Delivered July 3, 2011
We are doing a program in our church called “Dinner For Eight.” It is a way for people in our congregation to get to know each other by having a meal together. Today I am going to preach on an occasion when Jesus served dinner for 5000. At least that is what it is called: the Feeding of the 5000, but actually there were many more than 5000 present. It says there were 5000 men. Matthew’s account of the story says, “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” You have to understand that men wrote the gospels. Sometimes you have to wonder what Christianity would be like if women had written the gospels. But that is a different matter. Here I am talking about the number of people served. There easily could have been twice or three times as many as 5000 people served that day. Prince William and Kate Middleton only invited 1900 guests at their royal wedding. This meal put on by Jesus was much bigger. No wonder it is recorded in all four of the Gospels. Let’s get right into the text. I read the account from John’s Gospel because it had some personal touches that the other three don’t but I will be drawing upon all four accounts for this message.
I. The main focus of this story was the Physical Food so it should be our first focus this morning. Thousands of people had gathered in a remote area outside of Bethsaida in Galilee to hear Jesus teach and heal. It began to get late, and the people were hungry. Luke’s gospel says, “12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” 13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
“You give them something to eat.” This command is for us too. We must not spiritualize this passage too quickly. There are spiritual meanings in this text, but the primary concern is the very real physical hunger of people. The disciples wanted to disperse the crowd and let them find their own food, but Jesus had compassion, and told the disciples to provide the food. This command of Jesus still stands. The poor and hungry were always on Jesus’ mind. He told lots of parables about caring for the poor and hungry. As it is our concern as followers of Jesus.
For a small congregation our church does a good job addressing this issue. We hold the CROP walk and participate in Bread for the. We participate in Dinner Bell, the Food Bank, and the Discretionary Fund – and that doesn’t count our monies that go through the Baptist and Methodist denominations into their relief operations. This week we will have an opportunity to hear and support Christopher Hoffman and his African Education Fund. This is important. We can’t talk about the love of God in church without addressing the problem of hunger and poverty. The apostle John says in his first letter: “17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know[d] that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” So we have an obligation to feed the poor as a church and as a compassionate society. So it affects national and state budget concerns as well. I could spend the whole sermon talking about this aspect of the story, but there are other meanings in this text as well
II. Another is Spiritual Hunger. Mark’s gospel introduces this story with these words: “30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.” The story begins with the emotional exhaustion of the disciples. They had been ministering to thousands of people for days and they needed to get away. We see Jesus regularly getting off by himself as well. And the place to get away back then was a deserted place.
Last Sunday I talked about the Sabbath, which is a time for emotional and spiritual refreshment. Here is the same type of thing – Jesus and the disciples trying to get away for a time of spiritual retreat. I encourage you to do this. Find oases of peace for spiritual reflection and nourishment. Take time each day for prayer and meditation. Jesus and his disciples retreated into the wilderness. We are blessed to live in an area of natural beauty, and we need to make use of it. Silence is spiritual food. Solitude is spiritual food. When we get off by ourselves away from the outward chatter and busyness of life then the inner chatter and busyness begins to subside. In the space and silence of our own spirits, we sense God’s presence, and we regain our sanity.
III. That is what Jesus was trying to do for himself and his disciples. But on this occasion it didn’t work. The crowds followed him into the deserted place. And it became the setting of the feeding of the 5000. Mark’s gospel says, “33 But the multitudes[a] saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.” Two of the accounts mention this – that Jesus was “moved with compassion for them.” Compassion was served in the wilderness that day.
The word compassion means literally “to suffer with.” Even though it is not identical to love, it is an important element in love. When we look out at people who are suffering we can either harden our hearts against them and buffer ourselves from their pain, or we can open our hearts to their pain. This “suffering with” is the heart of Christianity. This is part of what the cross of Jesus symbolizes. The cross is a picture of God incarnate suffering with us, bearing our pain. In Christianity God is not an impersonal impassive deity removed from human suffering. He is not a Principle or Energy or an Idea. The gospel of Christ proclaims a God who became human, which means that God entered into the suffering of humankind in order to heal the suffering of humankind. We see God at work in this story when Jesus looks out on the people and he has compassion for them.
There is a hymn by Bryan Jeffery Leech entitled, “Let Your Heart Be Broken.” It goes: “Let your heart be broken for a world in need: Feed the mouths that hunger, Soothe the wounds that bleed. Give the cup of water, and the loaf of bread. Be the hands of Jesus, serving in his stead.” Compassion was served at the feeding of the 5000.
IV. Another element of this story is Personal Responsibility. The disciples wanted to leave it up to every individual and family present to go find their own food. But Jesus tells them bluntly “You give them something to eat.” The disciples start giving reasons why they can’t do that. There are two many people, they don’t have enough money, even if we had enough money they couldn’t find enough bread to feed all these people. Then into this atmosphere of “I can’t do it” come two persons. (And this is why I chose to read John’s account of this instead of one of the other gospels.) Verses 8-9 say: “8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
This is the moment that the story changes. Every one of these stories of Jesus has a pivotal moment. This is it. Everything changes because of the open heart of one little boy. Jesus was not kidding when he says that we have to become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God! One little boy approaches the disciple Andrew with a solution to the problem. He has five barley loaves and two small fish that he is willing to share. When he is speaking of five barley loaves he is not talking about one pound loaves. He means five dinner rolls. And the fish were small dried or salted fish not much bigger than sardines. It was this boy’s lunch packed by his mother that morning. It is not going to go far in this crowd. That was what Andrew meant when he said, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
The point is that the boy was willing to share what he had. There are some interpreters who think that this whole story is about contagious sharing and not a miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes by Jesus. They say that the people had brought food with them but were keeping it for themselves. Then at this point they were inspired by the boy’s example and shared everything they had. Maybe sharing happened, but I think something more miraculous happened here. That doesn’t detract from the lesson of this little boy’’ sharing. Isaiah says, “And a little child shall lead them.” This child led them in faith and sharing. Even Andrew didn’t believe that this child’s offering would solve their problem. Yet this boy’s faith that he could meaningfully contribute to the solution to the huge problem was the catalyst that prompted the action of Jesus.
This is the point. It takes the faith of a child. It takes a willingness to share what we have. Hunger is a problem that can be solved. There is more than enough food in this world to feed everyone on this planet. We who have more than enough need to share with those who do not have enough. We can say that our small contribution to the problem of global hunger and poverty won’t make any difference, just like five rolls and two little fish were not going to make a dent in the hunger of five thousand hungry men. But it did, and our part does make a difference. The same is true of many of our global problems. The hatred that fuels wars and violence comes from fear, and fear can be driven out by love. It starts with our love. The song says, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” This is not idealism; it is realism. It is the only place peace can start. This little boy took personal responsibility for the very adult problem that Jesus and the disciples were trying to solve, and it worked.
V. But the ultimate solution to the problem at hand – and the central character of this story - is Jesus Christ. The whole story points to him. People looked to Jesus to solve the problem and he does. Verses 10-11. “10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples[a] to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.” Jesus did it. He organized it. He prayed, blessed the bread and distributed the bread and fish.
There is great symbolic and spiritual significance in the act. John tells us in verse 4 that the setting of the story is the coming Passover Feast: “Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.” He gave us this detail for a reason – to connect this meal to the spiritual meaning of the Passover. At that Passover meal Jesus said that it wasn’t just bread and wine on the Passover table, it was his body and his blood. Jesus says later in this same chapter in verse 33, “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Verse 35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Verse 51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Make no mistake. This story of the feeding of the 5000 is about Christ. People there on that day understood that. They did not come to be fed; they came for Jesus. John’s account ends with the words in verse 14, “Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” This story is about Christ as the Bread of life giving himself for the world. It looks ahead to the Last Supper and foreshadows the cross.
VI. There is a final point I want to make about this story. There were leftovers from this dinner for 5000. All four gospels mention them. Luke says, “17 So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.” A nervous young minister, new to the church, told his congregation, "For my text today, I will take the words, `And Jesus fed five men with five thousand loaves of bread and two thousand fishes.” No one told him his mistake until after the service when one member pointed it out and said, "That’s not difficult to feed five men with thousands of loaves and fishes. I could do that." The next Sunday the pastor decided to repeat the text. This time he did it properly, "And they fed five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fishes." Smiling, the minister said to the man, "Could you do that, Mr. Jones?" The man replied, "Sure I would use all the food I had left over from last Sunday!"
There were twelve baskets of leftovers from feeding the five thousand. I am not even going to get into the symbolism of all the numbers in this story. Every number is symbolic - the five thousand men, the five loaves, two fish,, and 12 baskets of leftovers. Deciphering number symbolism easily leads to speculation and an allegorizing of the text. But I do want to interpret this one number. Twelve in the Bible is a complete number of people – twelve sons of Jacob, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve disciples of Jesus. Twelve baskets of leftovers tells us that there is more where this came from for more people than just the 5000. This is just the beginning. The leftovers keep the story open-ended.
Jesus said to his twelve disciples: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” These leftovers are for us. We are invited to dine at his table – this dinner is for 5000 … plus us.
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