Food for the Poor
Food for the Poor by Rev. L. John Gable
February 3, 2019
If you have been with us during the past several months you will recall that we are in the midst of a study of the Apostles’ Creed, but have pushed the pause button for a while in order to populate, or fill in the gap, left by the comma placed between “born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate”. The creed rather curiously leaves out the entirety of Jesus’ life and ministry.
So using John’s Gospel as a guide, thus far we have been introduced to the ministry of John the Baptist and the calling of Jesus’ first disciples. Last week Oscar preached on the first of Jesus’ miracles, His turning the water in to wine at the wedding feast in Cana, a miracle which the Gospel writer refers to as being a “sign”, which Oscar rightly referred to as being a “clue” which is given to help us come to the understanding, and more than that, to faith in the confession that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah of God, the One we rightly call Savior and Lord, which we also understand to be the purpose of the writing of the Apostles’ Creed.
John also uses these miracles/signs/clues as a framework for Jesus’ own teaching about who He is. The signs we will look at in the coming weeks all set the stage for Jesus’ famous “I AM” statements, beginning with the miracle we look at this morning, the feeding of the 5000, which not insignificantly is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. This one obviously caught everyone’s attention, and for very good reason.
John 6:1-14, 35(NRSV)
1After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When 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?” 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
9“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10Jesus 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.
11Then 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. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
As we read, Jesus is returning from doing ministry in the region of the Gentiles and is admittedly fatigued from having preached and taught and performed miracles everywhere He went. Note, even Jesus gets tired. But even as He tries to take a mini-retreat to the mountains with His disciples, the crowds follow Him because they have seen “the signs/miracles He was doing for the sick.” I don’t know about you, but when I want a little R&R I try to get away to a place where I am not seen or known nor need to be heard, and while Jesus may have desired the same, when He saw the crowds which followed Him He had compassion on them, (another good insight in to the nature and character of Jesus), which sets the stage for yet another miracle.
Seeing the large crowd gathered in that remote place He turned to Philip, we met Philip several weeks ago when after meeting Jesus he went to get his friend Nathaniel. He asked him, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” John makes note that Jesus was testing Philip and had it been me, I would have failed that test, just as Philip did. Philip saw this as both an economic and a logistical problem, “Where can we buy enough food to feed this many people in this remote area?” He knew that crowds, like armies, travel on their stomachs. Jesus however was asking a “faith” question. Given all the signs and miracles they had seen Him perform recently He was testing them to see whether they might have the faith to see not only the “problem” but also the “answer” who was standing right in front of them. Again, I too may have failed that test as I look at the myriad of “problems” and “needs” facing us today. Too often I see “all these people and all their needs” without recognizing the One who stands before and with us.
Seeing this problem from the perspective of commercial enterprise Philip rightly answers, “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” That and “we aren’t anywhere near a grocery store.” They too were in a “food desert”. Very true, cut Jesus out of this equation and they are helpless to do anything to meet this need.
In the midst of that stand-off, however, another disciple, Andrew, steps forward and says something to the effect of “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt, but “there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” Basically this little boy was offering up his sack lunch. This was a peasant’s meal, merely food for the poor. Andrew almost apologetically then adds, “But what are they among so many?” In his eyes, a minimal offering to be sure, but in the eyes of Jesus the makings of a miracle, the mustard seed of faith which is capable of moving great mountains!
We know how the story unfolds. Jesus tells the people to sit down. He then “took the loaves and when He had given thanks He distributed them to those who were seated.” And they all ate to their fill, and He did the same with the fish. And when everyone was finished eating, fully sated, Jesus had His disciples collect the leftovers, 12 baskets full. You see, there is no waste in the economy of God.
This miracle/sign/clue is the backdrop for Jesus’ famous assertion, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
I wonder with you this morning, where do you see yourself in this story?
I think it is safe to say that we do not see ourselves playing the part of Jesus. What about Philip? Do you ever find yourself confused and overwhelmed and discouraged by the weight and depth and scope of the problems which face us, individually, as a community, a nation, a world? If you do, it’s OK. That’s one of the reasons stories like this are included in the Scriptures. Jesus invites us, real people to come face to face with real problems, even those we don’t have the answers to or the means or resources sufficient to address. But what I love about this story, even if it is a test of faith for Philip or for us, is that Jesus is the One asking the question. He doesn’t let us off the hook or take away our sense of responsibility. He seems to be saying, “OK, there are a lot of problems, a lot of needs out there. What are you going to do about it?”, as if we actually have a part to play in addressing those needs, in partnering with God to meet those needs. Notice, Philip wasn’t chastised for not having enough faith; rather He was given a front row seat to witness a miracle.
Or maybe you identify with Andrew. Suddenly feeling the urge, no longer to stand on the outside looking in at the problems at hand, but ready and willing to roll up your sleeves and step in to try to help. This willingness to “not just stand there but to do something” seems to be a characteristic of Andrew. Recall he was the one who, after meeting Jesus for the first time, went to find Simon Peter his brother. Andrew is not only a “joiner” he is also a “gatherer”, a “multiplier”, the kind who says, “I rather be part of the solution than part of the problem!” May more of us be Andrews or Annettes.
Perhaps you identify best with the little boy who offers up his lunch, meager as it was, five barley loaves and two little fish. “It isn’t much but it’s all I’ve got and you are welcome to it.” His is a widow’s mite kind of offering, the very kind of offering which Jesus recognizes and honors. It is remarkable what Jesus is able to do with the very little we bring to Him. Our offerings, even today, make up the stuff of miracles.
This week I asked Mary Alice Moon to do a little research for me. Mary Alice, as are many from Tab, is very active at the Mid-North Food Pantry, so I asked her to find out what could be done with a donation of $300. Why $300, in round numbers I thought if each of us who are in attendance at Tab today donated a mere $1 apiece it would come to about $300. Here’s what she found out. $300 could buy 600 dozen eggs, or 300 cans of cooking oil or 300 boxes of mashed potatoes. All of that for as little as $1 from each of us! Or consider the A-maizing lunch we are going to offer in two weeks which benefits the Umoja project feeding orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. For as little as $25 we can feed an elementary child lunch for a year. Just imagine how many people we could feed with our meager offering, the equivalent of five loaves and two fish? We may not be able to do it all but we can do something.
Certainly we cannot miss hearing the analogy John gives of Jesus making this miracle a sacramental meal, not unlike the feeding of the Children of Israel in the wilderness with manna, or as Jesus did with His disciples at the Last Supper, when He took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. As we listen to this story perhaps we best recognize ourselves as being part of the crowd gathered that day, even as we are recipients of this meal provided for us today as we receive the sacrament of communion. Rather than identifying ourselves with those who are “givers”, here we recognize that we are all “recipients” of God’s good grace and great bounty; we are the poor, the poor in spirit, who are fed by this meal.
The capstone of this lesson comes late in the chapter, after Jesus performs other miracles and even attempts to explain His intention in the feeding of the 5000, when He says, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to Me will never be hungry and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
Jesus here offers us a nourishment that we cannot receive anywhere else. Here we are reminded that even we who have plenty to eat to nourish ourselves physically, also need to be fed spiritually. Jesus understood this on the hillside beside the Sea of Galilee. He knew that the crowds that followed Him were not only hungry for food for their stomachs but also for spiritual nourishment for their souls. We know the same when we serve a meal in the Open Door. We can provide good food, which we do, but we do so with the understanding that tomorrow our guests will be hungry again, so we must also feed them the spiritual nourishment of the Gospel, with the desire to introduce them to the One who is the Host of the meal.
Let me close with this wonderful little story from The Silver Chair, one of the Chronicle of Narnia books written by C.S. Lewis. In the story Jill has entered a strange and magical country at the top of a very high mountain. After wandering for some time in search of water to drink, she encounters a Lion, who is lying between her and a deliciously babbling stream. Jill is terrified of the Lion, but she is also dreadfully thirsty.
The Lion asks her if she is thirsty, and she replies that she is dying of thirst. “Then drink”, the Lion tells her. She is too afraid to venture near the Lion so kindly asks if he would mind leaving while she drinks. She quickly realizes the presumption of her request: as Lewis writes, “She might well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.” Meanwhile the sounds of the running water are making her more and more thirsty.
Jill asks the Lion if he will promise not to do anything to her if she comes to the stream and drinks, but the Lion responds that he makes no such promise. Driven nearly frantic with thirst, she moves a step closer, then asks the Lion if he ever eats little girls. The Lion responds matter-of-factly, “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms.”
Still pondering her dilemma she tells the Lion that she dares not come and drink, and the Lion replies that she will then die of thirst. Taking one more step closer she says, “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then”, but the Lion replies, “There is no other stream.”
Friends, we too hunger and thirst, some of us physically, all of us spiritually, so we too need to understand that there is no other stream, no other source, that can satisfy our deepest needs and longings, both now and for eternity, than Jesus. So He invites us to come, for He alone is the bread of life, there is no other.
We didn’t read the text this morning, but at the end of this chapter, after He has performed other miracles and explained Himself as the bread of life, some of those who followed Him decided this was just too much for them, so they turned back from following Him. Like Jill in the story, they thought they would go in search of “other streams” to drink from, not realizing that there are no other streams. Yet those who decided to stay with Him did so because they came to the realization, “Lord, to whom shall we turn for You alone have the words of eternal life.” May we also cling to this promise that as we turn to Him in faith we will never hunger or thirst for any other, for there is no other, He alone is the bread of life. Amen.