Tell Me the Story of Jesus – The Miracle (feeding the hungry)
February 15, 2009 - Tevis Austin
Illustration: I actually thought I would be smart today and pack my lunch. Being here for three services is a long time. I usually don’t get home till about 1:30 PM. By that time I am really hungry.
Any of you pack your lunch now or when you were a kid? This is Brian’s lunch box. I borrowed it. Mine actually had superheroes on it instead of a Scottish kilt.
What kinds of food did you have in your lunch box? My mom would often pack the PB and J. There was also the bologna sandwich, Spaghetti O’s, thermos with cup of soup. Of course - cookies. Oh there was one of my favorites: Vienna Sausage and Potted Meat.
Picture: Have you ever read the ingredients on the back of this? Mechanically separated beef is what it says now. What does that mean? *Growing up, this is what it used to say: beef tripe, beef hearts, chicken, partially defatted cooked porky fatty tissue – less than 2% natural flavorings.
That is nothing to write home about. Nothing that anyone is going to talk about years later. Especially not 2000 years later.
I can’t imagine that the mom who packed her child’s lunch in the story we are going to look at today would have guessed that nearly 2000 years later on a continent she never dreamed existed, we would be discussing the contents of her kid’s lunch.
A lunch that basically contained five barley loaves and two little fish. Five loaves of bread about the size of small hot dog buns. They weren’t wheat but barley. Barley was like the bread of the very poor. And the fishes would have been no larger than sardines.
They had no means of keeping them fresh, so they would have been heavily salted. In fact there was a nearby village known as “the place of salted fish.”
The story we are talking about is often referred to as “The Feeding of the Five Thousand.” You can find it in Luke 9:12-17 but you can also find this story in Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6, all four gospels. Out of all the miracles Jesus performed, this is the only miracle that appears in all four of the Gospels. I sometimes think that it may well be the most difficult miracle in the Gospels with which we have to deal.
Jesus performed some miracles that at first glance can seem to be a very trivial use of his power. For example, there was a time when he turned water into wine for a wedding party, and here in the story today, apparently Jesus feeds a lot of not so smart people.
I mean really. The story is about 5000 men who went on an all day retreat and forgot their lunch. That is 5000 men not including women and children. The size of the crowd would have probably been more like about 15,000-20,000. Among them, there is just one lunch.
Picture of 15,000 people in China meeting for a lobster feast. Took nearly 500 cooks and 10 tons of lobster to feed everyone. (in 2007) Resource:
Can you imagine what it would cost to feed all those people?
In our story today, Jesus was nearing the end of his ministry. Word about Jesus has spread all around. People are coming because Jesus heals. They are coming because he doesn’t teach like the other religious leaders. They are coming because some of them are wondering if Jesus was the long awaited Messiah who would free them from Roman control. Many of them were looking for a sign. The crowds at times would get so large, that Jesus would try to find time just to slip away. He would slip away for rest or for prayer, sometimes to teach his disciples.
This was one of those times. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say that Jesus was slipping away quietly to be left alone. He even gets into a boat on this lake, but somehow the crowd still finds out where he is going.
People ran along the shore line to follow him. Crowds would have traveled up to nine miles around the lake to find their way to Jesus. Now you need to understand that this was also the time of the Jewish Passover when Jews would travel from far away places to come to Jerusalem to celebrate. So many in the crowd may have been on their way to celebrate the Passover and somehow they got caught in the crowd following Jesus.
Picture – area of Sermon on the Mount: They make their way to the place where the Sermon on the Mount took place as well as the very place where Jesus would ascend to Heaven after his resurrection.
It is late afternoon. Mark tells us that so many people were coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. But Jesus not only continues to welcome the crowd, teach them, and heal those who are sick, but he Scripture says that He has compassion on them.
It is interesting that the disciples actually look at Jesus and say “Send the crowds away.”
But Jesus says, “You feed them.” In John, it says that He looks at Philip, who was one of his apostles from a nearby town and asks, “Where can we buy bread?”
Can you imagine? It took 500 cooks and 10 tons of lobster to feed the crowd in China. What would it take to feed this crowd? Where could they find that much food? Surely Philip would know. But he responds, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money.” It would have taken them 6-8 months to earn that kind of money.
Philip only saw the problem. I have known people like that. All they can see is the problem, not the possibilities. They only see hopelessness. Nothing can be done. For Philip, it is like he forgot who Jesus was, what Jesus has done – miracles, calming storm, walking on water.
But then there is Andrew who even though the situation seemed hopeless, says, “There is this young kid who has five loaves of bread and two fish.”
Perhaps the crowd was so caught up in following Jesus that no one had any food. They were more focused on following Jesus than worrying about food at the time. Many in the crowd would have been poor so they may have not had food. I have often wondered what that young child must have been thinking about now. “Come on people. Didn’t your mom ever tell you to make sure you pack a lunch?” This child didn’t have much to offer, but he was willing to share.
So the people sit down. Jesus gives thanks for the bread and fish, and begins to give the bread and fish to the disciples to handout to the people. Somehow, it says they ate as much as they wanted. There were even leftovers. Somehow, Jesus performs this incredible miracle.
What happened? How did he do it?
That is where many people can get trapped. How did it happen?
• Was it like a magic trick? Did he have this basket that He kept reaching in and food kept magically appearing? At least that is they way some may picture it. It is as if we doubt that Jesus could actually do this kind of miracle. Sometimes we doubt that God can actually do such a great act.
• Was this like what we refer to as communion, The Lords Supper, the Eucharist? Did everyone just kept this mere small morsel of bread and a tiny sip of wine or grape juice and rise filled?
• Were there really people in the crowd who actually did have some food? Maybe they planned to eat it later. And there were others in the crowd who didn’t? But when the child shared food and Jesus held this up as an example, people began to share so that Jesus turned a crowd of selfish people into a crowd of sharers? It was the first really big potluck.
• Was it that Jesus multiplied the bread and fish and people in the crowd also shared so that everyone had their fill? Did Jesus do this incredible miracle and also turn a crowd of selfish people into a crowd of sharers. That would have been an incredible miracle too.
But I believe so many times we get caught up in trying to figure out how when we should be asking, “What does this mean?”
That is what the Hebrew would have been asking. What did this miracle mean?
When you read John, you discover that for many in the crowd who were looking for a sign of Jesus being the Messiah, when they realized what had happened, they wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him king. They figured that maybe if Jesus was their king, their bellies would be full, and they wouldn’t have to worry about famine again, and Jesus could free them from the Romans.
What does this miracle mean?
Jesus is our provider. (and meets even our most basic needs.)
• I love the way that the Scripture shows us that Jesus has compassion for the people. He cared. He continued to teach them and heal them. And here he even cared enough to feed them. They were hungry. He cared enough to meet even their most basic need.
• Jesus even cares about our most basic needs.
• Sometimes, I think it is easy to feel like God doesn’t care about our needs or the things we face in life. We may even feel that Jesus doesn’t really care at all. He doesn’t care about the little things.
• It seems so trivial to turn water into wine for a wedding party or to feed all these people, but we need to understand that God cares about every detail of our lives. Jesus cares.
• Jesus is our provider. Not only that, but following this miracle, Jesus looks at His disciples and tells them “I am the real bread.”
John 6:35 (The Message)
35-38Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.
• Jesus is the one who sustains life. He meets our spiritual hunger. He is all that we need.
Jesus can take whatever we have and do great things.
• God can take whatever we offer to Him, bless it, and make it a blessing to others.
• He can take whatever we have, little or much, and use it to build His Kingdom.
• When we face obstacles or struggles in our world, some of us are like Philip. We only see the problems and we think there is nothing we can do. The situation is hopeless.
• We don’t believe that Jesus can really do great things. We forget what Jesus did. We forget what God has done for us.
• We look at our problems and say our problems are too big.
• We look around our world and it is easy to say: “The problems are so big. Our resources are so few. How can I ever make a difference? How can we ever have peace in our world? How can we ever feed the hungry? How can we ever house the homeless? How can we ever make sure all children are loved? How can we ever make sure everyone in our world has clean water? How can we ever….
• But it was this child who didn’t have much, but he was willing to share what he had.
• Jesus didn’t create all that bread from nothing. He multiplied what he was given.
• What if we were really willing to give Jesus what we had? Maybe it is time, maybe ability, maybe money – little or much.
• What if everyone was really willing to share what we have?
I have come to believe that this miracle is such an important moment in the life of the church. Maybe that is why it is mentioned in all four Gospels. It was the early church that lived this out and even in the face of persecution. They were willing to trust Jesus as their provider. You can read about it in Acts. They were willing to take what little they had, their few loaves, and make great sacrifices to give what they had to others. People watched this. They gave what they had to offer hope, and ultimately they performed great miracles of faith that God used to do great things. God used it to change the lives of others.
Jesus provides everything we need. He is more than enough for us. Jesus wants to work a miracle in our lives by being the only one who can satisfy our hunger.
Prayer:
• May we trust Jesus as our provider.
• If we are facing obstacles, or feel like God doesn’t care about the details of our lives – may we realize Jesus does care about even our most basic needs.
• May we know that you care.
• May we believe that you can do great things
• May we give what we have to you so that you can do great things in our lives..
Resources:
All You Need is a Miracle by King Duncan
That Would Be Some Miracle – Donald B. Strobe
Communion:
We are going to close our time together by taking communion.
If you have placed your trust in Jesus or if you choose to seek forgiveness and place your trust in Jesus today, please take a piece of the bread and a cup. Hold on to that until it everyone has had a chance to receive the bread and juice.
At this time our ushers are going to come. We are going to distribute the bread and juice this morning. We want this to be a time for you to trust that Jesus is your provider and He is the only one who can fill your hunger. He is the only one who can satisfy and He is more than enough.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.”
35-38Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.
Just as he broke the bread and fed this group of people in this story, Jesus also sat down with his disciples the night before he would face the cross.
Luke 22:14-30
During that meal, he gave thanks. He took some bread, and broke it and said take and eat this represents my body broken for you.
Eat and remember Jesus is your provider.
That same night Jesus also took the cup, and he said take, drink, and remember this represents my blood poured out for you.
Drink and remember Jesus forgives and meets our deepest spiritual hunger.
Prayer:
Thank you for being our provider - providing forgiveness, caring enough about the details of our lives. We also want you to begin to respond by asking what is it that God wants you to give so that He can use to do great things.
Send Out: May we respond by trusting God and letting Him do great things through us.