I’m sure that many of you remembered the AT&T slogan used to be, “Reach out and touch someone.”

There are many reasons why I chose the long gospel this morning. Most of the time, when we have an option, I choose the short option, because of my attention span. But one of the techniques that St. Mark uses is to make a sandwich of two stories. He starts one, breaks off the story and puts another story inside of it, then he continues the first story. When he does that, he wants us to evaluate each story in terms of the other story. And there are six points of contact between the two stories that make them stand out.

Back in the 1970s, there was a hit song by Gordon Lightfoot, called “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” And some of the verses went like this. “They (meaning the people on the ship) might have split up or they might have capsized. They may have broke deep and took water. And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters … The church bell chimed ‘til it rang twenty-nine times, for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald. The legend lives on, from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee. Superior, they said, never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early.”

How could a boat capsize in storm waves on a lake? Well, Lake Superior - I looked it up - is 350 miles wide by 160 miles long. It’s the size of the state of Maine. And it is the largest fresh water lake in the world.

What was your favorite childhood story? When you were about four years old, able to read a little bit, but still rather having mommy or daddy read to you. What was your favorite story? I had two. “The Little Engine That Could.” (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.) And a little book called “The Weehawken, Hoboken, and Troy Railroad.” It might be because of those stories that I loved Lionel trains so much, when I was an older little boy. But, whatever your favorite was, it might have been “The Three Little Pigs.” Or it might have been “The Three Bears.” Or “Goldilocks.” Or “Little Red Riding Hood.” Or, for later generations, maybe “Good Night Moon.” Or “The Cat in the Hat.” But, whatever it was, you always wanted to hear that story. Tell me that story again. Read me that story again. Because those stories have very simple plots, easy to follow what goes on in the story. They build quickly to a climax. The climax is almost always delightful, pleasant. It sets off those endorphins. That’s why you tell them when it gets close to sleep time, because it puts you in the mood to go to sleep. That’s one way of understanding the parables of Jesus. They are short stories that have a simple plot that meets quickly to a climax and a surprise ending that’s almost always a happy ending, or at least a surprise to the listeners. That’s what we have in today’s stories. I asked you if there was a farmer in the second story. The first story begins with a man who went out to sow some seeds. There’s the farmer right there. At the end of the story he wields the sickle because the corn has come to maturity.

There’s a teensy, tiny miracle at the beginning of today’s gospel story. Jesus somehow or other sees the sequence of events that are going to happen when the disciples go into Jerusalem looking for a place to host the Passover. Not a big deal as far as miracles go. What do you think is the greatest miracle of all? Was it the multiplication of the loaves and fishes? The early Christians were so enamored of that miracle, they told it six times in four gospels. Maybe it was turning water into wine. Wouldn’t that be nice? How about cleansing ten lepers all at the same time? Or calming the storm at sea, “Peace, be still?” Or its companion piece, walking on the water? How about that? That’s pretty nifty. Or maybe raising Lazarus from the dead? Maybe that one. If you’ve ever been to Lourdes or Fatima or have seen photographs of the shrines, walls of crutches and prosthesis left behind by people who were cured by praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary at her shrine. But it’s none of them. It’s none of them.

The greatest miracle is the one that we celebrate today. The Body and Blood of Christ. It’s a three part miracle. It begins with the second person of God’s Blessed Trinity becoming a human being. What an amazing miracle that is that the One who launched this great universe by the will of His word should decide to enter it, looking, sounding and acting like you and me. That’s the first part of the miracle. The second part of the miracle is that He was able to leave Himself here in physical form despite that He, as a human being, died, miraculously rose, and returned to the spiritual kingdom of His father. The third part of the miracle is you and me.