August 2, 2020

Helen Jacobi

Ordinary 18     Isaiah 55:1-5     Matthew 14:13-21

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

This story of the crowds being fed with a few loaves and a couple of fish is told six times between the four gospels. All four gospel writers tell it and Mark and Matthew tell it twice, just to be sure we get it. No other story is told 6 times. So it must be important.

In Matthew’s version the setting is particularly striking. “Now when Jesus heard about the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.”

John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin and prophet has been executed and his head is brought to Herod on a platter in the middle of a banquet.

Jesus is revolted, grief stricken, and concerned for his own safety and so he withdraws into the country.

The crowds follow and get there as he does, so he has no time to himself to recover, instead, he heals the sick.

The disciples come to Jesus and say for goodness sake send the crowds home so they can get something to eat.

Jesus says, you feed them. We only have five loaves and two fish they say.

(Sigh) get the crowds to sit down “taking the five loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowd.”

Matthew says Jesus blesses the bread, breaks it and gives it to be shared. These are the actions of the eucharist, we bless the bread, we break it, we share it. There is no doubt in the way Matthew records the event that we are supposed to think – ah – this is a eucharist, a thanksgiving for life, a sacred meal of communion.

And we also hear echoes of the Old Testament: Moses feeding the people in the wilderness with manna; Elisha feeding 100 people with 20 loaves; the words of the psalmist: Can God spread a table in the wilderness? (Ps 78:19) and echoes of Jesus eating with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or on the beach after the resurrection; and of course the Last Supper.

Questions that we might have as rational 21st century people about – how did Jesus do this? was it really a “miracle?” one popular theory is - did people have food with them and were encouraged by Jesus’ actions to share? The gospel writers are not interested in those questions. Rather we are invited into this story with its many layers and echoes and invited to be there in the story and see what we notice.

I noticed this week that it is not Jesus that feeds the crowds. First he tells the disciples not to send the crowds away but to feed them. And then when that seems beyond them Jesus blesses what they have and then gives it back to them to distribute to the crowd.

“He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciple gave them to the crowds.”

This is more than just being a more effective mode of distribution – it will go faster with a team – it is about Jesus blessing what they offered and then giving it back to them to do the work of feeding the people.

The disciples were operating from a place of scarcity – there is never enough – Jesus was operating from a place of abundance and plenty.

Think back to last week’s readings – the mustard seed that becomes a tree; the bread that rises one hundred fold with the yeast – these were definitions of the “kingdom of heaven” that Matthew longs for – and here we see the kingdom of heaven in action again.

This could have just as easily been added to that list of parables – the kingdom of heaven is like five loaves and 2 fish that when shared are enough to feed 5000 people.

This time it is a lived experience for the disciples, not just an image used to teach them. They offer up what they have and it is given back to them ten fold, a hundred fold, a thousand times more.

And also very importantly for Matthew this experience the disciples have is in stark contrast to what happens just before this: the terrible death of John the Baptist; violent and gruesome in the context of a banquet with the rich and powerful.

Now we have the contrast of John the Baptist, his head on a platter, and Jesus breaking bread and fish for the crowd. The violence and degradation of our world, and the hope offered in a piece of bread. How many places in the world see that contrast every day: death and violence and starvation; and hope and food offered. And there always seems to be more violence than food.

But Jesus in a very dramatic way is showing the disciples that what they have to offer is enough. The world might well be gruesome and violent; the world that will before too long kill Jesus himself; the world that will persecute and pursue the early Christians.

The disciples and the community Matthew writes for live in that world – they and we live in a world of violence and despair – but Jesus shows them that by offering what they have, the world can be changed.

When we lay the table for the eucharist the bread and wine is brought from the back of the church by the chalice bearers.

We do that to emphasise that the bread and wine is the offering of the people – like the bread and fish the disciples bring to Jesus.

We also bring our offerings of money which represent our working lives and we bring food for the City Mission, representing our care for others.

All of these things are offered, are blessed by our prayer of thanksgiving, and then given back to us.

We receive the bread and wine as a blessing for our week; the CM food goes to those who need it; the offerings of our money are used to pay for the running of our church community and for the service we offer to the wider community.

What else might we offer? What gift or skill do you have that you can offer today? What is there in your life – at work, at home, in the community – something ordinary and every day – that you might like to bring with you as you come to the altar today.

Think of something specific – if you are a teacher – think of a particular thing you offer – is it the way you listen to your class; or their parents; is it a creative artistry you bring to your lesson plans; is it music.

If you are a leader in your organization is it your ability to see the big picture; if you are caring for family members is it your ability to multi task.

As the bread and wine is brought forward today, offer your own skill or gift. See it blessed and given back to you.

And then expect that it will grow and that there might even be twelve baskets taken up of what is left over.