Feeding 5000: God's's Power, God's Compassion
How Much Bread Do You Have?
July 31, 2011
GOSPEL LESSON: Matthew 14:13-21 [Feeding of the five thousand.]
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." But Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
The Feeding of the Five Thousand is one of the most famous miracles of Jesus. Here we see the great power of Jesus. From only five loaves and two fish, he fed five thousand men, besides women and children. This was a great miracle. There were other miracles that day, too, when Jesus healed many sick people. A miracle is something that defies the laws of physics: for example, changing water into wine, walking on water, multiplying bread and fish, rising from the dead, forgiving sins, giving eternal life. Now, some people do not believe in miracles. Personally, I have no trouble with miracles. I believe that if Jesus is God, and if God is almighty, then of course, Jesus can do miracles. For me, that is no problem at all. My faith is based on the miracle of the Resurrection--The Resurrection of Jesus on the third day and the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.
In the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, we see the great miraculous power of Jesus, and we also see the great love and compassion of Jesus. On that day, Jesus healed the sick and then fed all the people. Jesus had compassion on them, because he saw how much they needed him. Compassion is a form of sadness. Jesus crossed the lake to a desolate place because he wanted to be alone and pray after King Herod had killed John the Baptist. Jesus was sad, and many people were sad and mourning after the prophet they loved had been killed. The people needed a new spiritual leader. After John, the people looked to Jesus to give them the Word of God. The people were so desperate to hear the Word of God that they walked many miles on land around the lake to where Jesus was going. Jesus saw the people and understood their spiritual desperation. He healed the sick, but he healed their souls, too. He spoke to them the comforting words about the Kingdom of God. He spoke of God's love and mercy. And then Jesus showed that mercy by feeding the crowd. The people had hurried from their homes to hear Jesus, and so they did not bring much food with them and now it was nearly evening. Jesus showed that he was concerned not only for their souls, but also their bodies. They needed spiritual nourishment and physical nourishment. They needed the full love of God.
Jesus challenged the disciples to feed the crowd. But all they could find was 5 loaves and 2 fish. That was not enough, and yet they trusted Jesus. How much bread do you have? How much compassion do you have? People are starving in this world. People need food. Somalia in Africa is suffering a big drought and people are dying from hunger and flocking to refugee camps. Not only in Africa, there are other places in the world that are in similar straits. But we need not look to other countries. There are people on this island that do not have enough to eat because of poverty and unemployment. Our refrigerators and pantries might be full, but what is that in the face of such great need? It is like having only 5 loaves and 2 fish. We feel the frustration of the disciples. We feel our powerlessness, our inability to match our resources to our compassion.
Yes, we do have compassion. It is a type of sadness. We have compassion for others because we have known the compassion of Jesus toward us. God was sad because of the sin and evil and desperation in the world. That sadness and compassion was shown in God's love. We know how Jesus loved us and died on the cross to forgive our sin. Jesus had compassion on us when we were miserable sinners. This alone is compassion that fills our hearts and overflows to others. And so we are frustrated that we do not have enough to feed the world.
But we are not completely powerless. We have the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us faith, gives us the Bread of Life, gives us the Word of God. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes so that we see the needs of others.
First, we pray. "Give us this day our daily bread." We pray not only for ourselves, but for all those who need the necessities of life.
We give to charities. We have a box for donations for the East Japan Disaster. In the fall we will join with other churches in Okinawa in the annual "Food for the World" campaign.
And we support the work of the church to give the true Bread of Life, the Word of the Gospel to all people.
I feel like one of the 5000 who received bread and fish that day by the Sea of Galilee. I feel like one who was healed. I feel like one who heard the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. I have eaten and am satisfied.
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church