do marvelous things, even feeding all these people.  He had heard that Jesus had healed the blind, made the lame to walk, and cast out demons.  For someone like that, feeding a few thousand people should be a snap.    Besides, he believed that Jesus was Lord of heaven and earth.  For such a one, the possibilities are unlimited.

Maybe it was his faith alone that made the miracle possible.  In Mark 6, Jesus returns to his hometown, but he is met with doubt and suspicion.  The people took offense at him.  So Jesus proclaims, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown..."  Then Mark says that he could not do any miracles there (except a very few) because of their lack of faith.  Maybe it was the little boy's faith that made the miracle possible. 

The story goes on to tell us that Jesus had the people sit down, then broke the bread and blessed it, and distributed it.  After everyone had eaten, they gathered up 12 baskets full of the fragments.

So which of our characters is more like you? 

Some of us are the Philip-type.  We are plagued with despondent questions.  "We can't dream of a college education for our children.  Where would we get the money for tuition?  We can't take a risk to start a new business.  What if the customers don't come?  We should not build a new building at church.  We can't afford the debt load.  We cannot plan for new programs at church.  How will we ever meet the budget in a time of recession?"

We live in a scarcity culture.  There is only so much to go around, and we'd better make sure we get ours before you get yours.  We like to say things like, "Let's be realistic.  Face the facts, please."  And we love to rationally calculate exactly why we can't do what God is calling us to do. 

We see a vast need, we look at our resources, and we decide that we are powerless to help, so we don't try. We never think of turning our resources over to Jesus, however modest they may be.  We never think that maybe he can do something with our little gifts in a way we would never think of doing. Our faith in the power of Jesus to change situations is lacking. We would rather trust our own resources, our own power, our own pride and maybe even fail, instead of turning everything over to Jesus and letting him be in charge.

Some of us are the Andrew-type.  We want to have faith, but we are not so sure.  We know that God has performed miracles before and that God does amazing things with little that is dedicated to God's cause.  But we are hesitant to commit ourselves.  It might not work. The money might not be there.  We'd better not take too big a risk.  What if the recession gets worse?  What if our savings run out?  What if the church members quit giving? 

Then there is the faith and optimism of the little boy.  He was willing to give his lunch away even if it meant that he would be hungry for the rest of the day.  He was willing to take that risk because he believed that Jesus would bring something wonderful out of his small gift.  His gift was not too small to give.  Little things have great possibilities in the hands of Jesus.

Our calculations, scientific principles and pessimistic doubts don't take into consideration the extravagant possibilities of God.  God works from a stance of abundance, not scarcity.  We can choose to live in a world where we only accept what we understand, where we never take a risk, where we always see the scarcity, where the glass is always half-empty. 

Which do you think God is calling us to be?  A pessimist who sees the difficulty in every opportunity or an optimist who sees the opportunity in every difficulty?  The Bible tells us there is more to life than what we can see, more to this world that what we can understand and more of God's grace than we could ever afford.  God's power is loose in the world!  That's cause to celebrate and be optimistic!