“Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.” (Mark 6:41)
At the feeding of the 5000 the disciples’ role in organizing the people, distributing the bread and loaves, and collecting the leftovers teaches us to participate in God’s work to provide for others and to trust in God’s ability to meet our needs whilst working to show compassion and generosity to those around us.
Eating and Feasting, we look at the Miracle of the feeding of the 5000.
Eating – Feasting what’s the difference?
Well eating is defined as put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it, feasting is enjoy a plentiful and delicious meal in the company of others.
Our passage today, is interestingly the only miracle of Jesus that is told in all four gospels. The feeding of the 5000 shows God’s abundance, power, authority and compassion. It is the feeding of the 5000 found in Mark’s gospel. I want to give you some deeper context into when this feeding of the 5000 took place and what has happened immediately before as we encounter some hungry disciples and 5000+ people hungry without food.
Context
Before the feeding of the 5000 took place, Jesus had shown the 12 disciples his authority over sickness(1), death(2), demons(3), and the elements of nature(4). After these powerful displays, they faced two difficult events: the gospel of Matthew shows the disciples then heard of the shocking execution of John the Baptist and then the rejection of Jesus by those in his own town.. At a time when they might wish to wallow, worry or hide for protection, the disciples are sent out without Jesus, together in pairs and told not to take food or money but to live through the generosity and hospitality of others while they preach and are give authority over impure spirits. SO they’ve anointed the sick, seen healing and preached And that is where we come into this passage. With the 12 disciples, here called Apostles, gathered around Jesus telling him all they had done and taught, and You can the imagine the spilling out of stories as the different pairs tell Jesus who they anointed who they prayed for, this person said this, then John said…
And – then ‘because so many people were coming and going they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” So they went by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. A quiet time of rest phew finally is probably what the disciples were thinking after such an up and down time of events.
(1) Mark 5:25-34
(2) Mark 5:21-24, 35-43
(3) Mark 5:1-20
(4) Mark 5:35-41
Point 1 – God’s Provision
God’s provision, God provides. Many of us are familiar with the story of the feeding of the 5,000. For some, this might be a new and exciting story, but the significance of the miracle goes far beyond the physical act of feeding a large crowd with a few loaves and fish. It is a testament to the power and compassion of Jesus even in times of scarcity and need.
‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ is a popular tag-line for a Snickers chocolate bar, I’m sure we can all feel ourselves get a little grumpy sometimes when we are hungry. In our house we use the word hangry, when your hunger is causing you to become angry . I’ve learnt that to keep both my boys happy and yes I’m talking about both my husband and two year old son, I have to carry a ridiculous amount of snacks and deal with a ridiculous amount of crumbs. I’m often told how similar my son in to his Dad and they are never more similar when they are both hangry, the eyebrows come out the tone of their voice goes high, they get stroppy with each other and as soon as they’ve eaten its like butter wouldn’t melt. Well Research studies have backed up that hunger negatively affects us and has an impact on our emotions and our actions. I’m sure after all that had taken place with the disciples they were VERY hungry and now here are 5000 more people, all starting to get hungry. It says that after Jesus taught them, taking compassion on them as they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Mark 6:39-41
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.’
Jesus took a seemingly insignificant amount of food from the crowd, it wasn’t made out of thin air it was already there, and multiplied it to meet the needs of thousands. He wasn’t complacent with this miracle, he organised the people, involved the disciples, provided a plentiful where they all ate and were satisfied and then the disciples collected up 12 bowls of leftover food. Just as we see good stewardship in everyone being organised into groups we also see it with the food being collected up after.
I’d say it’s a little less Eating e.g putting food in the mouth chewing and swallowing and a little more like feasting, there’s life giving teaching, people have been kept all together rather than scattering off in loneliness and there’s a special meal provided by a miracle.
Point 2 – A glimpse of heaven
At this point, if we were to end the sermon, honestly, I think we would be left with a challenging question: If it’s so easy for God to provide, why are people hungry? Why are people having no other choice that to eat every meal in loneliness, Why are people not regularly included in great feasts of celebration and joy now?
Well our world now is not how it was originally intended. God walked with Adam and Eve in a garden before sin entered in the world, and every plant other than the tree of knowledge was available to them for food. Good food nourishing food that had not come from exploitation but was growing straight from the earth and eaten in God’s presence. But when sin entered the world and Adam and Eve left the garden, humanities struggle with food then began and the world was broken by sin, suffering and death and striving became part of life. But that wasn’t the end of our story, through God’s love he sent us his son. And in the death and resurrection of Jesus, a man free of sin, death itself was conquered pointing toward the promise of eternal life in God’s presence in the new heaven and new earth, the new creation after the second coming of Jesus. So while we still live in a broken world now, with hunger and sin and loneliness, the future of a new heaven and new earth has been won for those who accept Jesus as their saviour.
Therefore this miracle of God’s abundant provision with everyone in one group eating outdoors together in God’s glorious creation, can be seen as a glimpse of our eternal life with God. Our world today has hunger, fear, striving, and disaster, and is not how it was originally made. It is under the influence of evil, and this miracle is a glimpse of what the new heaven and the new earth will look like, what we can all look forward to in confidence in the time of waiting.
In this waiting – God invites us to participate.
Point 3 Invited to participate
So in the feeding of the 5000 we see that God is powerful and generous and gracious, he knows the peoples physical needs and has compassion for them feeding not only spiritually by teaching them but also by feeding them. We then see that the feeding of the 5000 is a glimpse of the future, the future that we are waiting for, where there will be a new heaven and new earth, no more hunger. The final point of the passage we will look at before we think of its impact on us today is that in the passage Jesus also invites others to participate in the miracle.
The disciples here (also called apostles in the passage which means they had been sent by Jesus, if you remember earlier they have just come back from a mission in pairs and haven’t eaten yet. The disciples here offer a solution to Jesus after they spot that people miht be getting hungry and Jesus pushes them to use their own initiative but not not necessarily their logic.
Mark 6:35-39
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Spot the logic,
But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[e]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked.
“Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
Logically it does make more sense for people to leave and get themselves food. But Jesus wants them to use their initiative faithfully, with confidence in Gods provision. And this is a challenge for me as I’m a very logical person.
The disciples are challenged to have to rely on God. And the disciples’ role in distributing the food and collecting the leftovers teaches us about the importance of participating in God’s work of providing for others. For us reading it, it serves as a reminder of the call to service and generosity. Jesus could have easily performed the miracle Himself, but He chose to involve His disciples in the process. Similarly, we are called to be instruments of God’s love and provision in the world. We are called to serve others with humility and generosity, sharing our resources and blessings with those in need.
Application – The World, The Church, Us.
The world’s relationship with food is broken. Global hunger is increasing but at the same time billions of tons of food are wasted each year. You have only got to look back to the effects of Covid 19 when hoarding food became a real issue. Not only is there a lack of food, but also a lack of community and time to enjoy meals together. Has food in our society simply become about putting food in our mouth and chewing and less about feasting in the enjoyment of others. St. George’s and St. Luke’s are doing an incredible job in addressing these issues with cafe for all at St Luke’s and Community meal at St George’s not to mention the countless food people share together between them at other times. On a personal note, the first interaction we had here with you as a church was food parcels being delivered to our house which blessed us and meant we could bless our family and friends who were moving us in. So my challenge for you as we see what a blessing feasting and not just eating can be is, I hope, is simple: Eat with others, enjoy the food you eat, and say yes to invitations to community meal or café for all. See the communion we take together as a feasting of our church all together in remembering our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Let’s be people that feast and invite others to feast with us because we have the best reasons to celebrate.
Conclusion
The feeding of the 5000 is an amazing miracle showing God’s provision and showing Jesus as the incredible teacher he is to get people to participate with him, Let us leave space in our lives for God to work miracles through us as we bless those around us.
Let’s pray
Father God thank you for your provision, thank you that Jesus teaches us to this day, we pray Holy Spirit, help us to see your work of power, grace and provision in our lives and in the lives of others as we participate to bless our communities. Amen
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 