Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
Sermon Matthew 14:13-21, Genesis 32:22-31 “Sleepless Night”
August 2, 2020
I’d like to begin this morning with an interim update. One year ago I came to this church as your interim. At our first session meeting together I asked the session to start work forming a PNC and writing a mission study. I always do this, but no church ever gets started right away. I’ve been in churches where it took almost a year to get started. But Pittsgrove did it. Your nominating committee, your mission study committee, and your session worked very hard. And they accomplished something I didn’t think possible. They began in September and everything was finished by November when your PNC started looking for a new pastor for this church.
Since November your Pastor Nominating Committee has been discerning God’s choice for a pastor of this church. They have written a Ministry Information Form that is available to pastors all over the country. They have been receiving Pastoral Information Forms from those pastors. They have been watching sermons online and talking with references. Although I don’t know for certain, I believe that they will find a new pastor for this church very soon.
As an interim pastor, I have to look for my next church as I get to the end of my interim work. God has provided me with a new church much closer to my Dad. On September 1 I will begin interim work for the Presbyterian Church of Easton, Maryland.
Your worship committee is already lining up supply pastors for September. And we must all pray that the Pastor Nominating Committee will complete their work quickly and a new pastor will arrive to guide this church into a glorious future. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we know that you will provide Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church with a wonderful new pastor. So today we ask that you pour down your Holy Spirit on our Pastor Nominating Committee as they complete their work and find us the pastor you have chosen. We trust you Lord that in your providence and care you will provide for us a pastor who will lead us into a faithful future. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.
Every now and then I can’t sleep. I toss and turn in bed with my mind racing ahead thinking about some matter or another which keeps me up all night. We all experience this inability to sleep at one time or another. It usually happens at important transitions in our lives. In today’s scripture lessons both Jesus and his ancestor Jacob experienced sleepless nights when they were confronting enormous issues. Today we will see that during these times of distress both came closer to God.
Matthew 14:13-21 - 13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away, you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Jesus just heard some really bad news. His friend, cousin, and ministry partner, John the Baptist was dead, brutally murdered by the Tetrarch himself, Herod Antipas. John had been in one of Herod’s prisons because he had dared to criticize the king for his adulterous relationship with his brother’s wife, Herodias. John would have been executed a long time ago, but the king was fearful of what might happen if he killed someone the people considered to be a prophet. So John stayed in Herod’s prison until Herod’s birthday. At the birthday celebration Herodias’ daughter, danced beautifully and the king offered to give her anything she wanted. Her mother urged her to request John’s head on a platter, and it was immediately done.
When Jesus heard this story he wanted to be alone. He got into a boat and went off to a deserted place to be by himself, to pray, to think, and grieve. We don’t know how long he was there, but it could have been a long sleepless night when Jesus wrestled with God over this injustice done to John.
Jacob also spent a sleepless night worrying about meeting his brother, Esau as we heard in Genesis 32 read earlier. As a youth, Jacob had been a schemer and a cheater often at the expense of Esau. But now Jacob had two wives, twelve children, great wealth and the only thing he still needed to do was to repent and ask Esau for forgiveness. But when he heard that Esau was coming with 400 men he divided his caravan into two parts and sent them into the hills. Jacob spent the night alone.
During that night Jacob couldn’t sleep. He wrestled with God over his past sin. He wrestled with God over his fears of tomorrow. He wrestled with God over God’s promise that his descendant would form a great nation which like dust would cover the whole world. He wrestled with God over a damaged hip and the chronic pain that would plague him for the rest of his life. He wrestled with God the entire night never giving in to sleep. And years later when people remember the night when Jacob wrestled with God, he and all of his descendants were called Israel, which in Hebrew means, “the ones who wrestle with God.”
We have all spent sleepless nights worrying about tomorrow. Maybe we have lost a loved one. Maybe the doctor gave us a bad prognosis. Maybe we didn’t get the job we wanted. Maybe our business is not doing well. Maybe we can’t pay the rent or the mortgage this month. Maybe we are hungry and need something to eat. Maybe we found out that someone we love does not love us. Maybe we have done something wrong and fear the punishment we deserve. Maybe we suffer from chronic pain.
Whatever it is we toss and turn and cannot get to sleep. We stare at the clock and watch the minutes go by. We walk into the kitchen and remember something about warm milk. We turn on the television or the radio. For some of us, we take a sleeping pill, open a bottle of vodka, smoke a joint, or shoot narcotics into our veins. We do whatever we have to do to lessen the pain and get a little rest.
King David had a long sleepless night. He dealt with his sleeplessness by praying.
Psalm 17:1 <A Prayer of David.> Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit. 2 From you let my vindication come; let your eyes see the right. 3 If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress. 4 As for what others do, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. 5 My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped. 6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words. 7 Wondrously show your steadfast love, O savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. 8 Guard me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
After saying this prayer David received God’s peace and was able to rest. He knew that God would be with him no matter what. David said, Psalm 17:15 15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.
Jacob and Jesus both feared tomorrow. What would Esau do to Jacob? What would Herod do to Jesus? Each of us has our own Herods and Esaus that plague us in the night. But the promise of scripture is that God will be there to take care of our tomorrows. When you can’t sleep at night just put your faith in God, and give all your fears to God in prayer. Trust that God will guide you through the pain you are experiencing and the difficulty ahead.
When Esau arrived and saw Jacob he ran to him, embraced, and kissed his brother. Even though Jacob had been a schemer and had cheated Esau so many times Esau still loved and missed his brother. Esau has long since forgiven Jacob and looked forward to the day when Jacob would return.
This is how God sees us. God grieves that we have been away for so long and longs for the day we will return. God is waiting to embrace us if we just turn back and accept God’s love. So whatever you have done, whomever you have cheated, whatever schemes you have hatched return to God and say that you are sorry and our faithful God will forgive you just as Esau forgave Jacob.
After Jesus’ long night of grieving the death of John the Baptist, he was greeted by a crowd of people wishing to console him. Jesus realized that they too had spent sleepless nights grieving over the loss of John or whatever else was on their minds. Jesus, with great compassion in his heart, healed the sick and comforted the grieving. And when evening came and they were all exhausted he refused to send them out alone to find food for themselves. Rather Jesus fed them with the bread of heaven.
So the next time you can’t get to sleep and toss and turn all night remember that whatever it is that you are ashamed of, whatever is keeping you up, God is ready to forgive you and welcome you home. Remember that whatever it is that you fear, God will be there to sustain you with the bread of life. Say a prayer of thanks, and get some sleep. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, whenever we can’t sleep, remind us that in you all the bad things we have done are forgiven and washed away. Remind us that you are waiting to welcome us into your arms when we return to you. Remind us that God will provide for us when we awake into a fearful future. And bless us so that we can bless others by being your instruments of forgiveness and provision. We pray all of this in your strong name. Amen.
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