Feeding the Five Thousand

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs he was doing for the sick.  Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.  Now, the passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.  When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.  Philip answered him, "six months' wages would not  buy enough bread for each one of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here with five barley loaves and two fish.  But what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place so they sat down, about five thousand in all.  Then Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up and from the fragments of the give barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.  When the people saw the sign that had been done, they began to say, "this is indeed the prophet who is come into the world."
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force and to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

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I love when stories pay attention to food and the rituals people have in gathering around it. I love cook books. I enjoy a nice, long afternoon in the kitchen sipping on wine and preparing a meal to share with friends and family.  The feast days are my favourites but I also love cooking in the middle of winter and gathering friends around the table to keep company with. In the summer I love simple food around the fire; eating and playing that stretches until the sun goes down.  When we share meals together we share a sacred space where we receive physical and spiritual nourishment, that grows us, that sustains us.

This fall my family and I were at my neighbours place for dinner.  It isn't her custom to say grace but at this particular gathering she asked her dear friend Richard to pray. And something happened when he prayed - there was an acknowledgement that something more profound was taking place than just eating and drinking, we were moved to a deeper gratitude for what was before us, we were humbled by abundance and by the gift of companionship.  A couple weeks later after a school pick up my friend and I corralled the kids in the back yard and started catching up and debriefing our dinner gathering - Richard's prayer was a good part of our conversation, his words brought us all from different places, to Jesus.

Our story this week comes from a long history of God providing food for his people.  The sons of Jacob travelled to Egypt desperate for grain that they might survive the severe famine in the land. God not only gave them food but provided them refuge through Joseph; the brother they had sold into slavery offered them a way to life in a time of drought.

After the miraculous escape from Egypt the Israelites were again without food, they complained against Moses and Aaron, "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by fleshpots and ate our fill of bread.  For you have brought us into the wilderness to kill us with hunger."  The people began to despair.  Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, 'Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.' And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.  The Lord spoke to Moses and said, "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them at twilight you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God."  And so the Israelites were fed by the Lord for forty years in the dessert.

Here in the wilderness a large crowd was gathering, they heard Jesus was healing the sick. Some of them had experienced it first hand, they had brought friends and family with them to come and see.  Jesus, physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted, went up the mountain and sat down with his disciples.  But the people pressed in.  The followed in large numbers, making their way up the mountain; the disciples could hear them, they were beginning to come into sight.  Now, it was near the time of passover when some of the Jewish people would make a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem.  The story of the exodus would have been looming large in their minds, just as the events of Holy Week make a home in us during Lent.  None of this is insignificant in our story today.  On this particular day, the people - some full of expectation, others curious, or reluctant  - were making a pilgrimage to see the living temple, the Messiah.

Jesus likely did not feel as bewildered as his disciples, who may have been thinking:  "What is going on!? What are we going to do up on the mountain for all of these hungry people? Jesus! Make them go away! Make this stop! How can we fulfill the expectations of these people? Surely this will end in disappointment or worse with an angry and even violent crowd."

Jesus, reading the anxiety on the faces of the disciples said to Philip, "Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?"  Exactly, Philip thought, "six months wages would not buy enough for each one to get even a little."  Then Andrew interjects a little sheepishly, "there is a boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they amongst so many people?"

I love this part of the story, Andrew has found food, but it is so very little that he is almost reluctant to offer his knowledge, reluctant to bring the food forward.  It might be better to say nothing than to offer what will clearly be insufficient for the need.  We can relate to this, can't we? We see a need and we know of someone who can offer something but the need is so great and what we are offering is so little, that we wonder if we should even say anything at all.   It seems almost foolish to say, "oh, Jesus, this boy has five loaves and two fish" and that is why he adds, "but what are they amongst so many people."  And yet, Andrew didn't tell the boy, "go away, this will obviously not do." He has enough faith to bring the food to Jesus.  And what about the boy with the bread and fish to share?  What about the faith of the child in this whole story - he is bringing what he has to the disciples, to Jesus, who will take it and do what only the boy imagines possible - he will feed this whole crowd.

Jesus told the disciples to make the people sit down.  Easy to say but imagine organizing an impatient crowd of 5 000 people on a grassy hillside!  Perhaps the disciples organized them in groups and each of the disciples looked after a group of people, maybe volunteers came forward to help with the task.  However it happened, the people sat down.  And when they were seated, Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he broke them, he gave them to those who were there, and also the fish, as much as they wanted.

"As Jesus' friends started to hand out the food, do you know what? It was the strangest thing, no matter how much they broke off - there was always more.  And more.  Enough for 5 000! Everyone ate as much as they wanted - second helpings, third helpings - until they were full. And still there were leftovers." (Sally Lloyd Jones)

As the people were sitting there eating with Jesus, hearing his words, in the shadow of the passover, they thought of the great prophet Moses who lead them out of Egypt. They remembered how God had provided for them in the desert, how quail and bread rained down from heaven and how they were filled for forty years.  And now on this hillside, bread and fish for all! They were waiting for a King to come to rescue them from the oppression of the Romans - this was a sign, this must be him! The great prophet who Isaiah spoke of, our rescuer! This thought was sparking in the minds of people throughout the crowd, they began to say to one another... what does this mean? could this be? The people were ready to take Jesus by force and make him their King.  But God had another way for Jesus, hearing the rumblings in the crowd and the growing unrest, Jesus withdrew to the mountain by himself.

This miracle in John is the second sign of God's glory, the first was the miracle at Cana, when Jesus turned the water into wine. This sign points back to the exodus, we are pointed to it at the communion table each week and it also points forward to the feast yet to come where all will be filled.  It is a sign of the God's provision, for all people, in Christ, who is the bread of heaven.

There is a noted pattern in meals that we read of in scripture, often three to four verbs appear: taken, blessed, broken and given.  You have likely heard it most often, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "this is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me."  Jesus life: taken, blessed, broken and given for the life of the world.  These words: taken, blessed, broken and given are the shape of our liturgy and our lives.

Last week I was at the Global Access Conference hosted by Joni and Friends.  On the closing night of the conference Joni told this story of Jesus breaking the bread and feeding thousands and she shared the story of God taking her brokenness and blessing it.  "My life, my body was broken and at first I felt forsaken, this brokenness has not been without tears and deep pain, but friends, God has took my broken spirit, my broken body and he blessed it.  And in my meagre, paltry, skimpy brokenness Christ is feeding thousands.  And he is pouring out grace upon grace... In the end, when I am done with this wheelchair and I STAND before Jesus, I will kick this wheelchair to hell but first, I will pay homage to this strange, dark, shadowy companion, the severe mercy of my quadriplegia that took me down a road I never would have travelled and lead me to Christ, who has blessed me beyond what I ever could have imagined.  And friends, I can't wait for the feast that awaits us all."

Jesus takes what we bring him, he takes us and gives thanks and blesses what we bring, who we are in our bringing.  He offers it up to God and into the person of the Godhead and the operation of the Trinity.  Jesus breaks what we bring him. We cannot come to the table with pride, with pretense, with hard hearts, with demands - Jesus breaks through this so that we might be open to new life, to new action.  We discover the brokenness - of Jesus and our own - we find our healing in his broken body.  "And Jesus gives back what we bring him, who we are. Only it is not what we brought.  Who we are, this self that we offer at the table has been changed into what God gives and what we sing about as amazing grace."  Transformation takes place at the table in the resurrection meal of bread and wine.  "Christ in me." (Peterson, pg. 94)

The Baptism of Jesus

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him saying, "I need to by baptized by you and do you come to me?"  But Jesus answered him; "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he consented.  And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

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This Sunday we will remember the baptism of our Lord - this story is the story that makes sense of our own baptism and draws us back to the wonder of God made flesh; the wonder of creation being redeemed and restored through Jesus.  As Jesus passes through water, he blesses it so that we might receive the gift of LIFE as we pass through it.  We need water to live and to live forever.  In baptism we enact new creation and receive the identity as a child of God.

Last week we looked at the story of Jonah who was in deep water and in the belly of a fish for three days.  Jonah went down into the depths of his own suffering and was met by the mercy of God - three days later he was expelled on the land.  Jesus, like Jonah, would go down into the depths of human suffering, “where things are shapeless and meaningless, in a state of vulnerability and unprotectedness" so that we might be restored and recover the humanity that God intended: to grow in love and confidence as God's sons and daughters.  In his baptism Jesus identifies with the suffering of humanity and his own suffering - he is up to his neck or over his head in it. And when he emerges from the waters, the space between this world and the world to come becomes very small - the heavens are opened, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and the voice of his Father calls: "This is my son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."  A beautiful reminder echoing down from the flood, from the exodus, from Jonah: love is stronger than death.  As we hear this story on Sunday may we be reminded of God's great love and know that we are his beloved children.

Many of the children in our midst have been baptized at an age where they will remember the sacramental rite. The feeling of the water running down their heads or being plunged beneath it, if they were immersed. They may remember the oil on their foreheads and the warmth of the candle's flame as they held it front of them. Others were babies or young children at their baptism, they may have a picture with their parents and godparents and a candle in their room at home. They will likely know the story of their baptism, if they wailed all the way through it, or slept soundly, whom their godparents are, who was present to celebrate with their family. And if they have grown up in the church they will know what it means to be welcomed into the covenant of God and into this family - the church. Take some time and encourage children to tell what they know of their own baptism or the baptism of a friend or sibling.  I think the kids will have a lot to share about the sacrament of baptism.

Perhaps you will want to have a bowl of water in the classroom, place it in the centre of the circle or pass it around; encourage children to put their hands in it, to let it run through their fingers. Maybe you want to have a pitcher and give students each a glass of water to drink - reflect on all the ways that we need and use water in our lives.  Bring in some oil remind the students that it is precious, costly even.  Ask the students to remember back to David’s anointing as King – how did Samuel anoint David? He poured oil on his forehead – recall the line from psalm 123 – you ‘anoint my head with oil.’ Oil was a sign from ancient times to mark that a person was chosen by God for a special work.  Jesus is called the anointed one of God; the one God has chosen to be our savior.  On his baptism God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit to do his saving work.  

When we are baptized we become a part of Jesus.  We are anointed with the Holy Spirit to share in doing his work so the priest makes a cross on our foreheads with oil, to show that God has chosen us to be his own forever. Water and the spirit are signs of God’s saving work.  The Spirit is like a wind, blowing into us the breath we need to live.  It is like a flame burning in each living thing (remember Pentecost), the spirit is like a light, showing us how to live in the way God wants for us.  Each baptismal candidate is given a candle; we light the candle from the Paschal candle, the Christ candle.  It stands for Jesus’s new life, and the pillar of fire at the Red Sea and God’s Spirit with us.  The candle reminds us that we have passed from darkness to light. The baptismal liturgy reads:

God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and has given us a place with the saints in light.

You have received the light of Christ;

walk in this light all the days of your life.

All      Shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father.

In your classes take some time to give thanks for the sacrament of baptism, for Jesus who identified with us, who entered into the suffering of the world and his own suffering that we might be saved.  Give thanks for the forgiveness of sins, for a God who gives life, new life; life that is stronger than death, because it has come from Jesus who has passed from death into life and who has joined us to him.  We are a part of his body and we do his work in the world.  We are Christ’s own forever.

May the time you spend in preparation and with children this week be full of thanksgiving and joy as you remember your own baptism, the baptism of your children and others, giving thanks for the saving work of Christ in your life and in our world.