by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
—Matthew 14:13-21
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Today we will be talking about the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Among other things it very well might remind us to be thrifty and save things for a rainy day. You never know when we might need something we threw out.
As an example there was a lady who fell out of a second story window and landed in a garbage truck that was slowly moving past her house. Half buried in the middle, she tried without success to get the drivers attention. A foreign diplomat standing on the sidewalk saw her and commented indignantly “Another example of how wasteful Americans are. That woman looks like she’s good for at least another 10 years.”
Today’s gospel is the most famous story in the New Testament I am quite sure. It is the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The story appears in all four gospels and is relatively the same story in each. Today’s version is from the gospel of Matthew. In my mind the most important line spoken by Jesus in all four is “you give them something to eat”.
Now let’s get a handle on the practicalities. There are probably a lot more people than five thousand because the gospel writers were only counting the men. Add women and children and the number expands a great deal. Thinking ten thousand people probably would be a minimum.
Feeding this size of a crowd would require a great deal of planning and investment. I am guessing a few weeks to plan and then to gather the necessary supplies. Who is going to shop and who will cook and who will serve? How many of each? Let’s put some flesh and blood on this story. Imagine what it would be like if you were the person organizing it.
Yet Jesus suggests on the spur of the moment that the disciples feed this huge and hungry crowd. “You give them something to eat.” Really Jesus, how in the world are we to pull this off?
There are two primary ideas about how this happened in the thinking of theologians. The first is that it happened just like the gospels say. Jesus asked what they had and was told five loaves of bread and two fish. Then he took the loaves, prayed, and broke them. The disciples handed out the food and there was plenty for everyone plus some left over.
We, of course, are reminded of Eucharist. The breaking of bread and handing it out is clearly a signal regarding the Lord’s Supper. The story also indicates how something small can become large and magnificent in the Kingdom of God. For the last few weeks we have been discussing exactly that as we have been reviewing parables.
And then we have the other popular interpretation of how all those people were fed. Many scholars believe that what happened was that people in this instance were willing to share what they had with each other. This was the miracle. All the people pooled what they brought with them and because they were willing to do so there was enough for everyone with some leftover.
This interpretation is interesting and feels good because in our time it seems that a small few have a tremendous amount, and many more have very little. We realize that if we were all willing to share a little bit there would be more than enough for everyone. I have heard that with a measly forty billion dollars per year no one on the planet would ever go hungry. Our government burns that up in the first hour of every day.
Now some will insist that the story is true exactly as reported and some will latch on to the second explanation as more feasible. My question is this. Isn’t the story about a true miracle that actually happened either way? Something incredible occurred no matter how it came about. Isn’t it a great story letting us know what kinds of things are possible within the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom is a different place as we discussed last week.
And so what does this mean to us? Perhaps another familiar and funny story might be in order, one you surely have heard but that resonates with this conversation.
A storm descends on a small town, and the downpour soon turns into a flood. As the waters rise, the local Episcopal priest kneels in prayer on the church porch, surrounded by water. By and by, one of the townsfolk comes up the street in a canoe.
“Better get in, Father. The waters are rising fast.”
“No,” says the priest “I have faith in the Lord. God will save me.”
Still the waters rise. Now the priest is up on the balcony, wringing his hands in supplication, when another guy zips up in a motorboat.
“Come on, Father. We need to get you out of here. The levee's gonna break any minute.”
Once again, the priest is unmoved. “I shall remain. The Lord will see me through.”
After a while the levee breaks, and the flood rushes over the church until only the steeple remains above water. The priest is up there, clinging to the cross, when a helicopter descends out of the clouds, and a state trooper calls down to him through a megaphone.
“Grab the ladder, Father. This is your last chance.”
Once again, the priest insists the Lord will deliver him. And, predictably, he drowns.
A pious man, the priest goes to heaven. After a while he gets an interview with God, and he asks the Almighty, “Lord, I had unwavering faith in you. Why didn't you deliver me from that flood?”
God shakes God’s head. “What did you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter.”
Miracles in the Kingdom of God happen all the time one way or another. The gospel today presents two important possibilities for how miracles happen. In some cases something magical happens and in other cases, probably most cases, we are the hands of God creating the miracles.
And here is an example of the later. If you are a homeless person or close to homeless, after the need for food socks are probably your biggest consistent issue. God in some manner has communicated that need to St. Matthias through our church women. They collect socks for those in need during August. The current miracle is that a few days before August even rolled around the ladies had collected over three hundred pair. This is a great miracle. This is one more case from many of God using this parish as God’s hands.
“You give them something to eat”, Jesus said and a miracle happened. “You give them some socks.” And another miracle is happening. Isn’t that interesting?