Enough For All

Matthew 14:13-21
Most every Christian who has studied the Bible or at least knows some Bible stories from Sunday School days has a few favorites that seem stick in your mind and that bring a smile to your face when you hear them. During this time of the Church year, we have been hearing some of the parables and stories about Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. I wouldn’t be surprised if you heard one of your favorites in the last few weeks. Today’s Gospel lesson just might be one of those favorites. Jesus feeding the five thousand is one of those amazing stories that when you first hear it, it sounds unbelievable. Did you ever think about how many people that is?

Matthew makes the point that the five thousand is just the men. In addition there were also women and children. It’s hard to tell just how many people were fed that day. A sell-out crowd at a Captains game at Classic Park in Eastlake would give you some idea. It was a big crowd of people. All they had to start with were five loaves of bread and two fish. What is so amazing about this is that after everyone had eaten and were satisfied, Jesus instructed His disciples to gather what was left over. They filled twelve basketsful of broken pieces. In terms of “Wow” factor, this miracle of Jesus would have to rank pretty high on the list. Jesus didn’t do miracles just to “wow” people. I’ve mentioned before that the miracles of Jesus were more often called miraculous signs. They were meant to teach us something about who He was and about the kingdom of heaven.

As we think about this miraculous sign today, we have to think beyond the impressive display of power and look at what Jesus wanted the people then and the people now who study this event to learn. One thing that is mentioned near the beginning of the reading is that Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them. The first verse tells us that when Jesus heard what had happened to John the Baptist, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Those two words, “privately” and “solitary” tell us that Jesus wanted to get away for a while. He had been doing a great deal of teaching. The death of John the Baptist must have touched Him deeply. I’m sure we can all appreciate the need to get away from the crowds for a while and just think and pray. What happened though was that the crowds saw Him in the boat and followed Him along the shore to the place where Jesus and the disciples had gone. He could have told His disciples to take Him somewhere else but instead He had compassion on the crowds and healed their sick. It shows us how much Jesus cares for His people. He loves us so much that even when He wanted some peace and quiet, he sacrificed His private time to minister to the needs of the people. He addressed their physical needs but we know that He did a lot more than that. His love was so great that He sacrificed more than just his time for us. He sacrificed His life for us on the cross so that price for our sins could be paid. Just as His miracle of food for five thousand and more was enough for all, so His sacrifice on the cross was a sufficient payment for the sins of all. Through His perfect life and His all-sufficient death on the cross, we receive the blessing of forgiveness, peace with God and eternal salvation that comes through the faith that is worked in us by the Holy Spirit.

This event in the life of Jesus also demonstrates another important truth about life in the kingdom of God for His people. Jesus involved His disciples in the process of providing for the needs of the crowd. When the disciples suggested that Jesus send the people away so that they could get some food, Jesus challenged them by saying, “You give them something to eat.” That challenge probably caught them by surprise. They wondered what they could do with the meager resources that they had. He taught them a lesson in trust. He still involved them in the process though. They were the ones who distributed the food. They were the ones who later collected the left-overs. That tells us something about what we as disciples of Jesus should expect to do as we live our lives as servants in the kingdom of God here on earth. God uses His people to carry out His works of compassion today. Certainly that would include feeding the hungry, caring for those who are sick and injured, comforting the lonely and any number of compassionate ministry opportunities that present themselves in our lives.

Just as Jesus came not just to do amazing miraculous signs but to bring the grace of God to people through the knowledge of God’s plan of salvation, so the disciples of Jesus today have the challenge to share the good news of salvation to those who are weary and burdened because of their sin. In response to God’s great love and out of compassion for the spiritual needs of others, we are the hands and voice of Jesus to bring forgiveness, peace and hope to those who have lost their way, to those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness that is ours through Jesus.

Sometimes that is hard for us to do. We often think how much we need the love and forgiveness that God provides for His people in Christ. That is true. We do need that. We need it so much that we come regularly to the house of the Lord for the reassurance of His love and forgiveness. We come to receive the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith and empower us to do God’s will in our daily lives. That is very important so that we can be regularly refreshed. But if that is all we do with our faith, we are missing the point that Jesus was making when He engaged His disciples to help feed the five thousand plus people. He sent them out among the throngs with the loaves and the fish. He also sent them out with the baskets after every one was satisfied to collect the left-overs. Obviously there was an amazing miraculous sign that took place here but Jesus used His disciples to carry it out.

So it is with us today. Jesus has provided us with a miraculous supply of His love to distribute to the throngs who are all around us. There is so much that even when all have heard the message of repentance and forgiveness through the love of God manifested in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, there is still plenty to go around. God has engaged His people to carry out the miraculous work of conversion, of changing hearts. The Holy Spirit brings about that change but the Word still has to be distributed and that is where we come in. We, who have the Good News, have to think beyond ourselves. When we start to realize that our faith and our church are not just for us, we realize that there is a whole new world of opportunities out there for us to explore. We have a whole new way of looking at the opportunities that God has placed before us. The disciples were puzzled when Jesus told them that they should give the people something to eat. They wondered what they could do for so many people. That sounds familiar doesn’t it? We wonder what we could do. Jesus gives us task. He gives us the resources. He gives us the opportunities. He gives us the instructions and He sends us out. Just as He did with the bread and fish, He miraculously blesses our work.

God’s abundance through Christ provides more than we can imagine. We will never know the extent of the blessings that can come when we share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with someone. That is demonstrated in this event in Jesus’ life by the twelve baskets of food that were left over. They only started with five loaves and two fish. They fed five thousand plus people until they were satisfied and still the disciples collected twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over. That shows us how generous the Lord is with the resources that He has placed in our care.

It also reminds us that all we have comes from God’s hand. Martin Luther, in his explanation of the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” reminds us that we daily ask Him for all that we need so that we realize that all things come from God and this should prompt us to receive His gifts with thanksgiving. Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, each time we say our prayers at meal time, each time we close our day with prayer, we are reminded of God’s bountiful goodness and we are given an opportunity to thank Him for all that we have. We have been blessed. As a result we have much to share, materially and especially spiritually. May our mediation on this miraculous sign continually remind us of the blessings and the opportunities that God has given to us to share those blessings with others in Jesus’ name. Amen

And the peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

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