FIRST READING Isaiah 55:1-5
1Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
PSALM Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. 2Give thanks to the God of gods, for his mercy endures forever. 3Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his mercy endures forever. 4Who only does great wonders, for his mercy endures forever; 5Who by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endures forever; 6Who spread out the earth upon the waters, for his mercy endures forever; 7Who created great lights, for his mercy endures forever; 8The sun to rule the day, for his mercy endures forever; 9The moon and the stars to govern the night, for his mercy endures forever. 23Who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endures forever; 24And delivered us from our enemies, for his mercy endures forever; 25Who gives food to all creatures, for his mercy endures forever. 26Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his mercy endures forever.
SECOND READING Romans 9:1-13
1I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit — 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — 12she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
GOSPEL Matthew 14:13-21
13When Jesus heard {of John the Baptist’s death}, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
GOD IS ABLE TO USE US
Today’s gospel lesson is arguably one of Jesus’ best-known miracles. The account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 is the only miracle found in all four gospels, is a story taught in Sunday school from the earliest of age and continues to be a popular topic for devotions, sermons and children’s sermons. Interestingly, someone brought up an intriguing question, if Jesus performed this miracle today, would He receive the same reaction? Come to think of it, if Jesus were walking among us today, I wonder if He’d even be allowed to get away with half the miracles He performed. It’s not simply that we live in a skeptical, rationalist age; it’s all the red tape as well. Take these miracles for example.
Turning water into wine (John 2:1-11;) Jesus’ first miracle. I bet this would provoke immediate protests from the alcohol beverage industry. They would argue that it’s an unfair competition, amounting to a monopoly. It also would be denounced by various Christian denominations as irresponsible and would likely lead to alcohol abuse. And finally, the government would get involved, claiming that the proper taxes were not being collected. Or, consider Jesus walking on the sea (Matt. 14:22-33.)
This would only be allowed if it were preceded by a disclaimer, that nobody should try this at home; that this was being done by highly trained professionals using only approved safety flotation devices. It would also need to include a caution directed particularly to children or young people. Then there’s the miraculous catch of fish (John 21:1-11;) this I’m sure would create quite the stir.
Fish stocks today are rigorously conserved to protect against over fishing, and such large catches would undoubtedly exceed the fishermen’s quotas, leading to stiff penalties. Conservation groups would get involved claiming that such draconian fishing practices were endangering fish populations and disrupting the ecosystem. Eco groups like Greenpeace would move quickly to blockade boats and launch sites to ensure no further occurrences of excessive fishing happened. Then there’s the healing of a man born blind (John 9:1-12.).
This apparent act of kindness would lead to all sorts of problems with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. All disability benefits would immediately be stopped, and the man in question would probably face an investigation, into whether his previous claims had been genuine. Then there’s the raising of the dead (John 11:38-44.)
I’m certain that environmental health officers wouldn’t be happy about this one either, since there are stringent rules governing the proper disposal of bodies. There would also be major difficulties with the IRS, the insurance company, with the credit card companies and banks once the recently deceased tried to cash a check or use their credit cards again. Finally, we have Jesus feeding the multitude.
Jesus and His disciples would surely encounter problems with county officials for serving bread and fish, from an unapproved source, to thousands of people at an outdoor event. Today this would require the approval of government health inspectors to ensure that the food had been prepared by properly trained and qualified food handlers in a hygienic environment. Food warmers, complete with sneeze guards, would have to be brought in and the baskets of leftovers would also need to be properly repackaged and redistributed to ensure preservation. It really is an interesting world we live in today.
One pastor recalls that while in seminary, he worked for an upscale catering company. He says his company once served some 3,000 people at an evening meal. The menu included shrimp, turkey, fillet Minong, spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, bread, and brownies. He remembers that it was a monumental task. He said it took a full week to prepare 1,000 pounds of shrimp, 70 turkeys, 35 containers of spaghetti, 700 pounds of beef, dozens of 3 foot by 5 foot sheets of brownies, and many large baby-bathtub sized containers of salad! Think about the labor and coordination involved in feeding that many people. Now consider that Jesus fed at least double that many.
Scripture tells us there were five thousand men in the crowd; the Biblical count doesn’t include the number of women and children there that evening. Feeding five thousand hungry men would be enough, but women and children, as well? It was quite the undertaking, and it had to be done quickly. So, we can empathize with the disciples, when Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat.” This must have seemed like an impossible task to His followers.
Consider that this wasn’t a planned event! There were no volunteers, no coordinators, no planning meetings, no committees to draw from, and there were no sign-up sheets placed in the Narthex. The logical solution was to break up for the day, and send people out to fend for themselves. But Jesus breaks with logic and says, “No. You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loves here and two fish. Bring them here to Me” Jesus said. “And He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.” Left to themselves, the disciples could have never fed the people; with Jesus however, “all ate and were satisfied” and there were even leftovers.
Dr. John Claypool tells about a nineteenth century missionary to China who was serving during a time when a terrible famine swept over that country. Dr. Claypool had connections back in the states, so he arranged to have an entire boat, loaded with food, to be shipped over to mainland China. The desperate people waited for many, many weeks for this much-needed shipment. When word came that the ship had landed, there was great excitement. Word was sent out that the next Tuesday, at eight o’clock in the morning, people could come and the food would be distributed.
As you might guess, desperate people came from miles away. Before dawn on the day of distribution, thousands of hungry Chinese gathered in hope. When distribution began, there was such a frenzy on the part of the people, that a riot broke out. Several people were wounded; a few people were killed. The police had to come and bring order through force. The missionary was heartbroken. What he had envisioned as an answer to a difficult situation, turned into yet another problem.
That evening he was so distraught, he couldn’t sleep. As was his custom, he found himself going to the Bible for consolation. He opened the Bible to this passage of Jesus feeding a multitude of people. Then a detail of the story leaped out at the missionary, that he had never noticed before. In verse 19 we read that Jesus had the people sit down. Suddenly, it dawned on the missionary that this was a wonderful form of crowd control. If people are seated, it’s difficult to riot. He couldn’t wait until the next morning to announce that, once again, they would try to distribute the food, only this time, everyone was made to sit down. The second distribution went well. The missionary wrote back home that he had a renewed appreciation for the common-sense approach of Jesus.
Jesus had the people sit down. Then taking the simple meal of a young boy, Jesus looked up to heaven, gave thanks and broke the loaves. He then gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. “All ate and were satisfied,” and the disciples picked up “twelve baskets full of broken pieces that were left over.” It’s an amazing miracle story, one we would do well to study more carefully. And the first thing of note is, Christ’s concern for the multitude.
Matthew begins this story by saying, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick . . .” Now there’s really nothing new in that. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus shows compassion to the least and the lowest. Jesus came with one purpose and desire, to seek and to save the lost. When He looked out over Jerusalem, He wept. He knew the heartaches, the headaches, and the hungers that go with being human. The compassionate Christ cares for each and every one of us.
Someone tells of being in the bathroom at a popular coffee chain and noticed that someone had written on the bathroom wall, “What Would Jesus Do?” Another person answered the question by writing, “Wash His hands.” Then a third person wrote, “And your feet.” It’s a wonderful perspective on the nature of Jesus. He would wash our feet. Jesus indeed cares about people. He had compassion for the multitude that day not only when He got off the boat, but that evening as well. But, to really appreciate Christ’s love for people, we need to go back a verse further. Notice if you will that our passage for today actually begins like this: When Jesus heard what had happened, [that is the death of John the Baptist,] He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing this, the crowds followed Him on foot from the towns . . . But to get the whole story, we need to go back a few more verses.
What Matthew is talking about is that Christ’s beloved cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded by King Herod. The inclusion of this event is good for us to hear, because it reminds us that Jesus, while being fully divine, is also fully human. At the news of this tragedy He was saddened, possibly even angered. Each of us here can relate, because at one point in all our lives we’ve all lost a beloved family member. It only makes sense that Jesus needed a bit of alone time, so He withdrew to a solitary place. But Matthew adds, “Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.”
Jesus wasn’t even able to take a few moments to grieve. If this had been you or me, the last thing I’d feel like is seeing a mob of people coming to me for help. But that’s just me . . . and perhaps you as well . . . but that’s not Jesus. Our Lord and Savior saw the crowd and had compassion for them. He still gazes upon each of us with that same compassion today. But the beauty of this story is, that it doesn’t end here. The second thing we need to see, is that not only does Jesus have compassion, but that He’s also capable. He is capable, and competent, to do more than we’re able to imagine. And herein lies the problem. In our rational, modern, science-oriented mindset, we have a difficult time accepting all that Jesus did that day, because we have a hard time accepting miracles.
There’s a funny story, I’ve probably shared with you before, about a nine-year-old boy who came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Daddy and yelled, “Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!” His father smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.
“Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. So, the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin’ closer and closer. So, Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it! Dad was shocked. “Is that how they taught you that story?” Well, no, Danny admitted, “but if I told you the way they told it to us, you’d never believe it, Dad.”
It’s with childlike innocence, that this little guy put his finger on the pulse of our sophisticated adult world where cool skepticism reigns supreme. It’s hard for us to read this story and accept it as simply a miracle. For decades, it’s been more popular to operate in the black-and-white world of facts. . .and, of course, to leave no space for the miraculous. And so, when we read the story of the feeding of the five thousand, we tend to focus our attention on the question, “Did it really happen?”
A great many people have tried to give a rational explanation for the miracle of the fishes and loaves. Early in the twentieth century, it became fashionable to find natural explanations for miracles. It’s normal for us to try and explain the unexplainable. Albert Schweitzer wrote that each of the 5,000 people was so completely impressed in the presence of Jesus, that they felt satisfied even though they were not actually filled. This explanation, however, doesn’t float, because verse 20 says, “they ate and were filled”.
Another theory was that the crowd brought food with them; that’s possible. When a small boy offered to share his lunch, this shamed others into offering theirs as well and the first church pot-luck supper was born. Now had these been good Lutherans, we’d easily be able to explain why there was so much food left over! But if people had brought food, why were the disciples so concerned? Surely, the disciples would have seen people eating. Again, this explanation falls short. The problem is that trying to use conventional wisdom to explain a miracle, misses the point. The important point here is, that Christ is able to supply our needs, no matter how He does it. Our needs may be physical or emotional or spiritual; no matter, Christ is sufficient. And this may not be the only point we’re missing; it also means we’re missing the joy of our faith. Too often we believe that God cares about us and our needs, but we don’t really believe that God is able to help us. And thus, we lead joyless, powerless lives. But what good is compassion without capability? The fact is, God is able!
Some of you may remember the amazing story of explorer Richard E. Byrd who spent the winter of 1934 at Bolling Advance Weather Base in Antarctica. The temperature at this base ranged from 58 to 76 degrees below zero. By the time he was rescued, he was suffering from frostbite and carbon monoxide poisoning. Afterward he wrote about his experience in a book titled, Alone. In this book, he described his experience this way: “I had hardly strength to move. I clung to the sleeping bag, which was the only source of comfort and warmth left to me and mournfully debated the little that might be done. Two facts stood clear.
One was that my chances of recovering were slim. The other was that in my weakness I was incapable of taking care of myself. But, he went on to say, you must have faith; you must have faith in the outcome. I repeatedly whispered this to myself. It’s like a flight . . . into another unknown. You start and you cannot turn back. You must go on . . . trusting your instruments, the course you have plotted.” This sounds a lot like the life of faith. We must go on trusting the One who has brought us this far. Christ is not only compassionate, He’s also capable. And there’s one more thing that we need to say this morning: Christ uses what we give Him to work with.
You may have noticed that in Matthew’s telling of this miracle banquet, he doesn’t mention the young boy who had with him the five loaves and two fish. We have to go to John’s Gospel for that small detail. But what if that young lad had not been willing to share his meager meal with Jesus? I’m sure Jesus would have still found a way to feed the multitude, but it does seem to be a clear principle of faith; God chooses to work when we give Him something to work with. It might be fish and bread, it might be a tiny baby hidden in the bulrushes, it might be a shepherd boy guarding his father’s sheep, whatever we have; God chooses to do something or work through someone. God wants us to provide the means in many cases.
In 2 Kings chapter 4, there’s a woman whose husband had died, and the creditors were coming to take away her sons as slaves for payment. She cries out to the prophet Elisha for help. Elisha’s response, is to ask her a question, “What do you have in your house?” All she had in the cupboard was a little oil—but when she took it and put it in the hands of God: a miracle happened, and her needs were met.
Whenever we have a need, or someone we care about has a need, the first question we need to ask is, “What do I have in my house?” Are there some fishes and loaves or some oil that God could use in a miraculous way? Before you answer, think about what you have for a moment. It might be some material possession. It might be some talent. But is there something that you have, however small, that God might use to meet someone else’s need?
The story is told of a man’s whose wife had died. He was inconsolable. He took flowers to her grave every day. He consulted a priest who counseled him for three months. One day the priest saw the flowers the man had brought to his session and the priest said, “Today, I don’t want you to go and place those flowers on your wife’s grave. I want you to go to St. John’s Hospital down the block and go into each room and give a flower to each patient.”
The next week the man came to his session in an elated state. “I had a wonderful time giving those flowers away,” he said. “Those people appreciated them so much and I made so many friends. I can’t stay today for my session since I’m going back to visit the new friends I met.” Are there some fishes and loaves or flowers in your life, that you can use to bring joy into someone else’s life?
Our gospel lesson from Matthew is important because it’s more than simply a story about a miracle; it’s a story of so much more. The story of the two fish and five loves shows us that Christ has compassion for our needs. It also assures us that Jesus is able to meet our needs and more! It also informs us, that oftentimes God uses us and what we have, to meet the needs of others. Jesus wants to use us in a wonderful way, but we must be willing to take the little we have, and let Him use it to His glory.
Amen
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