Feeding of the 5,000
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
July 29, 2018
The Biblical Text
John 6:1-21
Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
The Sermon
Sometime ago, when I was a school chaplain, I offered to give leaving party for a colleague who was taking up a new job in a new school. I had it my house and everyone who came offered to bring something for the dinner. So I took everyone’s offers, and I planned around them accordingly so that there would be enough food. Well the night came, and a couple of people bailed at the last minute, some people somehow forgot that they offered to bring a dish, and some people just brought, frankly, pretty paltry quantities of food. I can’t even begin to tell you how worried I was. I didn’t know what to do. So I called my husband Adrian aside, and we went into the kitchen, and discussed our options, and we decided he would cover my absence while I snuck out the back door, ran down three blocks, down to our neighborhood Iraqi Market and just get a whole bunch of food. I ran into the market and I told them, while catching my breath, what was going down at my house and they loaded me up with ready-made food and Middle Eastern pastries and I ran home and plated everything like nothing had happened. And the party continued, and no one seems to notice, except the theme was a backyard bbq and suddenly it was a Middle Eastern banquet.
But you know what – in retrospect, if I had not done all that scurrying and shopping, the party still would have probably been okay. But I am terrified of there not being enough food, which is closely related to my fear of not being prepared. I am not even going to ask how many of you share that fear, because unless I am projecting, I am thinking that most of us share it.
And that is why this story of the feeding of the 5,000 is so powerful. It is so powerful in fact that not a single gospel writer leaves this story out. And here is why it is powerful and important. One the one hand this is undoubtedly a story to show us the God the Father, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, shares the same powers as God the Son, Jesus. When the original audience heard this story they would have remembered the story in the Hebrew Scriptures of God providing Moses and the Israelites Manna from heaven during their wilderness wanderings for those long 40 years before they made it to the Promised Land. Those who experienced the feeding of the 5,000 or heard this story would have been reminded that God is the provider of our needs, material and immaterial.
So when we hear this lesson, it invites us to think of times when we have felt we did not have enough – enough patience, enough time, enough courage, enough resilience, or maybe even enough resources – and yet, looking back at those times we realize, by the Grace of God, we made it through and here we are. And it is also a powerful lesson when we think as a church that we do not have enough – enough financial resources, or volunteers, or energy, or passion – that we do. And yet here we are. It is amazing to think that at one time this church was on the verge of closing, and there was neither enough money to hire even a Sunday cover priest nor enough money to hire an organist to play on Sundays. And yet here we are.
Here we are.
In my last parish there was an Outreach Project in Juarez, Mexico. And the outreach project was an orphanage, or official Centro Vittoria – Home for Abandoned Children, and when we started to support it, it had 20 children. And then it grew to 40. And then 60 and then 80. I cannot even imagine how big it is now. And we used to say to the Pastor who ran it, “Pastor Joel, you can’t just keep expanding the orphanage because you will run out of money. You won’t be able to feed all these children. You won’t be able to clothe them. They will be three to a bed instead of two to a bed.” And he would just say “God will provide.” And we would say, “Pastor Joel, how do you know? Have you made a budget, or projections of costs?” And he would smile with a bright, almost toothless smile, and just say “The Lord provides – not early, not late, but just in time.”
The Lord Provides, not early, not late, but just in time.
The manna in the wilderness arrived just in time. The waters of the Red Sea divided at just the right time. The baby Jesus was born at just the right time. Paul became a follower of Christ at just the right time and into the right circumstances to have started the rapid spread of Christianity. The list goes on throughout antiquity and in our own lives.
But here is the thing: sometimes the Lord providing just in time means different things in different circumstances. We all like it when the Lord provides just in time and all the needs get met and we can just carry on business as usual. But sometimes the Lord providing also means letting us know when we have to let go. Sometimes it means knowing when to say no to something that you have been saying yes to for too long. Sometimes it means closing up shop, letting go, or ending a relationship, or finding a different career. Sometimes it is taking unexpected turns when the course before you seems to be pretty straight forward and clear.
And at other times, the Lord provides by giving us just enough resources, just enough courage, just enough resilience to carry on. When I hear people say things like “I just don’t know how I could carry on if x happens.” I try to reassure them by saying they won’t know how until or if x does happen, and then you will see that you get through it through your faith, through your strength, and through the love and care of others, you will get through this.
So forgive me for a moment. I just want to end by what seems a red herring. This is the ultimate sin of preaching. But just before I end, I want to draw your attention to those 12 baskets of scraps. On the one hand those scraps are meant to dazzle us and show us that not only does the Lord provide, but that the Lord provides so much that there is more than enough to feed those hungry people on that mountainside.
But on the other hand, whenever the number 12 is mentioned we are meant to pay very close attention. Because 12 mean what? The appointed 12 Tribes of Israel, and the 12 Disciples. 12 means us – 12 means the people of God. 12 means the church and all the people who follow Christ. And so when we hear about those 12 baskets of scraps – the 12 baskets of abundance – we are supposed to realize that we are those scraps in those baskets. We are God’s wonderful remnants who are called to carry on God’s work. God uses us in the wonderful work of provision. And it is from our abundance of energy, of our passions, our possessions that we get to carry on God’s merciful work of loving, healing, feeding, putting roofs over peoples’ heads and providing for the needs of others in whatever way God calls us, you and me, to continue the work of the Kingdom. It is from our abundance that the youth and adult leaders were just this last week in Craigsville, West Virginia, helping people live more comfortably in their homes through repair and building work. It is from our abundance that we feed 180, 192? children from inner-city Boston this last week through the B-Safe program. It is from our abundance that we will shortly bring up the collection for the Holliston Food Pantry.
We are God’s wonderful scraps of hope in the world.
And so I leave you with these words from our Ephesians lesson for those moments when you might feel that all hope is gone, when you doubt the power of God, or your own efficacy, and you feel like you are not able to carry on:
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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