What is Hidden in Bread and Fish?

Matthew 14.13-21

      The feeding of the multitude: Who doesn’t know something of this story in which what seems at first glance like scarcity, or the lack of “enough” to accomplish a task, is transformed into a story of plenty?

But the truth is, rather than a story of insufficiency, what we have here is a story that instead becomes a tale of abundance illustrated by an overflowing profusion of food produced from only five loaves of bread and two fish.

      This is the only miracle story that appears in all four gospel accounts. Each of the evangelists, therefore, found something profound and necessary for the life of faith and discipleship in this miracle of feeding, especially for the early church.

There is something profound and necessa

ry for the life of faith and discipleship in this miracle of feeding for us as well, especially for today.

We live in a world where scarcity stares us in the face every day. Every message we hear from the world around us is designed to reinforce the idea that there is not enough to go around, and that we need to look out for the bottom line; there is not enough happiness, food, or wealth; there are not enough resources, jobs, or homes. There is not enough for everyone, therefore, the message continues, we need to protect what is ours, we have to keep the “others” out.

       Who among us wouldn’t love to have been on that Galilean hillside? Who wouldn’t love to see such a miracle – even to be part of it? To set our worries of scarcity aside? To witness the scope of Jesus’ care and provision for every last person there, with such an abundance that there were leftovers aplenty?

Yet as we gather each Sunday around the table of goodness and life, we do witness such a miracle. We hear of God’s steadfast love and mercy, of God’s power to provide our every need, even our salvation.

We share in an abundant smorgasbord of God’s compassion, goodness and love, with plenty to go around, and enough left over that God sends us out from this place to share of our bounty and the good news with our neighbors.

      But I’m getting ahead of myself. Because there is more to this story than just a tale of a vast crowd that numbers in the thousands, out in the wilderness of Galilee, where each person present received and ate a satisfying helping of bread and fish in the company of thousands of other men, woman and children, with copious amounts of leftovers to boot!

There is a wider connection than simply the story of a meal, as wonderful and miraculous as that is, for our life of discipleship today.

      Because the story begins not with the feast but with Jesus and the disciples seeking to get away – to be by themselves. Jesus himself goes to a deserted place to be alone. The news has just caught up to them, that John the Baptist had been killed – beheaded by Herod. We can only imagine the sadness, grief and confusion that must have overcome them.

How could this have happened to their friend? How could John be gone, so cruelly murdered? And what did this mean for them? For the ministry of Jesus? For those who followed?

Of course they needed to get away, to tend to the business of mourning, and to grieve the death of their friend. But suddenly they realize that they are not alone. They are not the only ones suffering. The crowds have heard the news as well, and they followed Jesus to be with him, perhaps to have him reassure them that all would be okay, that God was still in charge, that they would be cared for.

It is at this point that, despite his own pain and sorrow, Jesus does what God always does. He has compassion on those who suffer. Jesus literally feels with and for all these people. Jesus cares about their suffering, so much so that he turns aside from his own grief and he cares for them. He loves them. He cures their sick, perhaps as a sign to them that the power of God would prevail against every evil, every earthly power, and every illness in the world.

Finally, as evening approaches, the disciples come to Jesus. They are feeling depleted. The need is great and they just can’t take care of the great need before them. Send them away, they tell Jesus. Tell them to go back to the villages, to go get some supper, to tend to their own needs.

Jesus, who has been caring and loving and healing the people in these crowds won’t send them away, but note that he also doesn’t feed them now. Not by himself. Instead, Jesus sends the disciples to feed them. “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Jesus is telling us the same today. His words have echoed in my mind all week as I have contemplated this message. “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Jesus says the same to us today, that despite the voices that surround us, telling us that there is never enough and that we must therefore protect “our own” we have work to do.

Jesus gives us the poor and the lonely, the oppressed and the ill, the weak and the dying, and tells us to show them his compassion. Just as Jesus gives us every blessing in which we partake, Jesus gives us all these as well. And Jesus tells us, “Don’t send them away. Care for them. Give them something to eat.”

In our text, the disciples respond, that they simply don’t have enough. This is crazy, Jesus, we can’t do it. We can’t take care of them. Send them away to care for themselves. Send them on their way so that we don’t have to do this. The truth is that the disciples were weak, weary, sad, and grieving, and they were overwhelmed with the magnitude of what Jesus was asking them to do.

Sound familiar?

When we are exhausted, scared that we don’t have enough to give or that there isn’t enough to go around, Jesus responds to us, “They need not go away; You, tend to them.” And then, Jesus makes it possible for us to follow his word.

In the text today, the disciples didn’t know how this would all work out, but they followed Jesus’ command. They clung to God’s Word. They clung to Jesus and trusted in him, even if, in that moment they doubted how things would work out.

It’s a powerful, beautiful image – struggling, even wrestling with what God has demanded, even as we cling in faith to what Jesus tells us to do; even as Jesus sends us out from the table and from our assembly this day, to do as he has done.

We confess that like the disciples, we are not up for the magnitude of the job. And yet, God invites us to the table and welcomes us to a feast of food and drink that are entirely free – “everyone who thirsts, come to the water; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy….. without money and without price.”

God welcomes us to this table, makes of us a beautiful community and feeds us live-giving food, Jesus Christ. God reminds us that through Christ, when we need it most, God will give us the power and ability to obey.

When we think that we cannot manage, that there is not enough food, not enough resources, not enough of us, not enough within us, God, in love and mercy for all this fallen world, provides just what we need, with an abundance of leftovers.

That is the Good News for us today. That when we follow Jesus’ command, when we join together in unity and faithfulness, God will be with us, making miracles happen, turning our scarcity into God’s abundant mercy. God uses our best efforts and transforms them into the fulfilling of God’s intention for love, peace and justice in the world to ultimately prevail.

God calls us to be partners with God in making fullness of life a reality today for the world that God loves. Let it be so.

Amen.