Matthew 14:13-21
Our new beagle, Wesley, is slowly settling into life with us. He has found his “safe place,” the love seat in the sunroom. Which is an improvement over the first night, when he curled himself up in the corner between the love seat and the wall. He has discovered that the cats are much less concerned with becoming friends than he is. He is learning our routines in the morning and evening, has found his spot to sleep – not in the new bed we paid $45 for, but on the floor beside it. And mostly, Wesley has discovered the wonderful truth that he will get fed twice a day, every day, with treats in between. For two days we didn’t hear him make a sound – no crying, no growling, no barking. But on the third morning, while I tried to prepare two bowls of dog food and give Maggie her pills, Wesley started barking at me. It was like he was saying, “Hurry up, lady! I’m hungry!” And when he eats, he basically inhales the food. I’m not sure he even chews it! It’s like he thinks he’s never going to be full, completely satisfied.
I’ve never been actually physically hungry when I didn’t know I would be fed until I was full. And I give thanks for that every day. But I have been hungry and had to wait to be fed until the meal could be prepared or I could finish the work I was doing or the waiter/waitress brought it from the kitchen. Being hungry can be annoying, frustrating, and distracting. It can even be embarrassing: haven’t you had your stomach growl at just the wrong moment? But when you know that your hunger is about to get satisfied, you feel relaxed and happy and full of anticipation.
On one level, the story I just read is a story about hungry people being fed until they were full. And it is a story that is so important that it is the only miracle story included in all four Gospels. Let’s look at it more closely.
Jesus had just heard that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed by King Herod. And so he “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” Whoa. It sounds like Jesus was really determined to have some time alone: withdrew, by boat, privately, solitary. He needed some time to grieve, to mourn this personal loss of a relative. But it wasn’t going to work out that way. The crowds heard that Jesus had moved on and so they followed on foot, even arriving across the lake before Jesus got there in the boat. And how did Jesus react? Did he tell them to go away and leave him alone until he felt more like facing them? No. Jesus had compassion on them and immediately began healing the sick who had been brought to him.
The day passed until it was nearly evening. Finally, the disciples went up to Jesus and told him he should send the people away. They had good reasons for this request. They were in a remote location. It was already getting late. And the people needed to go into the nearby villages to buy themselves some food. It is interesting to me that the disciples raised the issue of food, but there is no record that anyone in the crowd had complained about being hungry. Maybe the disciples were getting hungry! But Jesus’s answer surprised them: “You give them something to eat.” Jesus didn’t just feed the people because they had no food; he told the disciples to do it.
The disciples were overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. They knew the size of the crowd: five thousand men, plus women and children. And the only food they had on hand was five loaves of bread and two fish. That might have been enough to feed 13 people, but it was definitely far short of what would be needed to feed that huge crowd. The disciples were totally focused on the apparent scarcity of their resources. It never occurred to them that they could have relied on the power of God to provide adequate food for the crowd. They couldn’t dream big enough to see what their power – with God’s Spirit – could accomplish.
Jesus took the bread and fish, gave thanks for them, broke the bread, gave the food to the disciples, and told them to distribute it to the people. Everyone ate and was fed till they were full. They were all satisfied. Not only that, but the disciples took up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over! It makes me wonder how many times we turn away when Jesus calls us to do something because we think we lack adequate resources to accomplish it, not realizing that God will provide what we need.
I said earlier that on one level this is a story about hungry people getting enough food to eat. But I want to push the image a little further. Because there are hungers that are just as deep as the hunger for food, hungers that Jesus feeds until we are full. Some people are hungry for love; and we know that Jesus always has compassion, always shows the immeasurable love of God. Some people are hungry for a purpose; Jesus calls us to follow his example of feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, healing those who are sick, clothing those who need clothing, and working for justice for all people. Other people are hungry to belong; Jesus gives us the community of faith – the church – where everyone is welcome, everyone fits in, no one is turned away. Whatever you are hungry for, Jesus feeds you until you are full.
We will gather at the table of Christ in a few moments, a visible and tangible reminder of the extent Jesus went to in order to feed our hunger for salvation and right relationship with God. Jesus gave his life so that we might live, that we might live as children of God who practice our faith. May the bread of heaven feed us till we want no more.
