John 6:1-21
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 that 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 of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has 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 five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When 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.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
Jesus takes five loaves and two fish, gives thanks, and has the disciples start serving out a bread course and appetizers! At which point the people back then do exactly what you and I do today… they completely filled up on the bread and apps and had 12 doggie baskets of leftovers to boot! Jesus’ answer to people who are hungry is simple… you feed ‘em! An absolutely beautiful answer and if you went home today with your belly filled with the idea like the 5000 were with bread... that Jesus feeds people for no other reason than that they were hungry, you’d be good!
But Jesus did have more planned than just bread and apps. Its true, most people, then and now, fill up on the bread and apps and end up missing out on the little amuse-bouche… Jesus’ complimentary little bite he was offering. But if you have a little room today, I’d be happy to give it to you now. Do you have some room? It’s small. It’s free! Yes? Good! This free little bite is Jesus’ reminder to us that when we take the time to notice and are thankful for WHAT WE HAVE rather than obsessing, lamenting, and whinging over what WE DON’T HAVE… incredible things ALWAYS happen out of that spirit of thankfulness! Was I right? A small delicious bite, right?
Now then, you’ve had the bread and apps. You were good enough to make room for that little amuse-bouche as well, but to be honest, I’m really hoping that today, YOU might still have room for what I believe is the actual main course Jesus wanted to serve back then to those thousands and right now to you and me. Again, don’t get me wrong, the apps are excellent. Feeding people simply because they are hungry (chef’s kiss!) perfect. The complimentary taste reminding us of the power of thankfulness and generosity over the weakness of selfishness and scarcity… delectable. Just those two courses alone have been filling people up with great take-home messages for literally millennia so I don’t want to imply that there is anything at all wrong with them. They are fantastic… its just that because they are so good, people almost always fill up before they have the chance to get to the main course. But if you’ve saved some room… see what you think about this course!
When confronted with the problem of let’s say 15,000-ish hungry people, what did the disciples suggest? Here in John’s Gospel Jesus tests the disciples by asking them where they could buy bread for all these people. In the other Gospels, the disciples suggest that Jesus send them away to find food for themselves. In both versions Jesus was setting them up to learn this main course lesson. The disciples did as Jesus knew they would, and so the disciples suggested their era’s equivalent of telling the crowd they should get a job and buy their own food. That they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and feed themselves. That they should mount their horse, grab their gun, tip their hat to the little lady and the young-uns and ride off to rustle up some grub like the real, rugged, independent, beholden to no one, MEN, that God made them to be! The disciples suggested that because THAT was all they knew. THAT was the worldview they grew up in… THAT was the world view they were taught… THAT was the worldview they learned from childhood. That was the worldview in which they lived their entire lives, without a second thought that there could EVER be another way to look at or live in the world.
But here, in addition to Jesus showing the disciples that folks who follow Jesus feed people with no other consideration than that they are hungry and that a spirit of thanksgiving does miraculous things… Jesus was ALSO trying to teach the disciples that a worldview that sends people off to fend for themselves is NOT the worldview in which God had created humanity to live! Instead, Jesus directly confronted, and clearly puts down THAT individualistic, go it alone, bootstrap pulling worldview as something NOT from God! That’s what Jesus was doing when he said, “They need not go away. YOU give them something to eat.”
The solutions to the needs of this world, Jesus was trying to teach them, will NOT be found in sending people away to fend for themselves as individuals! THAT is simply NOT how God created humans to live in this world! NO! The solution to ALL the needs of this world (not just hunger) are to be found in doing what Jesus had the people do on that hillside… gather people together, sit them down together, give thanks together for ALL of the abundant gifts we have together as a community, and then sharing all those gifts out in the same way that those loaves and fish were shared… generously, abundantly… some might even say recklessly! Sharing them out as if you were CERTAIN from the beginning that no matter how much you give away, there will STILL be twelve baskets left over when you’re done! I know. I know. Some will call that communism. I know. I know. Some will call that socialism. But what Jesus calls it is the WAY God created humanity to live abundantly as part of God’s creation! What Jesus calls it is the TRUTH of what it is to live this life as a full fledged human being! What Jesus calls it, is the worldview in which God created us to live, and to have life, and to have that gift of life which God has so generously given us… abundantly. Amen.
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