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| A.Hanson, Santa Cruz, CA 2014 |
A sermon preached at First Lutheran Church of St Peter, MN. Matthew 14:13-21
Grace, peace and mercy
are yours from the Triune God. Amen
As a child in
Sunday School, my favorite Sunday of the year was the day we learned about the
feeding of the 5,000. I was very
impressed with this story. But it wasn’t
because Jesus fed over 5,000 people. It
wasn’t because the disciples only had five loaves and two fish, yet the crowd
managed to eat until they were full. This was my favorite Sunday because the
Sunday School curriculum had scratch and sniff stickers for the loaves of
bread. THIS was somehow
the miracle for me in this whole story. A piece of paper could be made to smell
JUST like a loaf of bread. All joking
aside, sometimes in the course of miracle stories, it really is the little
things that matter, maybe not necessarily the big, impressive, miracle. So
let’s open up this story a bit more.
The feeding of the
5,000 was an extremely important story for the Gospel writers, because it is
the only miracle story that appears in all four Gospels. Let’s put this story into context. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear that Jesus has
withdrawn to a deserted place. He gets
into a boat and floats out into the water.
But this wasn’t just because he wanted a little peace and quiet. Jesus had been rejected by his hometown and
had just learned that his friend and fellow preacher, John the Baptist, had
been brutally murdered by King Herod. The disciples had the unpleasant task of
burying John’s body and then telling Jesus what had happened. Nobody was in a particularly good mood, and
to hear that massive crowds were gathered on the shore, awaiting a promise of
hope and healing from an exhausted and grieving Jesus would have been
overwhelming.
But instead of
retreating, we hear that Jesus leaves his boat, goes into the crowd and has
compassion for them. This isn’t the sort
of benevolent well-wishing and baby kissing that comes from politicians and
celebrities. We hear that Jesus cures
their sick. These were people who were
the poorest of the poor, Jesus would have been their last hope. Because people who had power and money and
status were not going to be following a barefoot preacher into the middle of
the desert. Jesus is getting his hands dirty doing the work of compassion.
The disciples
tolerate this pretty well for awhile. But after a time, they seem to have had
enough. Evening is coming and they are
ready for some peace and quiet. They say
to Jesus, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds
away so that they can buy food for themselves.” But Jesus responds in the most
unexpected way, saying, “They need not go away; you give them something to
eat.” The Greek text sets this scene in
the wilderness. It would have been far
from any grocery store, fast food joint or seven-eleven. The disciples look at
Jesus dumbfounded and say, “We have nothing here, but five loaves and two
fish.” When the disciples suggest to
Jesus that the crowds be sent away, because they cannot feed them, they are
confessing their powerlessness in the face of overwhelming human need. How often do we also do this? We feel ashamed of our own inability to make
a difference in a world of need. We want
to send that need away so we don’t have to see it anymore. But Jesus does the opposite. He draws closer to those who are desperately
in need.
Jesus commands the
disciples to bring the loaves and fish, blesses them, and hands them off. Just the few loaves and fishes were
transformed to feed over 5,000 people, Jesus transforms our humble offerings into
more abundance than we ever could have dreamed.
This miracle story shows that God is
love. This is not compassion and mercy
in the abstract. It is a compassion that
cares deeply about actual physical human needs. The story is not too concerned
with the logistics of the miracle, just stating that after the disciples gave
the food to the crowds, all ate and were filled, and there were even leftovers.
This was a time of
marked food insecurity. Those people who were gathered around Jesus would have
never known what it was like to be full.
This is why so many of the parables and references to the coming kingdom
of God refer to banquets and great feasts where all are welcome. This miracle of feeding those who are hungry
is SO IMPORTANT that Matthew repeats it again in the next chapter with the
feeding of the 4,000.
Most of us, myself
included, struggle with the miracle stories.
Many of us doubt miracles because we get bogged down in the
particulars. How could this have
happened? Did the bread just
multiply? Were the disciples secretly
hiding lots of bread in their robes? Did
someone catch extra fish in the lake and just call it a miracle?
But what if the point is not
about HOW the miracle occurred, but WHO is doing it?
I would like to
bring out one little thing from this parable that we often miss. It is really easy to skim over this very tiny
detail in our reading of this text. We know this story and we want to get to
the miraculous part, but in doing so, we miss the detail that Jesus blesses the
bread, and then physically hands it to the disciples who do the very hard work
of distributing it to a massive crowd. Jesus
feeds the twelve, but the twelve feed the 5,000. The disciples share in the
birth of this miracle. It is not just Jesus caring for the hungry crowds.
What if we are
commanded to do the same? What if the miracle itself is not the point
at all, but rather, the feeding of God’s people and showing compassion to those
in need? This miracle story is about
trusting that God provides in abundance, even in the midst of impossible
situations, and uses all of us, even disciples who can’t believe that five
loaves and two fish could ever be enough, and you and me who think we might
never be good enough or qualified enough to do the work of the kingdom. How is
Jesus transforming your humble offerings in the world into miracles for your
neighbors? How are you participating in
miracles of compassion?
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