Sermon Preached on July 18th, 2021 at Stockbridge Presbyterian Church
Prayer : O Holy Spirit, fill us with the love of Christ. Feed us with the bread of heaven so that we will share with the world the saying that is true, I AM is with us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Feeding the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii[i] worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
THE WORD OF THE LORD. THANKS BE TO GOD
One of the things the church has always seemed to do well in, is in regards to food. The Church over the many centuries seems to have taken the food part of Jesus to heart and created so much culture around the act of eating. One of the first several comments after my first worship with you all was, “wait until we really get back together and do potlucks” you will gain a good 10 pounds. There is an abundance in our gatherings and eating that is reminiscent of this day of Jesus teaching the people and having them stay where they are to be fed beyond the words he said but his actions of feeding others. And though it’s strange to be in our situation right now it makes those moments that much more precious.
Have you ever been somewhere and there are so many people you just aren’t sure everyone will be fed? Where the simple miracle of enough has been provided in order for all to have had the chance to eat?
Mark’s Gospel has not one but two different stories of Jesus teaching and feeding the people gathered there. This text of Mark 6 has Jesus feeling compassion over the people who yearn for spiritual food and though he is tired and is trying to get away, goes to the people and teaches well into the evening. The disciples saw their groaning bodies in need of food and tried to get Jesus to send them away to go get food on their own. Jesus, however, asks them what they could gather up in terms of food. And a boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish are gathered and after all ate and were satisfied 12 baskets of leftovers were taken up. To those who heard the account they would have connected the 5 loaves to the Books of Moses and the 12 baskets as the 12 tribes of Israel. That the bread of heaven that satisfies the hungry heart and the needs of the body are in Jesus for the people of God.
In Mark 8 there is yet another account of Jesus being with a large crowd, 4000 this time and Jesus sees their hunger after they were with him for 3 days and Jesus once more gets the disciples to gather up information about what they had with them. This time seven loaves and a few small fish, all ate and were satisfied and seven baskets were filled with the leftovers. Jesus once more does an incredible miracle only the significance of numbers is around the seven. Seven denotes the days of creation and completion and that Jesus is for ALL the world. The four thousand is the points of the compass reminding us to go out in all directions to share the good news.
There are a few things we can take from the passage of Jesus feeding the people that shows how our thanks continues beyond words.
It starts with COMPASSION. In the greek this word means a gut feeling, something that gets to you and you can help but be active. For the greeks the seat of emotion wasn’t just the heart but also guts (the liver, kidneys, stomach). We have all had sinking feelings or gut reactions to things and it was the same for Jesus. Many times he was moved to compassion for the people and changed course in order to meet the immediate needs of others.
For Jesus it starts with just seeing the people in the distance, his gut told him to stop his direction and place himself with the people. His gut told him in the other feeding story to think about their physical needs.
I know so many people that have great compassion and live by the words and actions of Jesus, those who are particularly good at feeding others. Sometimes that feeding others comes into incredible hospitality for those they know and love. Some come from the incredible heart they have for particular communities. For Stockbridge the desire and compassion for those in need filled with so much heart for those who need their needs met. The relationship that Stockbridge has with families at The Mill, the Goodness and Groceries program, Joseph’s Pantry---all focused in some ways on just letting others know they are loved and worthy through a simple act of giving them food to satisfy the groaning in their inward parts in order to be able to get through the day.
Jesus felt compassion for the people and we are called to Thank God for that compassion and desire for God to feed the people, for God to put that compassion in us to help feed the people. Thanking God for the abundance and grace we have to not be hungry but be able to fulfill our needs as they arise.
Pastor Karoline Lewis talked about the compassion Jesus felt towards the crowd, towards each of us.
Because as much as Jesus knew how lost the crowd felt, Jesus also knows how lost and lonely you can feel. Who has compassion for you? Who tends to you? Who makes sure you are protected and safe and loved and nurtured? Perhaps one of the reasons that we feel lonely in ministry is that we don’t allow ourselves to be the recipients of compassion, to be the objects of someone’s passion, to acknowledge that we merit attention. Think about that for just a minute, maybe longer — what it feels like to have compassion for another and then what it feels like that you are, amazingly, the other. It feels good, doesn’t it? Too good, probably. And so we back away. Make excuses. Sabotage the situation. Why?
Let’s face it. We’d rather feel lost than trust that we are worthy. We’d rather feel sorry for ourselves than believe we deserve relationships that are truly reciprocal. We’d rather do things on our own to prove our power than step into places of potential powerlessness.
It’s one thing to recognize that someone has compassion for you. It’s quite another to allow those acts of compassion to unfold in your world.
Jesus recognizes our worthiness and supplies the needs of others. For this story, it was right then, without any time passing. Jesus didn’t do for others to make himself self-important or bring vast attention as he felt compassion. He simply did and charged the disciples with getting the food gathered and Jesus did the blessing and then once more sent the disciples, the followers to send out the food and then gather up what was left.
We are called to be those disciples. To feed others and help do the work of Christ to the people who are in need. We too are supposed to open ourselves up to the vulnerability of being served and satisfied as well.
It is important to note that ALL were filled and there was such an incredible abundance leftover. This is the economy of God, that all can and will be satisfied. There was no difference in those hearing Jesus that day. We don’t know their status in life and what they were able to provide the crowd. Jesus knew what was around and allowed for that offering to take place to witness to the larger story of the greatness and goodness of God.
Before Jesus fed the people he fed their souls. It was the compassion he felt for the people because he realized that they were like “sheep without a shepherd.” This part of the text follows closely to the beauty of who God is in Psalm 23
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..”
In Mark, Jesus shepherds the people and gathers them so that they will not want, meaning they will not be hungry (spiritually and in that moment physically).
“He maketh me lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside still waters.”
Mark has the people 5000 men along with women and children sit in the grass by the Sea of Galilee.
“He restores my soul.”
The people hear the teaching of Jesus and though the disciples interrupted with the needs of the people there is a sense of yearning just to be in the presence of Jesus and they are not crying out for food and are satisfied with what is before them.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Jesus was teaching the people about the Lord and though the teaching part was not the importance in the story we know that Jesus taught the people in parables, in stories about the abundance and new way of being in the Lord. We know that Jesus gave the people the beatitudes and blessings of the people in their various stages and places in life. Jesus is the comfort of the people and is the “God is with us”
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
These lines are about that table fellowship, the words are in many ways a reflection of what Jesus did at the Last Supper and the words of Mark 6 of Jesus blessing and breaking the bread to share among the people are another part of that special Eucharist, communion moment. That breaking of bread and pouring of cup is once more the abundance of God and that ALL people can come to Jesus and be filled.
Psalm 23 ends with:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
Jesus having compassion on the people, having compassion on us is that goodness and mercy with us throughout our lives, without condition. A love like no other, a connection to the Almighty God who not only feeds our soul but provides a world that feeds our bodies. A God who calls us to not only be a place of worship that feeds the souls of others but to reach out in love to those in need and feed them.
Thank you God for feeding us. Through your word, through your wisdom, through your truth, through your abundance.
SING THANK YOU, LORD.
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