Homily, In Way Over Your Head
The Tenth Sunday after the Pentecost, Proper 13A (2026)
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Plant City, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever been in way over your head?
Like the time when I was 10 and my mom put me in the Level 4 swim class when I had never taken swim lessons in my life. I was immediately dropped three whole levels to my 5 year old brother’s class in front of everyone. I was in way over my head.
Or the time when I was in college and bought myself an gas-powered scooter with a max speed of 35 miles an hour and thought I could drive it home to Lakeland all the way from Dunedin over the Courtney Campbell Causeway bridge. I didn’t make it and had to have my dad come pick me up. I was in way over my head.
Or the time my wife and I went to Ireland on our honeymoon and learned as soon as we stepped off the plane that our debit cards and gift cards—the only money we had—do not work outside of the United States. We were in way over our head.
Have you ever had an experience like that? Where you knew you had no idea what you were doing? That you did not have the planning, the knowledge, the skills, the experience to measure up to the task. That you were in way over your head?
I can’t help but think that’s what the disciples were feeling in our gospel reading today.
Jesus called these twelve men to follow him. To do ministry alongside of him. To assist him, day by day, in the work of caring for people and proclaiming good news. And here they are in the middle of nowhere with a crowd of thousands of people at the end of the day. And when they suggest to Jesus to dismiss them so the crowds can go and buy something to eat, Jesus looks at them and says, “you feed them.”
You can imagine their faces as they look back and forth at one another. “Wait, what? We’re supposed to feed them? Did you know we were supposed to bring food? I didn’t know we were supposed to bring food. Do you have money? I don’t have money.”
They want to be good disciples. They want to prove themselves to Jesus. You can imagine them scrambling to try to come up with a plan to figure out how they were gonna feed all these people. But in the end they were in way over their heads. There was no way they were going to be able to do what Jesus asked them. They were not up to the task. They hadn’t planned ahead. Maybe they weren’t cut out for this calling.
And so they come back to him deflated and defeated and admit to Jesus, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”
“Bring them to me,” Jesus says.
Often, when we hear this story we focus on the miraculous provision that comes from the hand of Christ. At his hand, five loaves and two fish feed thousands of people. But we completely gloss over where those five loaves and two fish come from. They come from the disciples.
“Bring them to me,” Jesus says.
It wasn’t enough. It was embarrassingly inadequate. They might not have even mentioned it. But they did as Jesus asked. And brought it to him.
And Jesus received their gift and blessed it. And then broke it. And then gave it back to them. And it was enough.
This story is, yes, about the provision of God. About the miraculous abundance that Christ gives us. But the story is also about what it means to be called by Christ to do something that you are completely unprepared for. It is about the call of Christ to give a gift that is completely inadequate to meet the needs of the moment. And watching as Christ makes it enough.
The message of this story is that when we give God our “not-enough”, God makes it “more than enough.”
And that is the shape of the Eucharist, the sacrament of communion.
Like the feeding of the five thousand we tend to emphasize the story of God’s provision in the Eucharist. We emphasize the part where we gather at the table to eat from the hand of God, all the while forgetting that the Eucharist begins with an offering, a gift from the inadequacy of what we have. We place upon the altar bread and wine. Two ordinary things. It is not enough to feed the souls of a congregation. And yet Christ beckons us, “bring them to me”. And so we make our gift.
And then they are taken up. They are blessed. They are broken. And they are given back to us. Not as bread and wine. But as Christ himself. Bread and wine were placed upon the altar. Christ’s body and blood are given back to us.
The same is true of us. We place ourselves upon the altar with the bread and the wine. When we enter this place we come with our burdens, our weaknesses, our inadequacies, our sins. And we place ourselves upon the altar, and Christ receives us, blesses us, breaks us, and the sends out as vessels of the Divine. We leave this place as the body of Christ.
When we give God our “not-enough”, God makes it “more than enough.”
So what is your “not-enough”? What is it in your life that you feel called to, but know that you are in way over your head? Where is it that you feel the weight of inadequacy in what you have to offer?
Can you hear the voice of Christ? “Bring it to me.”
Can I share an admission with you? As your rector, I am in way over my head. I do not have the skills, the knowledge, the time, the energy, the experience to give this parish what it needs. And this is not some kind of attention-seeking self-deprecation. I don’t need reassurance. What am I saying is that on my own I am not enough. But every Sunday morning, I come to this altar and give myself. Every weekday Morning and Evening, I come to this altar for prayer. I stand alongside of the disciples with an embarrassing gift of five loaves and two fish among thousands, and yet I offer to Christ. And the only reason I climb up into this pulpit week after week is by the grace of God who takes what is not enough and makes it enough.
So what do you have that’s not enough? What are you being called to but feel inadequate for?
Christ calls you to give your gift. It does not have to be perfect. It does not have to be adequate. It does not have to be enough. It simply has to be what you have offered as a gift. And God makes it enough.
Are you in way over your head? Hear the voice of Christ, “Bring it to me.” Amen.
Questions for Reflection
- What areas in my life do I feel unprepared for or overwhelmed, and how might I bring those feelings to God?
- Can I identify a specific situation where I believe my contributions are insufficient? How can I embrace the notion that my “not-enough” can still be used by God?
- Reflect on a time when I experienced God taking something small or inadequate and using it for a greater purpose in my life. What was that experience like?
- In what ways can I offer my gifts, even if they seem inadequate, to the community or church around me?
- How can I practice coming to God in humility, acknowledging my limitations, and trusting in His ability to make my efforts sufficient?
Thoughts on Faith 