Lord Jesus Christ open our eyes this morning to recognise that you are the creator of the universe and the bread of life, the only one who can feed our spiritual hunger. Amen
First of all let’s try and set the scene for this miracle.
Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus has just heard about the death of his cousin John the Baptist. No doubt this was shocking and upsetting news for him and naturally he wants to escape from the crowds for a while to be alone with his disciples.
However Mark and Luke tell us also that the disciples have just returned from being sent out by Jesus to heal the sick and cast out demons. No doubt they’re bursting with stories they want to tell him about.
So Jesus and the disciples hop into a boat and try to get away from the crowds for a while. However it’s not long before they are recognised from the shore and word gets round – we’ve spotted Jesus.
The crowds are excited because he’s been doing lots of miracles so they follow the course of the boat and when Jesus lands instead of a solitary place he’s got a huge crowd of people waiting expectantly to see more miracles and hear more about the kingdom of God.
I don’t know about you but my reaction would be less than welcoming. Jesus however forgets his own need and shock at his cousin’s death and has compassion on the crowd and heals more sick people.
I think there is a little lesson here for us. Often as Christians we can feel spiritually flat or tired or fed up and if someone comes across our path who has some need, our temptation is to want to ignore them or tell them to go away until a more convenient time.
Ideally however, like Jesus we should take our eyes off ourselves and focus on the needs of the other person. Jesus’ actions here are entirely selfless. His focus is on the crowd of people and their need for healing, to hear about his kingdom and even their most basic need which is to be fed. His own needs are forgotten and put on the back burner.
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But what does this story about the feeding of the five thousand have to say to us today?
Well the first thing I think it has to say to us is something about the identity of Jesus.
Some of you may be aware that food multiplication miracles are also found in the Old Testament.
1 Kings tells the story of how God directed Elijah to live with a poor widow in Zarephath, and how miraculously she never ran out of flour or oil during a time of famine.
And 2 Kings tells the story of how Elisha multiplied the little oil that another widow had, to make enough jars of oil for her to sell to pay off her debts. Also in a foreshadowing of Jesus' miracles,
Elisha multiplied 20 barley loaves to feed a hundred men.
The Jews of Jesus’ day would have been familiar with these stories so this miracle points towards Jesus being a great prophet, greater even than Elijah and Elisha, the greatest Old Testament prophets, as the miracle he does is on a much greater scale. He doesn’t provide for a single widow or just 100 men but 5000 and this number doesn’t include the women and children who are present.
Of course the Jews would have been equally familiar with the story mentioned in Exodus of God, through Moses, feeding the children of Israel with manna in the desert after their escape from Egypt. Manna was a wafer like substance which miraculously appeared on the ground in the morning and which the Israelites could eat raw or ground and moulded into cakes, which were then baked.
However in this story we see Jesus miraculously feeding the children of Israel with real bread - something much better and more substantial than manna.
The bread that Moses provided wasn’t real bread and only fulfilled a temporary human need but the bread that Jesus provides is real and can satisfy not only physical hunger but spiritual hunger.
So I think there is a symbolic truth portrayed in this story.
Matthews gospel was written particularly with a Jewish audience in mind and I believe that Matthew wants us to see that one greater than Moses and the Old Testament prophets is being portrayed here.
Interestingly in John’s gospel, the account of the feeding of the 5000 comes immediately before Jesus describes himself as the bread of life.
We read in John’s gospel that Jesus says to the Jewish people who track him down again immediately after this miracle;
“What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives his life to the world. I am the bread of life.”
So although Jesus feeds the crowd physically in this story I believe that he wants them and us to see that he is also the one who can feed us spiritually.
If we are hungry for spiritual truth we will find that hunger satisfied by Jesus. His words can bring truth and light to our hearts.
He is the only one who can satisfy our yearning for meaning and purpose in life. And just as he provides abundant physical bread to feed the crowd he is willing to provide abundant spiritual bread to feed our hungry hearts if only we will look to him and believe in him.
You see when we read the gospels we are to read them with our physical eyes but also our spiritual eyes, to look beneath the surface of the words to the spiritual symbolism contained within the stories. As we do this God can feed us with spiritual truths and help our faith to grow.
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Some liberal commentators try to explain this miracle away by saying that Jesus didn’t actually create extra bread and fish. What he really did was to get the crowd to share the food they already had.
I think that those who think like this demonstrate their own lack of faith and spiritual blindness.
Jesus is the creator of the world. Abundant life and creation springs forth from him and in this miracle we see him bringing forth abundant bread and fish, replicating and multiplying 5 loaves and two fish into many thousands of loaves and fish.
Why should the creator of the universe not be able to create more of what he has already created? He is merely replicating what he did in the beginning.
In many of Jesus miracles we see him creating new skin, new arms, new legs, new eyes, repairing and restoring matter or sometimes changing or multiplying matter. He is the Lord of the created world and he can command and change all physical matter, whether it be flesh and bone or bread or wine or fish.
This is what he did in the beginning and this is what he still does today where people have the faith to receive it.
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I think it’s significant that this gospel story occurs immediately after Jesus has sent out his disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons. Jesus has been modelling to his disciples how to do this and then he says now it’s your turn, go and do what you’ve seen me do.
The disciples do this very successfully by all accounts and come back to Jesus delightedly saying ‘Lord even the demons submit to us in your name.’
However Jesus has more to teach them. There’s a massive crowd of hungry people. The evening is drawing in and the disciples want to wind up the meeting so the crowd can go to the nearby villages to get some food. But Jesus says to the disciples, don’t send them away – you provide them with something to eat.
The disciples are flummoxed by this suggestion and Mark tells us that their response is to say that to feed everyone there would take eight months of a man’s wages.
I think Jesus at this point was possibly a bit disappointed with his disciples. They’ve just been on a mission to the local towns and villages and seen God work amazing miracles through them.
However instead of reacting to Jesus request to feed the crowd with faith and the expectation of another miracle, they look at the situation purely through wordly eyes and how much it would cost financially to feed everyone.
The disciples would have known the stories of Elijah and Elisha but it never occurs to them that Jesus might have a similar miracle up his sleeve.
The situation seems impossible to address from a worldy perspective but when looked at through the eyes of faith it is a situation that God can deal with.
I think there can be similar situations for us today. There can be problems in our lives or the lives of those we love that seem impossible to resolve when looked at from a purely human perspective.
But when looked at them with the eyes of faith, these situations can take on a different perspective.
The bible tells us that nothing is impossible for God and that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask for or imagine.
Of course in practice it is often difficult for us to have the faith to receive what God is capable of doing. We know in our minds that He could do a miracle but we doubt in our hearts that He really wants to. We’re very much like the disciples in this respect.
I don’t think there are any easy answers to this. I’m reminded of the story in Mark’s gospel, following Jesus transfiguration, when a man comes to Jesus as his son has a demon and the disciples are unable to drive it out.
The man says to Jesus; “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
Jesus replies; “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes.”
The boy’s father replies; “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” and Jesus heals the child.
I think where there are situations like this in our lives or the lives of those we love we must be honest with God and like the man in the story confess our unbelief and ask God to give us the faith to receive whatever it is that He wants to give us, whether this is for ourselves or one we love.
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Of the 4 gospel writers who cover this story only John mentions the little boy who has the five loaves and two fish.
I think the little boy is quite important as his willingness to share what he has makes the whole miracle possible. He doesn’t have very much but what he does have he is willing to offer to Jesus.
When it is brought to Jesus, he turns it into something wonderful that feeds many people.
I think that God can do the same for us when we are prepared to offer what we have to Him.
We might not feel we have much to offer to God but if we are willing to offer Him our talents and time and our money he can do a lot with them.
If you’re willing to offer God your mouth to tell people about Jesus he can open their eyes
If you’re willing to offer God your time to pray for people He can turn their lives around
If you’re willing to offer your hands to God to serve and lay on people , he can bless and heal people through them.
If you’re willing to offer God your eyes to look at the world around you He can show you hurting people who He wants to help.
God can do amazing things through you as you offer yourself to Him.
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Lastly Jesus asks the disciples to distribute the bread and fish.
He provides them but the disciples bring them to the people.
There is a little picture here of how the church works. God is the provider of everything good that we can offer others – but He asks us to be the distributors.
We go to Him to receive love or power or wisdom or insight. He in turns asks us to share what we have received with those around us – to distribute His blessing generously and liberally with all who will receive it.
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So to conclude this story of the feeding of the 5000 points towards Jesus being greater than the greatest Old Testament prophets and greater than Moses. It points towards Him being the bread of life and the Lord of Creation.
As such he is able to meet our needs and to rescue us from situations that from a worldly point of view seem hopeless.
As we bring what we have and what we are to him He can do wonderful things through us.
And finally as members of His body – the church, he asks us to distribute everything we receive from Him liberally and generously with all those around us, to share the blessings we have received abundantly with everyone.
In the name of the living God. Amen
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