David Mitchell, a British comedian, was on a talk show where the subject of this miracle, Christ’s feeding of the five thousand, came up.
“The other interesting thing about that story,” he said, “is that out of the five thousand people, only two of them thought to bring any food. And so in a way, it’s, okay, good miracle, but the other side of it is, four thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight idiots. No sense of foresight at all, and Jesus doesn’t make them learn a lesson from that! It’s all fine! Could’ve said, you didn’t bring any food, of course there’s not going to be any food! Think about it. Plan next time! Judea would be better if people planned. But oh no, it always works out just fine, Jesus will magic up some grub. He’ll get crucified one day and then what’re you gonna eat?”
Now this would be true if Jesus’s purpose in his earthly ministry was really to teach people how to be good resourceful, self-reliant, Boy Scouts, prepared for every circumstance, and in no way ever a burden on society.
David Mitchell is funny, but he doesn’t understand Jesus’s purpose or the deeper meaning of this miraculous sign.
The background of this story, as we know from other Gospel accounts, is a picture of chaos. Jesus was preaching and healing in Galilee. The disciples had just returned from their first efforts as missionaries. They are excited, but also exhausted. Jesus knew they needed rest. So he took them to the wilderness to get away from the crowds for a while. But the crowds followed them. The Gospel according to Mark says that the people ran on foot around the lake, as Jesus crossed in a boat, and got to the other side before him. They were desperate for the deliverance and healing they knew only Jesus could provide.
These crowds were the people Jesus came to save, the “lost sheep of the house of Israel,” neglected and exploited by their leaders, oppressed by the devil, and suffering from all the evil effects that sin had brought upon the world since the days of Adam.
And Jesus had compassion on them.
Although David Mitchell only mentions the Crucifixion to get a laugh, there is something to it. This is what the loaves and fishes point to: Jesus Christ is preparing to give, not just bread and fish, but his own body, for the life of the whole world. As our Lord says in the same chapter of John, “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Now that we’ve seen a little bit how this sign fits into the big picture of Jesus’s ministry, let’s think about how we fit into this story of salvation.
Do you identify with any of the characters? The disciples? The multitudes?
Spiritually speaking, we are the multitudes. We need Jesus. He is our only hope for healing, for deliverance, for salvation from our own sins and from the evils of this world. We pray “Give us this day our daily bread” and “Deliver us from evil”— would that, more often, we meant it!
Our lived experience is not always this way. I find myself in good health, comfortable, I don’t need to worry about where my next meal is coming from. I packed a lunch. I’m self-sufficient and, too often, self-satisfied.
But this doesn’t work if I’m going to obey God’s call to follow Christ, to do the works that Jesus did. To feed the hungry, heal the sick, to save the lost. This is God’s call to all of us.
In Mark’s account, Jesus challenges his disciples, “You give them something to eat.” Now Jesus didn’t say, start a committee, or hold a fundraiser, or pass a bill. Those may be good things to do, but first we are challenged to respond personally, individually, to those who are right in front of us. “You give them something to eat.” And looks different for each one of us. But that is the power of life in Christ. Our Lord works uniquely through every one of us.
We must answer Christ’s call. But the call is also a test. The disciples failed the test in this story, when they started tallying up how much bread they had on hand. As those practically-minded businessmen, Philip and Andrew, said, how on earth are we to buy bread so these people can eat? Our own limited resources don’t begin to address the great needs, whether spiritual or physical, that we find in our own neighborhoods, let alone in the wider world. What are these few loaves and fishes among so many?
Of course, their resources were never going to be sufficient for the task. Neither are ours. We have to depend on the power of Jesus Christ. And we have his promise that what we need, he will provide. Consider Paul’s words from this morning’s epistle reading:
Christ will dwell in our hearts through faith, so that we may be rooted in love, and have power to comprehend— to be filled with— the fulness of God through Jesus Christ.
We will have the power to be and do all that Jesus Christ has called us to do, because we are not filled with our own power, but with all the power of God!
It’s hard for people like me, who still prefer to trust in our own resources, but that’s just it. We can’t do the work of the Spirit in the power of our own flesh.
We must depend on Christ.
Now depending on Christ also means avoiding false choices that do not save.
Today in America we have a strong temptation to reduce everything to politics. Political anxiety afflicts both the left and the right—perhaps now more than ever. Every election, every political appointment, every news headline becomes the latest reason why the end is nigh, why the time has now come to hate our enemies and do evil to those who disagree with us.
How often do even our own religious leaders abandon the gospel of Christ and preach notions better suited to the protest rally than the pulpit! Paying their dues to Caesar instead of to God.
This is not faith!
Jesus didn’t run away from death, but he did flee from a false political attempt to establish the kingdom of God.
“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”
Our Lord was already king by divine right, and he was prepared to prove that right with his own body. He didn’t want popular acclaim, agitation, activism, revolution. Put away your sword, he said to the disciples. Don’t settle for political solutions to spiritual problems.
If you find a friend suffering from a poisonous snakebite, you don’t put a Band-aid on the wound. The victim will die.
Political “salvation” is a Band-aid for a world that is dying of the serpent’s sting.
Only the blood of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, can heal and save us from sin and death.
Our most important mission, as the Church, is to bring people to Jesus to be saved, so that they too may drink from the cup of salvation and eat the living bread of eternal life.
Now today perhaps you are the one who is in need. Perhaps you have been bitten. The serpent’s venom is poisoning your heart with the dread of death, the whispered accusation of guilt.
And if that is you, there is good news. You have made it to the hospital! The great Physician is in, the one who was lifted up on the cross for your salvation. He offers you redemption through his blood, and you can be healed.
Believe in Jesus Christ.
Trust in Him to save you.
Here at Church of the Redeemer we are surrounded by people who know His grace and can offer what we have received from Jesus: deliverance, redemption, eternal life. No matter what the challenge, nothing is stronger than His love, and nothing is impossible for those who are in Jesus Christ.
Sermon preached by Seminarian Peter Schellhase
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
29 July 2018