Sermon on Feeding the Five Thousand

A reading from Matthew Chapter 14 v 13 – 21

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

“Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Sermon

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

Imagine for a moment that you’re part of the crowd in the story of the miracle of the loaves and fish. You’ve been listening intently to Jesus’ words all day.

You’ve travelled a long distance. It’s been a long day, you’re tired and hungry, and you realize that you didn’t bring anything to eat. There is no KFC’s or Maccy D’s, no Burger King or local chippy to get something to eat.

You have heard Jesus tell his disciples to find food for the people. To make matters worse, you realize that the only food available to feed the people is five small loaves of bread and two small fish.

You see Jesus takes the food, blesses it and gives it to the crowd. After the meal, you see the disciples gather up the broken, leftover pieces enough to fill twelve baskets.

God the teacher feeds our minds. He teaches us not only through His Word, but also through the priest, the worship leader, the organist and choir, the lesson readers – in fact, he teaches through EVERYONE who does his work in the church family.

His teaching materials are never used up. In fact, they are multiplied because those of us who are taught by Him can go out and teach others. By doing so, we do our part to fulfil the Lord’s Great Commission, namely “Go forth into the world and make disciples of all nations”.

God also doesn’t care what we offer to Him, as He can use anything and everything we offer to Him in faith.

Most people today give in the form of money, but that wasn’t always so. Some of you might have heard stories about how in past years ministers were paid in the form of livestock, fruit or vegetables. A few years ago I read a story written by a minister in about his experiences in a church in a Third World country.

He wrote that on one particular Sunday the congregation arrived at the church and he was greeted by three turkeys and a pig that were tied up outside the door. The previous week’s sermon had been about tithing – giving one-tenth of your income to the church. The three turkeys and one pig represented one-tenth of the income of the farmer who gave them, but he gave them in faith because he knew that God’s mission required resources to get it done.

So please no pigs or chickens thank you very much.

In order for God to feed the crowd spiritually, He needed to feed them physically, for without physical food, the people could not receive the spiritual food. The same idea applies to the Holy Eucharist, for it is through the physical food of the bread and wine that we receive the spiritual food Christ offers, just like the disciples did at the last Supper.

God accepts us for who we are, and in doing so accepts whatever we offer to Him in faith and thanksgiving. Our offering can be big or small. God doesn’t care how much we offer, because He uses whatever we offer to do His work in our world and in our daily lives.

When God accepts our individual offerings, he blesses them and combines them with the offerings of fellow believers. He uses this combination to bless and multiply what He gives to his people in return.

This is like the parable of the mustard seed, God takes something very small like our individual offerings, and makes it grow into something bigger and better – namely, faith in Him. The loaves and fish represent more than just physical food – they also represent the spiritual food and nourishment God offers us.

God is all-seeing, all knowing, and His love knows no limits. He shows his love by offering spiritual nourishment to His people. The spiritual nourishment is so vast that we can’t absorb it all at once.

There are always leftovers, just like there were leftovers that were gathered up in baskets by the disciples. Just like we need to daily eat physical food to live physically, we also need to daily keep partaking of the spiritual nourishment in order for our faith to live.

Our human inability to absorb every single item we are taught forces God to keep reminding us about His love and power, just as our human ability to ignore what He has to teach us forces Him to keep reminding us.

The sharing of the loaves and fishes also represents God sharing His wisdom and love with his children. The leftover food reminds us that God’s love and wisdom overflow our mind and soul, as well as our capacity to absorb what He offers to us. Whatever overflows can still be absorbed by us, as long as we continue to seek His spiritual nourishment.

God doesn’t offer spiritual food without requiring something from us in return. When He feeds us, He also asks us to nourish, teach, rule and lead others. He asks us to feed the multitudes by offering what we can. As we distribute the spiritual food, it increases and fills the soul, much like the physical food of the loaves and fishes increased and fed the crowds who gathered to hear Jesus.

There is an interesting parallel here involving the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is a physical representation of the distribution of the spiritual food God offers us. Just like the crowd received the physical food of the loaves and fishes in thanksgiving, we receive the food of bread and wine in thanksgiving for the spiritual food of our Lord’s most precious body and blood when we come to Him in faith.

God always likes to know that we have faith in Him. When we don’t show this faith openly, He asks us to prove that we have faith. That is why Jesus asked the disciples where they could find food for the crowd.

He could have simply made manna rain down from heaven like He did for the Israelites after Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt, but He didn’t. He knew that even the disciples couldn’t understand everything He had taught both them and the crowd, but their understanding was caused not by ignorance, but by lack of faith.

After all, they had been by His side for a long time and had heard His teachings and seen His miracles, whereas the crowd gathered to see Him that one time, much as we would gather to see a famous musician who might come to perform in a major city only once or twice in his entire career.

The small amount of loaves and fish that was offered to Jesus in faith led to a bountiful harvest for the multitudes. Even a small amount of faith in Jesus leads to a bountiful harvest of spiritual food and blessings for His people. Jesus used the request for food to prove the old saying that “big things come in small packages”.

In John 6:27, Jesus tells us to “Do not work for food which spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you. On him God the father, has placed his seal of approval”. What this tells us is that spiritual food is much more important than physical food.

Spiritual food is necessary for the survival of our spiritual life, just like physical food is important for the survival of physical life. Spiritual food allows us to understand what God has in store for us, what He wants us to do in our lives, and what is in store for us in our heavenly home. God wants to give us this food because He loves us. All we have to do is come before Him in humility and faith.

Spiritual food is not limited to the Holy Eucharist and God’s teachings. Weekly church services fill the void, especially at times where the Eucharist is not celebrated. We can’t to come to church only a handful of times in our lives and expect that the small amount of spiritual food we receive at those times will sustain us forever.

Just like we have to eat physical food in order to live, we also need to receive spiritual food on a regular basis. That is why many of us attend services every week – because we need to hear and receive the spiritual food offered by regular worship.

Those who attend worship services only on special occasions such as weddings funerals, baptisms, Christmas or Easter receive a small amount of spiritual nourishment, whereas those who attend worship services regularly and worship in sincere faith receive the honour of having a seat at the Head Table of God’s Holy Feast. Amen

Collect for the day

Lord god, your Son left the riches of heaven and became poor for our sakes; when we prosper save us from pride, when we are needy save us from despair, that we may trust in you alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayers of Intercession

Let us pray for the Church and for the world, and let us thank God for his goodness.

Almighty God, our heavenly father, you promised through your Son Jesus Christ to hear us when we pray in faith.

We pray for the witness of the Church this week, particularly in places where the Christian faith is ignored and forgotten. We pray for those who carry major responsibilities as bishops and church leaders, and are always expected to know what to say and do whatever the situation. Give them compassion, wisdom and the mind of Christ.