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Exodus 16:2-4 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
Exodus 16:9-15 9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.'” 10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud. 11 The LORD said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’ ” 13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.
Matthew 14:13-21 “You Give Them Something to Eat”
Our scripture reading today is Matthew 14, verses 13 through 21. Jesus has just learned that John the Baptist has been beheaded. Remember, John is the one who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. Hear now the word of the Lord.
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
This is the one miracle story that makes it into each of our four gospels. It must have been quite important to the early church, which makes it important for us today. That means we need to pay close attention to what is happening.
Before we begin though, I want to say a word about miracles. I have heard too many in the church at large deny miracles. Did this actually happen? Was this a miracle? Did Jesus actually cause the amount of food to increase or, as I have heard it explained, was it just that the people decided to share what food they brought with them? Jesus worked a miracle in their hearts so they shared. What is the difference between a miracle in people’s hearts and an actual physical miracle? Why is it important that it is a miracle and why is it important to believe in miracles? Many today approach the Bible with scientific criticism; they come with preconceptions of what can and cannot be, anything outside of known scientific laws is considered impossible. They start from what they know. They limit God, they do not allow for the sovereignty of God. I believe it is important to believe in miracles, to believe in the supernatural. Not in ghosts and goblins on Halloween but supernatural in what is beyond our natural world. I believe we need to start from who God is, not what we know. Scripture says these things happened. Our God does not fit into a nice, neat box. We cannot confine God to our preconceptions. If the Bible says something happened, I believe it happened. I believe people were truly healed by Jesus. I believe the water became wine at the wedding at Cana, I believe Lazarus was raised from the dead and I believe this is an account of miraculous provision by Jesus.
Now let’s turn back to our scripture. Jesus has just heard of the death of his cousin, John the Baptist. We know of their relationship from Luke’s Gospel and his account of Mary visiting her cousin, Elizabeth who is the mother of John the Baptist. Jesus goes off to mourn John’s death by himself but the crowds will not leave him alone, they follow him around the lake and are actually there before he arrives. He lands and is greeted by a great crowd. Despite his own needs, Jesus has compassion on them and heals them. It is important to consider the why of Jesus’ actions. Why does he heal them? Compassion. Compassion which flows from love. Jesus’ love is a reflection of God’s love. We all need to have this kind of compassion, to see others with the eyes of Jesus, to have His compassion flowing through us.
Jesus had compassion on the crowds. Jesus has compassion on us. God has compassion on us and has always had compassion for God’s people. .
Later in the service we will celebrate communion, we will remember God’s greatest show of compassion in that He gave His only Son, Jesus so we could be reconciled to God.
It must have taken a long time for Jesus to minister to such a large crowd. As evening draws near the disciples are concerned, it’s time for dinner and they are far out in the wilderness. There isn’t any food there and they ask Jesus to send the crowds away so the people can find food. Jesus answers them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” The disciples see a problem, Jesus does not. They say to Jesus, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” Well, ok, I see their dilemma! There are thousands of people to be fed and they have five loaves and two fish. What can you do with five loaves and two fishes in the face of such enormous need?
The crowd was well over five thousand men not counting the women and children. This easily could have been ten, fifteen thousand or more once they were all counted. Who wouldn’t be overwhelmed before such a crowd? I understand why the disciples wanted to send them away. The task before them seemed impossible. How could they possibly feed the crowd with only five loaves and two fish?
Their problem was they forgot who they were with, Jesus, and who they were, Jesus’ disciples. They had watched Jesus heal people all day but were stumped at the idea of feeding all those people. Yet, back in chapter ten of Matthew, Jesus gave the disciples the power to cast out unclean spirits and to cure every disease and sickness. The disciples have already been sent out, they have already been curing people yet they don’t realize the power they had been given. Jesus knew. That’s why he said to them, you give them something to eat. In a later chapter of Matthew Jesus will tell the disciples that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed, they will be able to command mountains to move. And in chapter twenty-one he will tell them “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” Jesus knew it was possible to feed the crowd.
Matthew tells us Jesus took the bread and fish, looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, then gave it to his disciples. They gave it to the crowds and all ate and were satisfied. The miracle occurred through the disciples, Jesus worked through them and today Jesus works through us. We are to be his hands and feet reaching out to those in need.
Our Old Testament scripture this morning was from Exodus. It was the story of God giving manna to the Israelites in the wilderness. God gave them bread to eat every day for the forty years they were in the wilderness. Joshua 5:12 says, The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna.” God can and does provide for God’s people when necessary. What the world needed most was a Savior to reconcile us back to God, Jesus has done that. And Jesus empowered first his disciples and now us to be his arms and legs in the world. God seems to prefer to work through us to provide. God wants us to see the world through the eyes of Jesus and bring his compassion to all those in need.
Five loaves and two fish. What can you do with five loaves and two fish?
Have you heard of George Mueller? George Mueller, lived in England in the 1800s. He built five large orphanages and cared for over ten thousand orphans in his lifetime. He did all this without ever asking for money for himself or the children, he didn’t even take a salary. He simply prayed for what he needed and his prayers were answered in remarkable ways. John Piper writing about Mueller said, “That was the chief passion and unifying aim of Mueller’s ministry: live a life and lead a ministry in a way that proves God is real, God is trustworthy, God answers prayer. He built orphanages the way he did to help Christians trust God. This discovery of the all-encompassing sovereignty of God became the foundation of Mueller’s confidence in God to answer his prayers for money. He gave up his regular salary. He refused to ask people directly for money. He prayed and published his reports about the goodness of God and the answers to his prayer. These yearly reports were circulated around the world, and they clearly had a huge effect in motivating people to give to the orphan work. Mueller knew that God used means. In fact, he loved to say, “Work with all your might; but trust not in the least in your work.” But he also insisted that his hope was in God alone, not his exertions and not the published reports. These means could not account for the remarkable answers that he received.” George Mueller brought his own efforts, his own five loaves and two fish to God and trusted God to provide the rest of what was needed.
There are many others like George Mueller, those who brought to God what they had and put their trust in God to provide the rest. Hudson Taylor spent fifty-one years in China, he founded the China Inland Mission and during his time in China, there were eighteen thousand conversions to Christianity.
In current times, I think of Heidi Baker who is a missionary in Mozambique. Since 1995, she and her husband Roland have provided for thousands of orphans, started numerous churches and continue outreach to unreached areas. I heard Heidi speak once. She told of a time early in their ministry in Mozambique; there were over fifty children packed into their compound and food was running low. Someone brought a pot of chili to feed Heidi’s immediate family of four. Heidi gave thanks to God for the food and started feeding all the children and the pot wasn’t empty until everyone had eaten. That pot of chili was Heidi’s five loaves and two fish, she trusted God and God provided what was needed.
Have you ever given up on something because you thought the job was too big for you? Have you ever said the equivalent of “we have nothing but five loaves and two fish” to God? Our scripture today reminds us that there is no such thing as “nothing but” when it comes to God. The Lord of the Universe who created out of nothing can produce whatever is needed out of what we have.
Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh. He doesn’t walk around healing crowds anymore. That time is over. Jesus’ ministry is continued here on earth through us. We are to be Christ’s arms and legs reaching out to this hurting world, we are to be his voice, calling the lost home. Just as he told the disciples to give the crowds something to eat, he tells us to care for those around us. Pray to have the eyes of Jesus, to see others the way Jesus sees them. Pray for more compassion, to love others as God loves them.
Let’s spend a minute talking about our present situation and how these verses apply to it. The government shutdown has caused problems for many federal workers. During the shutdown they are not getting paid. This means they may not be able to make car payments and mortgage payments. In Pennsylvania over two million people depend on the SNAP program to provide food for their families. There are over 500,000 in Delaware County alone. The SNAP program is currently shut down and all these people will not receive any funds in November. Even when the government resumes it is not known how long it will take for the funds to be distributed.
We are one small Presbyterian church. What can we do as one small Presbyterian church? We can’t possibly give enough money for all these people. We can’t provide food for all of them. We already give food to Chester Eastside. What more can we do?
We can pray. Never forget the power of prayer. No matter our politics we can pray for an end to the government shutdown. We can pray that all those furloughed will receive backpay. We can pray that lenders will show grace to those not getting paid right now.
Let us ask God to show us how much more we can do when we trust God.
Don’t lose heart. Let us take the five loaves and two fishes we already have and trust God to provide the rest.