Well … this is a story! Five thousand men (not counting women and children) … are fed with just five loaves and two fish? Not only that, but the author of Matthew’s gospel wanted to make sure that we get the point. In the very next chapter the author tells a similar story with 4,000 men (not including the women and children) … and seven loaves and just a few fish. If ever there were a miracle, this was it! Of course, there is that whole walking on water trick … but that is next week.
9 Pentecost
August 3, 2014
In the name of the God of all Creation,
The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus,
And the power of God known in the Spirit.
Amen.
August 3, 2014
In the name of the God of all Creation,
The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus,
And the power of God known in the Spirit.
Amen.
Well … this is a story! Five thousand men (not counting women and children) … are fed with just five loaves and two fish? Not only that, but the author of Matthew’s gospel wanted to make sure that we get the point. In the very next chapter the author tells a similar story with 4,000 men (not including the women and children) … and seven loaves and just a few fish. If ever there were a miracle, this was it! Of course, there is that whole walking on water trick … but that is next week.
For many this is the “miracle” of the feeding of the five thousand. The miracle was that Jesus could … in one way or another … make this meager supply of food more than adequate to feed this huge crowd of people. In this way “miracle” means that it defies natural laws; that Jesus possessed some supernatural ability to multiply five loaves and two fish into a banquet set for thousands. Therefore, if Jesus possessed this supernatural ability then he must be divine. In this way this miracle, and all the other miracles in the gospels, for many, “proves” that Jesus is God’s son.
So, if this story is not about the supernatural power of God in Jesus, what is it about? What is the real miracle that happens in this story? Personally, I don’t believe that doing miracles … defying natural laws … is proof of Jesus’ divinity. Jesus is the divine son of an abundant God … with or without miracles. And, like Jesus, that divinity is nascent in us as well.
In Matthew’s gospel, this story of the feeding of the 5,000 follows a series of parables. We have been hearing these parables over the past several weeks in our Gospel readings from Matthew. The author places all the parables in one section of the gospel. It began when Jesus was by the Sea of Galilee and such a great crowd gathered that he had to get into a boat and teach them while the people stood on the beach. He told them the parable of the sower … some seeds falling on the path; some on rocky ground; some amongst thorns, and some falling on fertile ground. Jesus then said, “Let anyone with ears listen!” He went on to tell the people other parables: the weeds and wheat, the mustard seed, the yeast mixed in flour, the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great value, the net thrown into the sea catching fish of every kind. And he began each parable with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like …”
After this section on the parables, the author of Matthew’s gospel tells us that went to his hometown of Nazareth and taught in the synagogue. The text tells us that some of his townspeople were astonished, but others were offended and challenged his authority. Matthew tells us that Jesus “did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.” Soon thereafter Jesus received word that the one who had baptized him in the Jordan River … John the Baptist … Jesus’ friend and mentor … had been beheaded. And, with that news Jesus retreated by boat to a deserted place.
The people around Jesus had also heard the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded. John had been a voice of unconventional wisdom … God’s wisdom … and he died for it. John had baptized Jesus. When Jesus received the news he must have been distraught, and he sought solitude
But rather than leave Jesus alone the crowds followed along the shoreline. When Jesus went ashore, he saw the crowds, and Matthew tells us that Jesus “had compassion on them.” It was evening. He must have been hungry. They must have been hungry. In spite of his disciples’ protest he insisted on feeding the crowds with what was available.
What would have drawn all these people to Jesus? Why did they follow him down the coastline as he sought a place of retreat? And who would have been there … what kind of people? I would certainly imagine that the curious would have been there. And I would also think those who were seeking healing … the deaf, the blind, the lame … that they would have been there also. Those who were unsettled in their life might have come to hear an unconventional wisdom that could offer transformation in the way they lived. Others might have come because they wanted to challenge Jesus. And since the Pharisees and scribes are in so many other scenes in Matthew’s gospel I would imagine that they were present as well. My guess is that there were at least a few gentiles … non-Jews … in the crowd of this size. Men, women, and children … all gathered around Jesus … some for one reason while other there for other reasons.
Jesus’ disciples wanted to protect him and advised him to send the crowds home … to leave them alone. Yet Matthew tells us that “he had compassion for them.”
I believe to limit this story, or any of the other miracle stories in the gospels for that matter, to Jesus’ divine ability to defy natural laws misses the point. For me this is a story about abundance … abundance of spirit, abundance of heart, abundance of love, and abundance of compassion. The same Jesus who began his parables with “The kingdom of heaven is like …” was now living out that kingdom in his response to the gathered crowd. These people were seeking God’s presence in their lives … some of them one way and others a different way … but they all wanted a taste of the divine power of God to be manifest for them. These people were seeking God’s presence in their lives just like most of us are seeking God’s presence in our lives.
So, Jesus had them sit down and eat together. Men, women, and children … no doubt with that many people there were some who were not ceremonially clean. There were those who were sick and diseased. There were probably gentiles amongst the faithful Jews. There were Pharisees who were sticklers for the Jewish law. Maybe even tax collectors, prostitutes, and others who were deemed “sinners.” And Jesus had them all sit down in one place and eat together. To me, that is the miracle of this story … not defying natural laws by making a meager portion enough to feed the crowd. For me, that is a metaphorical device to validate the point.
Jesus knew his God was a God of abundance. Jesus taught about a God of abundance. Jesus lived his life as if that God of abundance were a reality for all with whom he came in contact.
What if we were to take seriously what Jesus took seriously and live as if our God were a God of abundance? How would we act as a church community? How would we act towards each other in this congregational family? How would we act toward the members of our own family of origin? How might we even act towards ourselves?
Jesus saw the crowd gathered and he had compassion for them. So many things separating them from each other, and yet he was able to have them sit down and eat together. That is why I proclaim every week that this table in our church is open to all who wish to receive the holy food and drink of our communion. It is in the meal that we are united as God’s people … all different … all seeking to know the presence of God in our lives … all beloved children of a God of abundance.
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand … or four thousand … is not that they were fed with so little. The miracle is that they all ate together, and in the breaking of bread knew God’s presence with them, and knew each and every one of them was a beloved child of a God of amazing abundance. When we take seriously what Jesus took seriously we will also live with that abundance in our lives. We will see the other … no matter how different they are from us … as beloved children of God, and we will have compassion for them. Rather than exclude we will include. Rather than separate we will join together at a common table.
Make no doubt about it … this is a miracle story. However, the miracle for me is not that Jesus somehow defied natural laws and made a meager portion more than sufficient to feed a huge crowd. The miracle for me is that he got them all to sit down to share a meal in the first place. For me the miracle is that the crowd looked beyond the differences that separated them as individuals and saw themselves all as children of a loving God … a God of abundance. And the miracle for me is that we can do the same … gathered together, week after week, sharing the same meal. And then going forth into the world to live as children of a God of abundance and see the “other” in the world as a fellow beloved child of God.
Amen.
For many this is the “miracle” of the feeding of the five thousand. The miracle was that Jesus could … in one way or another … make this meager supply of food more than adequate to feed this huge crowd of people. In this way “miracle” means that it defies natural laws; that Jesus possessed some supernatural ability to multiply five loaves and two fish into a banquet set for thousands. Therefore, if Jesus possessed this supernatural ability then he must be divine. In this way this miracle, and all the other miracles in the gospels, for many, “proves” that Jesus is God’s son.
So, if this story is not about the supernatural power of God in Jesus, what is it about? What is the real miracle that happens in this story? Personally, I don’t believe that doing miracles … defying natural laws … is proof of Jesus’ divinity. Jesus is the divine son of an abundant God … with or without miracles. And, like Jesus, that divinity is nascent in us as well.
In Matthew’s gospel, this story of the feeding of the 5,000 follows a series of parables. We have been hearing these parables over the past several weeks in our Gospel readings from Matthew. The author places all the parables in one section of the gospel. It began when Jesus was by the Sea of Galilee and such a great crowd gathered that he had to get into a boat and teach them while the people stood on the beach. He told them the parable of the sower … some seeds falling on the path; some on rocky ground; some amongst thorns, and some falling on fertile ground. Jesus then said, “Let anyone with ears listen!” He went on to tell the people other parables: the weeds and wheat, the mustard seed, the yeast mixed in flour, the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great value, the net thrown into the sea catching fish of every kind. And he began each parable with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like …”
After this section on the parables, the author of Matthew’s gospel tells us that went to his hometown of Nazareth and taught in the synagogue. The text tells us that some of his townspeople were astonished, but others were offended and challenged his authority. Matthew tells us that Jesus “did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.” Soon thereafter Jesus received word that the one who had baptized him in the Jordan River … John the Baptist … Jesus’ friend and mentor … had been beheaded. And, with that news Jesus retreated by boat to a deserted place.
The people around Jesus had also heard the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded. John had been a voice of unconventional wisdom … God’s wisdom … and he died for it. John had baptized Jesus. When Jesus received the news he must have been distraught, and he sought solitude
But rather than leave Jesus alone the crowds followed along the shoreline. When Jesus went ashore, he saw the crowds, and Matthew tells us that Jesus “had compassion on them.” It was evening. He must have been hungry. They must have been hungry. In spite of his disciples’ protest he insisted on feeding the crowds with what was available.
What would have drawn all these people to Jesus? Why did they follow him down the coastline as he sought a place of retreat? And who would have been there … what kind of people? I would certainly imagine that the curious would have been there. And I would also think those who were seeking healing … the deaf, the blind, the lame … that they would have been there also. Those who were unsettled in their life might have come to hear an unconventional wisdom that could offer transformation in the way they lived. Others might have come because they wanted to challenge Jesus. And since the Pharisees and scribes are in so many other scenes in Matthew’s gospel I would imagine that they were present as well. My guess is that there were at least a few gentiles … non-Jews … in the crowd of this size. Men, women, and children … all gathered around Jesus … some for one reason while other there for other reasons.
Jesus’ disciples wanted to protect him and advised him to send the crowds home … to leave them alone. Yet Matthew tells us that “he had compassion for them.”
I believe to limit this story, or any of the other miracle stories in the gospels for that matter, to Jesus’ divine ability to defy natural laws misses the point. For me this is a story about abundance … abundance of spirit, abundance of heart, abundance of love, and abundance of compassion. The same Jesus who began his parables with “The kingdom of heaven is like …” was now living out that kingdom in his response to the gathered crowd. These people were seeking God’s presence in their lives … some of them one way and others a different way … but they all wanted a taste of the divine power of God to be manifest for them. These people were seeking God’s presence in their lives just like most of us are seeking God’s presence in our lives.
So, Jesus had them sit down and eat together. Men, women, and children … no doubt with that many people there were some who were not ceremonially clean. There were those who were sick and diseased. There were probably gentiles amongst the faithful Jews. There were Pharisees who were sticklers for the Jewish law. Maybe even tax collectors, prostitutes, and others who were deemed “sinners.” And Jesus had them all sit down in one place and eat together. To me, that is the miracle of this story … not defying natural laws by making a meager portion enough to feed the crowd. For me, that is a metaphorical device to validate the point.
Jesus knew his God was a God of abundance. Jesus taught about a God of abundance. Jesus lived his life as if that God of abundance were a reality for all with whom he came in contact.
What if we were to take seriously what Jesus took seriously and live as if our God were a God of abundance? How would we act as a church community? How would we act towards each other in this congregational family? How would we act toward the members of our own family of origin? How might we even act towards ourselves?
Jesus saw the crowd gathered and he had compassion for them. So many things separating them from each other, and yet he was able to have them sit down and eat together. That is why I proclaim every week that this table in our church is open to all who wish to receive the holy food and drink of our communion. It is in the meal that we are united as God’s people … all different … all seeking to know the presence of God in our lives … all beloved children of a God of abundance.
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand … or four thousand … is not that they were fed with so little. The miracle is that they all ate together, and in the breaking of bread knew God’s presence with them, and knew each and every one of them was a beloved child of a God of amazing abundance. When we take seriously what Jesus took seriously we will also live with that abundance in our lives. We will see the other … no matter how different they are from us … as beloved children of God, and we will have compassion for them. Rather than exclude we will include. Rather than separate we will join together at a common table.
Make no doubt about it … this is a miracle story. However, the miracle for me is not that Jesus somehow defied natural laws and made a meager portion more than sufficient to feed a huge crowd. The miracle for me is that he got them all to sit down to share a meal in the first place. For me the miracle is that the crowd looked beyond the differences that separated them as individuals and saw themselves all as children of a loving God … a God of abundance. And the miracle for me is that we can do the same … gathered together, week after week, sharing the same meal. And then going forth into the world to live as children of a God of abundance and see the “other” in the world as a fellow beloved child of God.
Amen.
