AtomMatthew 14:13-21 “Giver of Bread”
“When it was evening, the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they my go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said tothem, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’”
When we worship together and when we read from God’s word, that word would tell us two things…well, at least two things…but I propose at least these two things:
1) Who is Jesus? 2) What does it look like to be a follower of Jesus?
Who is Jesus and what does it look lie to be a follower of Jesus? These two are particularly apparent in this morning’s reading from Matthew’s gospel.
Who is Jesus? If you have your Bibles, or if you would when you have opportunity later, look back just a few verses before this morning’s reading. In verse 1 of this chapter, King Herod, the tetrarch or ruling under-lord of the area – ruling by permission of the Roman Empire who had supreme authority – Herod asks, “Who is this Jesus we are hearing about? Is he John the Baptist come back to life?” Herod had just put John to death, you might remember because the prophet made him uncomfortable when John accused Herod of stealing Herod’s brother Philip’s wife. Herod is not doubt nervous in thinking that John might indeed be back. “Who is this Jesus?”
When Jesus feeds the multitudes in the reading today, he answers Herod’s question. Who is this Jesus? He is not John the Baptist. John never did anything like this. Jesus is someone far greater. Jesus is one able to feed the hungry of the world. Jesus is the one who is bringing in the rule and reign – the kingdom – of God. The feeding is a sign that identifies him as Son of God.
The first reading today, from Isaiah, reminds us that one of the dominant images the people of Israel carried with them of the coming rule and rescue of God’s people was the image of ample food and drink for all – even of a mighty feast available to all! Consider again the reading from Isaiah:
“Come, you who have no money, come and buy and eat! Come, buy wine without money and without price…listen carefully to me, and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.” (In the King James Version, the translation is “delight yourselves in ‘fatness’) 55:1-3
Living as we do, in a land where we rarely go without a meal, and do not know the pangs of starvation, this image may not carry the power it did to God’s people of biblical times. Then it was a powerfully reassuring promise to a people who were often captive, often without means to feed themselves or their families, and nearly always hungry. “Come and buy grain and eat; come and buy wine and mile. Bread and water were essentials; wine and milk were luxuries. And meat and sweets? Rare indeed. “Come and delight yourselves in rich foods – in “fatness.” These are the promises of a gracious God who would bless God’s people with abundant food and drink – even abundant life for those who listen and live as God’s own.
God’s coming rule is described here in Isaiah as a great feast day for all. And that image is carried into the promises of Jesus in the New Testament. Perhaps some of you have seen the picture “The Heavenly Wedding Feast” in Christian bookstores or have it hanging in your homes. (You can, of course “Google” it.) It is a picture derived from the images of the old and new testaments of a long table set with white linen and with gold and silver place settings, a table that stretches off into eternity…and image of a great banquet set in God’s heaven where there is a place set for all.
This great banquet of God was a part of the hope of the people in the time of Jesus. They remembered Isaiah’s words and they remembered even further back to the time in the wilderness when God’s people were hungry and God provided manna (bread) and water for them…you remember…when Moses and the people had escaped Egypt and were traveling without fast food vendors and they cried out and God provided…bread like the dew.
And now God also provides bread…to meet the need of the people, but also to answer the question of “who is he?” who is this Jesus? Herod wondered. The crowds wondered. The readers of Matthew’s gospel wondered. Whjo is this Jesus? And in the feeding of the great crowd on the hillside – 5,000 men plus women and children (someone in Bible study this week suggested the image of a small crowd at WeFest – local country music festival.) – Jesus answers the question. He is the giver of bread – the giver of the essential food of life – and even the giver of bread in abundance. Jesus blesses the bread and fish and the food is distributed and all eat and there is yet more than they can eat. Twelve baskets are left over! This Jesus can provide for you…and then some!
The feeding story here in Matthew and in the other three gospels is a sign that Jesus is indeed the One sent from God. Jesus comes to bring in God’s kingdom and the fulfillment of God’s promised abundance. Jesus teaches the people; he heals their sick; he casts out demons – the powers that enslave them; and…he feeds the hungry. Matthew tells us in this story: Jesus is the One. He is the giver of bread. He is the one who brings God’s abundance to life. He is God’s Son.
This is the first thing…the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” But I suggested there were two things in this morning’s gospel. The second is the answer to the question, “What does it look like to be a follower of this Jesus?
Certainly we too might be counted among those who need the bread that Jesus offers – who hunger not only for physical sustenance, but also for forgiveness and for meaning, and for abundant living. From him we receive. But we also stand with the disciples, called and gathered and taught, and then sent by him. What does it look like to follow this Jesus? Look and see…vv. 15…
"When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, 'This is a deserted place – there is no food and lodging here – and the hour is late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.' And Jesus said, 'They need not go away; you give them something to eat.' And they said, 'We can’t. We have only five loaves and two fish!' And Jesus said, 'Bring them to me…'”
Jesus – the “giver of bread” – sends his disciples to be “givers of bread.” He directs them to meet the needs of a hungry, needy group of people. And they look at the crowd (again, think WeFest – with no food vendors or restrooms or music) and they look at what they have and they say, “We can’t. We don’t have enough; we don’t even have enough for ourselves.” And Jesus says, “Bring what you have to me.” And he blesses it and when it is shared, it is more than enough.
Today – this morning – we remember that we are also disciples directed to the needs of those around us…to be “givers of bread”…and to meet the needs of hungry, needy people. And we look at the size of the problem and we look at the resources we have available to us and we – all to often – say, “We can’t. We don’t have enough…even for ourselves.”
Some years ago, Holly and I went to the movie, “The year of Living Dangerously.” Perhaps you remember it. It is set in Indonesia, in the crowded, poverty –stricken city of Djakarta. In the opening scene, the two lead characters, Billy and Guy, are walking down a crowded city street, surrounded by hungry beggars asking for money for food. Billy has lived in Djakarta for years and Guy is a reporter from Australia, newly arrived. When another beggar approaches, Billy says to Guy, “Give him something.” “But I only have $5,” says Guy. “For a beggar,” counters Billy, “that is a great fortune.” And Guy looks around him at the fallen buildings and the crowded streets and the hundreds, if not thousands, begging for food, and he says, “What good will $5 do in all of this?
Indeed, as we look at the great needs of those around us – famine in East Africa, extreme poverty in Binghampton, TN, where our young people just spent a week shingling roofs, or even our own Becker County – our resources seem so inadequate. What difference will $5 or $10 or even $100 make when the need is so great? What difference will my strength and skills make, limited as they are? What difference will my time shared make? It would take a miracle to change things in this neighborhood or in this town or in this region!
Which is exactly the point of the reading today. It will take a miracle! It will take God intervening. And it will take disciples, followers of Jesus, participating in the miracle. As the disciples offer what they have, they become a part of the miracle. “Bring me what you have,” says Jesus. And he takes what is offered and be blesses it and gives it back to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. And as they share it, and share it again and share it again, it is enough. Perhaps, as some have suggested, the crowds upon seeing someone sharing their lunch began to dig out from under their robes too and to offer a bit to be shared. No matter, as the disciples, directed and empowered by Jesus, begin to share their food with the many, they become a part of the miracle. They become Jesus hands reaching to feed and to bless and to give life!
What difference might your talents and gifts and time make when the need is so great? Even when what you have seems so small in the face of the need?
Ask the four householders who had their roofs re-built and re-shingled by our young people and those who went before them this summer. Ask the over 700 families who have in the past 25 years had their homes and their neighborhoods revitalized by young people like ours who have given one week of their lives to rebuild a home and to renew hope in God’s abundance.
Ask the thousands of individuals and families who receive food from the Becker County Food Pantry every month if your gift of money or food items makes a difference!
Ask the children of TeacHaiti’s school of Hope if your 30 dollars a month makes a difference in their lives.
Ask our children and youth if your two hours a week spent teaching Sunday School or mentoring Confirmation makes a difference. (Of course you may have to wait 20 years or so until they realize what they have received.)
Ask the people of Somalia if the combined giving of 4,000 plus churches of the ELCA pooled together to buy and distribute tons of food for this draught-stricken region makes a difference.
Ask the residents of Emmanuel Care Center, or of Oak Crossing Community, or Sunny Side, if your hour a week or even a month spent visiting those separated from much of the community they once knew – ask if those few hours make a difference. I think you know the answer.
Jesus says, “Bring what you have to me…become a part of the miracle that brings life and hope to God’s world."
Who is Jesus? In the gospel today, Jesus is the “Giver of Bread” – the giver of life and of hope. Who are we who follow this Jesus? We are also “givers of bread” – givers of life and of hope. Today Jesus gathers us here to be fed – to receive from him of his Spirit – and then directs us to His world, that we might see what he sees. “You give them something…” And, as his feeding of the great crowd was a sign that he was indeed God’s Son, so our feeding and caring for the crowds - for the ones Jesus brings our way, is a sign that we are sons and daughters of God, followers of Jesus – the one who brings abundance and hope and life!
Let’s pray…
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