On the way to a village in Honduras last month we missed a turn. The road was a challenge to turn around on.. Before you know it the driver of one of our trucks had dropped a wheel over a small cement retaining wall. It landed in mud and began to spin. The back opposite tire stood off the ground by three inches, leaving the back axle without traction, either. We had no tow chain or strap. About that time a garbage truck came along. Four husky men jumped off the truck, eager to help out the dumb gringos! They produced a narrow nylon rope that they quadrupled, and used to tie two of our trucks together. While the women prayed and the men pushed the truck popped up back onto the road! Happy to have been of help, the men reboarded their truck and were on their way. They were good people.

The Gospel accounts tell us of Jesus’ goodness: He heals the sick, raises the dead; casts out demons; teaches God's truth; and in today’s Gospel lesson, feeds 5000. Some say what really happened was that Jesus, in offering such a paltry amount of food in the face of so much need, shamed others into sharing their hidden lunches. Such an interpretation misses the main point: When Jesus is here the whole Kingdom of God is here, and where the Kingdom of God is there is an incredible abundance. The paltry sum of our offering is just seed for what God will do. And so you see a careless generosity in the face of need, and a willingness to risk for the sake of others. This is part of goodness.

Someone who is good is fun to be around. He or she is not so wrapped up in their own stuff that they can’t see you and your stuff. The world is so often full of back-stabbing and posturing, it is refreshing to find someone who is free of all that selfishness. Someone who is good is helpful and gracious. Remember what teens are like? You know, the neighbor’s teens, or your own children or younger siblings. The thought of asking them to do the dishes feels like facing a firefight with the Taliban! This is not “good.” “Good” pitches in and joins the team, “good” is engaged, yet self-defined.

Someone who is good facilitates getting things done. The men who piled out of the garbage truck to help us extricate our truck were good men. Initiative was not a struggle, teamwork came naturally. They were God’s “git-er-done” guys. People who are good are often heroes, not in the comic-book sense of super-powers and impossible achievements, just people that others look up to as an example. Good people are brave. For a while at my previous church we had the Alternative School program from the district on our campus. I used to offer Morning Prayer on Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m. I used to tell the kids, “You want to prove how strong you are? Then go do what’s right. Anybody can be bad, that’s easy. It takes real guts to do the right thing.”

Goodness is an incredibly powerful force. If you’re like me you’ve stormed up to the complaint window of a major department store to demand restitution on some minor wrong, only to have the person behind the window listen attentively and truly try to help. It’s awful to have the wind taken out of your sails like that! When the people of God are good the world is challenged. Hate is confronted, indifference is stirred up, selfishness is embarrassed. When God’s people are good the world is transformed. In a situation of tension the first to drop pressure changes the dynamic unilaterally and permanently. In an unhealthy marriage the first partner to live healthily changes the marriage. In a false world the first to tell the real truth gives truth a chance. When we are good goodness gains a beachhead in the world, and grace has an opportunity. When God’s people are good the Gospel is preached. As Jesus told the rich young ruler, only God is good. When God’s people are good, people know that the influence of God is near. Goodness proclaims His Kingdom is close.

Let me break goodness down into four parts:
1) Initiative: I was astounded to learn that there are people who had never lived out of the county where they were born. Content with their world, they are unmotivated to go beyond it. But the goodness of God was not so limited. Had Jesus accepted the limits of five loaves and two fish the miracle of God’s abundance would not have taken place. Goodness is willing to move out of one’s comfort zone to do the work of God.
2) Sensitivity to need: The disciples in today’s Gospel were right—the people were hungry. Undoubtedly they were hungry, too. Sensitivity to need in another is often merely an extrapolation of one’s own. But goodness links sensitivity to compassion. “You give them something to eat,” say’s Jesus.
3) Creativity in solutions: The disciples respond, “We have nothing here….” Their mentality was one of poverty. How often are we the same? “I can’t tithe, I have trouble enough making ends meet.” “I give as much as the next guy!” “All the church does is ask for money!” And perhaps that last one is true, for the church is no better than its people. “We can’t do outreach, we can hardly pay the bills.” “We can’t go green, brown is cheaper.” “We have nothing here.”

But the good heart thinks outside the box. Outside the box lie all the resources of God. They may reveal themselves in unexpected places, multiplying resources in astounding ways: As you know this year Bobbi Hopkins had her arm in a sling. She is mother hen to all of us, yet this year’s enormous team of 68 people was an impossible task. Leadership stepped forward not only for her, but for myself and others—people who took up the mantle and led the charge in their areas. Bobbi’s efforts were multiplied many times over. Or in unexpected help, like the little boy who brought the lunch to Jesus: A lot of churches are partnering with other agencies in their communities to see great things happen. Perhaps we have opportunities we didn’t know about? With unexpected results, like 12 baskets of leftovers: Four years ago the need to help Honduran kids to go High School resulted in our scholarship program. Now, 4 years later, that program has helped 280 kids in school, and some of them are asking about help for college. How many doctors, dentists, law-makers and priests are among those kids waiting to influence the country for good, just because someone’s generous heart gave $300 a year to help them get a leg up?

This is goodness, brothers and sisters, that scandalously generous, trusting, compassionate action for the sake of the kingdom. The fruit of the Spirit is…goodness.

Fr. Paul Moore+