By the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Nancarrow
This sermon is based on Matthew 14:13-21
Listen to an audio version of this sermon here
Our Gospel reading this morning tells the story of one of the best-known of all Jesus’ miracles: it’s a story often called “The Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves,” and it’s a story that is told, in one form or another, in all four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all have their own versions of this miracle story — Mark and Matthew even have two versions apiece. It’s one of those stories from the Gospel we know so well, we might be tempted to think we know it all.
But there are some interesting interpretive questions we can raise about this miracle story. If we pay really close attention to the text and the context, we can do some very interesting things by asking “Just who does this miracle?” and “Just what sort of miracle is it?”
Here's the scene: Jesus and his disciples, after a long period of teaching and preaching to big crowds, are attempting to withdraw into a quiet place, so they can pray and meditate and recharge their batteries. So they get into a boat and push out into Lake Galilee to look for a quiet spot; but the crowd sees them going, and they rush around the shore on foot and get there ahead of the boat; so that when Jesus and the disciples arrive, the crowd is already there. And Jesus has compassion on them, and he heals their sick, and he teaches them all day long.
And at the end of the day, when everyone is tired and hungry, the disciples come to Jesus and say, “It’s getting late, and we’re out in the middle of nowhere, and we haven’t got any food; it’s time to send the crowd away, so that they can walk back to those villages they passed through and buy some bread or some falafel or something.” The disciples are genuinely concerned about the crowd, they really don’t want the people to become weak with hunger or exhausted with long walking. But the disciple’s concern only goes so deep; they apparently don’t stop to think that sending the crowd on a long walk home when it’s getting dark will create hardships of its own. And the disciples are probably also thinking about themselves, at least as much or more than their thinking about the crowd: they’re tired, they’re hungry, they’d just as soon not be doing crowd-control anymore, they want to settle down for some quiet time of their own with Jesus. But Jesus’ care for the crowd goes deeper than that: “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus says; “this is a good place for them to be, where I can teach them and heal them and show them God’s love. You give them something to eat.”
Now, at this point I imagine the disciples are just about having kittens. They’re thinking: What? Us feed all those people? With what? They say to Jesus, “All we have are five little loaves of bread and a couple of small dried fish. You want us to feed all these people with this?” The mere thought of having to do so much with so little is kind of terrifying.
But Jesus says, “Bring your food here to me.” And the disciples have to give up their five loaves and two fish. Even though it clearly won’t be enough, and even though it will leave the disciples themselves without food, they have to be willing to give to Jesus even what little they have. And Jesus takes it, and blesses it, and breaks it — and then Jesus gives it back to the disciples to give to the crowd. And it’s when that happens, it’s while the disciples are distributing bread and fish to the crowd, that they realize something remarkable is going on: no matter how much they give, they are not running out; even though there isn’t enough food, everybody is getting something, and nobody is getting left out. The miracle happens not so much when Jesus breaks the bread, but when the disciples are sharing the bread. From one point of view, the miracle in the story is not so much that Jesus feeds five thousand people, but the miracle is that Jesus empowers the disciples to feed five thousand people. If we ask “Who does this miracle?”, it isn’t just Jesus, but Jesus and the disciples.
And that in turn raises the question “What sort of miracle is this?” One interpretation is that it is a physical, supernatural miracle, in which the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy is superseded, and the bread and the fish physically multiply.
But there is another interpretation of this story, which has been in circulation in the church for nearly two hundred years, that suggests a miracle of a different sort. Historians say that it was common practice in Jesus' day for anyone who was going away from home for more that a couple of hours to pack some little bit of food with them: some bread or some lentils or some salted fish, carried in a little pouch on their belt. In those days people got around mostly by walking; so if you left home to run a bunch of errands or go to the next village to visit someone, you couldn’t be sure just when you’d get home again; it might be well after mealtime, you might get pretty hungry. And there weren’t fast food joints in strip malls on every other corner on the roads of Galilee; so if you weren’t sure you’d be home at mealtime, you couldn’t be sure you could buy food anywhere at mealtime, either. If you were going to leave home for a while, it was just prudent to take some food with you. So it is likely that everyone in that crowd had some food; but they were all afraid that if they took out their food, other people would want it, and they’d be forced to share it, and then there wouldn’t be enough left for them. It was the peoples’ own fear and greed that kept them hiding and hoarding their food for themselves. But when the crowd sees the disciples beginning to distribute five loaves and two fish that everyone knows won’t be enough, when they see the disciples being willing to do at least that much, they are all moved by this generosity, and they are all inspired to bring out their food and share it too. In this reading, the disciples keep passing out food and never running out, because everyone else is passing out food, too.
If we read the story this way, what happens is not so much a physical miracle as it is a moral miracle. It is a miracle of the heart rather than a miracle of matter and energy. It’s not just a miracle of multiplication of loaves, but a miracle of multiplication of love. Who does this miracle, and what sort of miracle is it? — Jesus and the disciples and the crowd do this miracle together, and it is a miracle of compassion and sharing and creating right-relationships and love.
And what makes that miracle Good News is that that is precisely the sort of miracle we can do with Jesus, and Jesus can do with us, too. The Spirit of Christ can inspire us, like the disciples, like the crowd, so that we bring forth what little we have — even when it is clear that what we have is not enough — and when we share what we have in the Name of Christ, then God’s grace will make it enough, God’s grace will make us enough, so that together we may do the gracious, compassionate, loving will of God.
And some of that miracle is happening right here, right now, in this Eucharist. In this celebration of the Holy Communion, each one of us brings some little thing of what we have, and when we share it in the Name of Christ, God’s grace makes it enough to nourish us in the Body and Blood of Christ, to nourish us to be the Body of Christ for the world. We bring a voice to sing, a little bit of bread and wine carried up to the altar, a pledge check or a gift in support of the church given in the offering, a prayer or a thanksgiving or an intercession for someone we know and care about who’s in need of help, a heart and a mind and a spirit yearning to know God’s love — we bring what little we have, and we give it to Jesus, and on this altar Jesus takes it and blesses it and breaks it and gives it back to us, so that we can turn and give it again to those around us — and together Jesus and we and the world make the miracle, so that the hungry can be fed, and the suffering can be comforted, and the oppressed can be set free, and the lonely can be welcomed, and the angry can be reconciled, and the lost can be found, and the joyous can redouble their joy.
That is the miracle of the multiplication of love narrated in our Gospel today. That is the miracle of the multiplication of love we can live in Christ’s Name every day. Amen.
This sermon is based on Matthew 14:13-21
Listen to an audio version of this sermon here
Our Gospel reading this morning tells the story of one of the best-known of all Jesus’ miracles: it’s a story often called “The Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves,” and it’s a story that is told, in one form or another, in all four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all have their own versions of this miracle story — Mark and Matthew even have two versions apiece. It’s one of those stories from the Gospel we know so well, we might be tempted to think we know it all.
But there are some interesting interpretive questions we can raise about this miracle story. If we pay really close attention to the text and the context, we can do some very interesting things by asking “Just who does this miracle?” and “Just what sort of miracle is it?”
Here's the scene: Jesus and his disciples, after a long period of teaching and preaching to big crowds, are attempting to withdraw into a quiet place, so they can pray and meditate and recharge their batteries. So they get into a boat and push out into Lake Galilee to look for a quiet spot; but the crowd sees them going, and they rush around the shore on foot and get there ahead of the boat; so that when Jesus and the disciples arrive, the crowd is already there. And Jesus has compassion on them, and he heals their sick, and he teaches them all day long.
And at the end of the day, when everyone is tired and hungry, the disciples come to Jesus and say, “It’s getting late, and we’re out in the middle of nowhere, and we haven’t got any food; it’s time to send the crowd away, so that they can walk back to those villages they passed through and buy some bread or some falafel or something.” The disciples are genuinely concerned about the crowd, they really don’t want the people to become weak with hunger or exhausted with long walking. But the disciple’s concern only goes so deep; they apparently don’t stop to think that sending the crowd on a long walk home when it’s getting dark will create hardships of its own. And the disciples are probably also thinking about themselves, at least as much or more than their thinking about the crowd: they’re tired, they’re hungry, they’d just as soon not be doing crowd-control anymore, they want to settle down for some quiet time of their own with Jesus. But Jesus’ care for the crowd goes deeper than that: “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus says; “this is a good place for them to be, where I can teach them and heal them and show them God’s love. You give them something to eat.”
Now, at this point I imagine the disciples are just about having kittens. They’re thinking: What? Us feed all those people? With what? They say to Jesus, “All we have are five little loaves of bread and a couple of small dried fish. You want us to feed all these people with this?” The mere thought of having to do so much with so little is kind of terrifying.
But Jesus says, “Bring your food here to me.” And the disciples have to give up their five loaves and two fish. Even though it clearly won’t be enough, and even though it will leave the disciples themselves without food, they have to be willing to give to Jesus even what little they have. And Jesus takes it, and blesses it, and breaks it — and then Jesus gives it back to the disciples to give to the crowd. And it’s when that happens, it’s while the disciples are distributing bread and fish to the crowd, that they realize something remarkable is going on: no matter how much they give, they are not running out; even though there isn’t enough food, everybody is getting something, and nobody is getting left out. The miracle happens not so much when Jesus breaks the bread, but when the disciples are sharing the bread. From one point of view, the miracle in the story is not so much that Jesus feeds five thousand people, but the miracle is that Jesus empowers the disciples to feed five thousand people. If we ask “Who does this miracle?”, it isn’t just Jesus, but Jesus and the disciples.
And that in turn raises the question “What sort of miracle is this?” One interpretation is that it is a physical, supernatural miracle, in which the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy is superseded, and the bread and the fish physically multiply.
But there is another interpretation of this story, which has been in circulation in the church for nearly two hundred years, that suggests a miracle of a different sort. Historians say that it was common practice in Jesus' day for anyone who was going away from home for more that a couple of hours to pack some little bit of food with them: some bread or some lentils or some salted fish, carried in a little pouch on their belt. In those days people got around mostly by walking; so if you left home to run a bunch of errands or go to the next village to visit someone, you couldn’t be sure just when you’d get home again; it might be well after mealtime, you might get pretty hungry. And there weren’t fast food joints in strip malls on every other corner on the roads of Galilee; so if you weren’t sure you’d be home at mealtime, you couldn’t be sure you could buy food anywhere at mealtime, either. If you were going to leave home for a while, it was just prudent to take some food with you. So it is likely that everyone in that crowd had some food; but they were all afraid that if they took out their food, other people would want it, and they’d be forced to share it, and then there wouldn’t be enough left for them. It was the peoples’ own fear and greed that kept them hiding and hoarding their food for themselves. But when the crowd sees the disciples beginning to distribute five loaves and two fish that everyone knows won’t be enough, when they see the disciples being willing to do at least that much, they are all moved by this generosity, and they are all inspired to bring out their food and share it too. In this reading, the disciples keep passing out food and never running out, because everyone else is passing out food, too.
If we read the story this way, what happens is not so much a physical miracle as it is a moral miracle. It is a miracle of the heart rather than a miracle of matter and energy. It’s not just a miracle of multiplication of loaves, but a miracle of multiplication of love. Who does this miracle, and what sort of miracle is it? — Jesus and the disciples and the crowd do this miracle together, and it is a miracle of compassion and sharing and creating right-relationships and love.
And what makes that miracle Good News is that that is precisely the sort of miracle we can do with Jesus, and Jesus can do with us, too. The Spirit of Christ can inspire us, like the disciples, like the crowd, so that we bring forth what little we have — even when it is clear that what we have is not enough — and when we share what we have in the Name of Christ, then God’s grace will make it enough, God’s grace will make us enough, so that together we may do the gracious, compassionate, loving will of God.
And some of that miracle is happening right here, right now, in this Eucharist. In this celebration of the Holy Communion, each one of us brings some little thing of what we have, and when we share it in the Name of Christ, God’s grace makes it enough to nourish us in the Body and Blood of Christ, to nourish us to be the Body of Christ for the world. We bring a voice to sing, a little bit of bread and wine carried up to the altar, a pledge check or a gift in support of the church given in the offering, a prayer or a thanksgiving or an intercession for someone we know and care about who’s in need of help, a heart and a mind and a spirit yearning to know God’s love — we bring what little we have, and we give it to Jesus, and on this altar Jesus takes it and blesses it and breaks it and gives it back to us, so that we can turn and give it again to those around us — and together Jesus and we and the world make the miracle, so that the hungry can be fed, and the suffering can be comforted, and the oppressed can be set free, and the lonely can be welcomed, and the angry can be reconciled, and the lost can be found, and the joyous can redouble their joy.
That is the miracle of the multiplication of love narrated in our Gospel today. That is the miracle of the multiplication of love we can live in Christ’s Name every day. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment