Jesus' Ferrari

Seeing the miracles all around us

 Matthew 14:14-21

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.  When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”  Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”  Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full.  Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

            Do you know what exponential growth is?  Humor me for a moment while I bore you with a little math.  Things can grow at different speeds, at different rates: some slower, some faster.  “Arithmetical growth” happens when you add things together.  We know that 2 plus 2 equals 4.  “Multiplying things” makes them grow even faster.  What is 3 times 3?  It is not 6 but 9; obviously, faster growth.  But “exponential growth” happens even faster, as my brother once told me, “exponential growth is multiplication on steroids.”  Imagine a Ferrari racing a go-cart, that's exponentially fast.  Here’s a classic illustration for exponential growth.

            According to an ancient legend, the vizier Sissa Ben Dahir presented the Indian King Sharim with a beautiful, hand-made chessboard.  The king asked what he would like in return for his gift, and the courtier surprised the king by asking for one grain of rice on the first square of the chessboard, two grains of rice on the second, four grains of rice on the third, 8 grains of rice on the fourth, etc.  The king readily agreed, figuring that can’t be that much rice, and ordered the rice to be brought in.  All went well at first, but by the time the king got to the 21st square, that exponential growth required over one million grains of rice.  By the time they got to the 41st square, he needed over a trillion grains of rice.  And by the time they got to the final squares, there was not enough rice in the whole world.  That’s exponential growth, “multiplication on steroids.”  You see, some things grow slowly, other things grow faster, but some things even grow exponentially fast.

            In the gospel today we see Jesus doing some math as well, but he doesn’t add or subtract, or multiply or divide, Jesus prefers exponents.  We’re all familiar with the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fish.  But I believe that story is misnamed: it’s not the “multiplication” of the loaves and fish; it’s the exponential growth of them!  Jesus takes 5 loaves and 2 fish and feeds over 20,000 people.  How did I get 20,000?  The gospel says there were 5,000 men, so we know there must also have been 5,000 women to tell the men what to do, and let’s assume 2 kids per couple, which equals 20,000 total people.  Jesus gave these 7 items (5 loaves and 2 fish) to the 12 disciples to distribute.  If those loaves and fish grew exponentially 12 times (once for each disciple), do you know how many loaves and fish there would be?  The answer is 28,665, which would be plenty for the men, women and children, with lots of leftovers.  You see, when Jesus does math, he does not waste time with adding or subtracting, multiplying or dividing, he uses exponents.

            Jesus’ miracles are always “exponential.”  He didn’t just change water into wine at the wedding in Cana; he changed it into the best wine.  He didn’t just give eye-sight to the man born blind; he also gave him the gift of faith that enabled him to see the invisible.  Jesus didn’t just rise from the dead after 3 days, he also raised to life all who had died before him.  In other words, Jesus always does both math and miracles with exponents.

            Last week I experienced one of those exponential miracles of Jesus.  You know I’ve written a book of homilies to raise money for our school endowment fund.  We set an ambitious and really astronomical goal to raise $500,000.  Last week a family approached me and said, “Father, we think your goal of $500,000 is wrong.  Instead, we think it should be $1,000,000.  And in order to help you reach that goal, we will make a matching gift.  If you can raise $500,000, we will match it with another $500,000 so that you will raise $1,000,000.”  So, today, we’re going to keep passing the collection plate until we raise $500,000!  I’ve told the ushers to lock the doors and not let anyone leave!  Needless to say, I was humbled and honored.  They only asked we keep it anonymous, which we will.  You see, whether it’s grains of rice on a chessboard, or loaves and fish in Galilee, or faithful Catholics in Fort Smith, Jesus always does math and miracles with exponents.

            Folks, I am convinced Jesus keeps performing miracles today, if only we open our eyes to see them.  But here’s the good news; we don’t have to give him a whole lot to work with.  Why?  Because his miracles are always exponential: taking and transforming a little bread and wine, a few loaves and fish, humble hands and hearts.  I consider this magnificent church you’re sitting in one of those miracles.  Do you know how much parishioners pledged in 1898 to begin building this church?  It was a mere $30,500!  But Jesus blessed it and today we have a church that would cost over $4,175,000 to replace.  Do you know how Immaculate Conception got our name?  We were dedicated as St. Patrick’s Church.  The story goes that Fr. Lawrence Smyth, the pastor in 1879, went to Rome to see the Pope, Pius IX, a very intimidating pope with the epithet, “Pio No-No!”  Well, poor Fr. Lawrence was so nervous at the prospect of speaking with the pope that when asked the name of his church, he stuttered, “Uh, uh, Immaculate Conception.”  That’s what came out and that’s what we got.  Our parish name we hold in such high regard today was originally a stutter.  Do you know why we have money problems in the church?  It’s not because some people don’t give large amounts; it’s because so many people won’t give small amounts; some people give nothing.  If everyone gave $5 every Sunday, we’d never have to have another fundraiser or hear another sermon on money.  Two weeks ago, I attended the naturalization ceremony of new American citizens.  The federal judge told the new Americans: “You now have the great privilege to vote.  And you should exercise that right.  If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about the government!”  What a great point.  But so many Americans don’t vote because they believe one vote makes no difference.  Really?  Jesus will touch and transform whatever we give him, no matter how tiny, because his math is always exponential.

            Let me leave you with this blinding insight on miracles by C. S. Lewis.  He wrote: “The miracles done by [Jesus], living as a man in Palestine, perform the very same things as [God the Father’s] wholesale activity, but at a different speed and on a smaller scale…The miracles in fact are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”  In other words, everything around us is a miracle: some miracles happening at a slower pace, other miracles at a faster pace; we see the miracle in a $500,000 donation, but not in the $5 donation.  Jesus drives a Ferrari; God the Father prefers the go-cart.  So often people ask: “Why doesn’t God do miracles anymore??”  Maybe the better question is: “Has God ever done anything else?”

            Praised be Jesus Christ!