Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard about the beheading of John the Baptist, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion on them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
It was a “James Taylor at Tanglewood” sized crowd and they were getting hungry. JT wouldn't start playing for another 2000 years, so that wasn't going to help, and now the sun was going down. I am certain the disciples felt the crowd getting… restless. They came to Jesus with a proposal, “send the crowd away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
Their thinking was common sense... logical. If all those people needed something essential for life… be that food, water, healthcare, housing, education, or safety, the best way to deal with that kind of need, on that kind of scale, was to “Send them away so they could get it for themselves”.
Scores of people in our day and age advocate, vote, and legislate for this precise way of dealing with our neighbors. The RIGHT way to deal with people, they say, is to force them to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” The RIGHT way, they say, to care for our neighbors is to “tough love” them into becoming “rugged individuals” who GO out and find what they need to live ON THEIR OWN!
There's just one problem the original disciples ran into with that kind of common sense... logical proposal. It’s the same problem modern disciples run into when voting for and legislating that people should go out and find what they need on their own. The problem is… Jesus rejected it. Calmly, but clearly and completely, Jesus rejected it. Sending people off to fend for themselves is NOT the Way Jesus wanted his disciples to care for the people. Jesus told them, “They need NOT go away. YOU give them something to eat.”
Jesus didn’t mumble. If those disciples wanted to keep being disciples, then “YOU give them something to eat” was to be their Way. Likewise, if modern day people want to claim the name “Disciple of Jesus” then “YOU give them something to eat” must be the Way they live, the Way they write policy, and the Way they vote. Jesus’ directive for his disciples was, and is, crystal clear: “THEY need not go away; YOU give them something to eat.” Telling your neighbor to go it alone is the OPPOSITE of what Jesus told his disciples to do… it is literally anti-Christ! Your hungry neighbors are to be given what they need and the only thing we are to require of them is that they be hungry!
In today's political climate many would call that Socialism! But you know what? I don’t care what politicians call it… because Jesus told me to do it! In today's political climate the newest trend would be to call that Communism. Which, I mean, come on, Joe McCarthy is calling on his black rotary phone (from a location in eternity I will not speculate about) and he wants his 1950’s era witch hunt back! But again, I really don’t care what demagogues call it… because Jesus told his disciples... “YOU give them something to eat!” So if you’re going to claim for yourself the badge of “Disciple of Jesus”… then giving the hungry something to eat, regardless of what some boogeyman in a $5000 suit might call it… is unambiguously what a Disciple of Jesus MUST be about!
And yet, those who claim the title “Disciple of Jesus” most loudly have dismantled USAID, resulting in humanitarian aid reaching 25 million fewer people this year. They have cut off an estimated 14 million people from severe, acute, malnutrition treatments including 2.5 million children. And here at home they have taken away SNAP benefits from some 4.5 million people and cut over a billion dollars from the programs that food banks and pantries use to buy food. These are NOT the actions of a Disciple of Jesus who has been clearly told their calling is: “YOU give them something to eat!” This is a great evil. This is anti-Christ.
The numbers are soul crushing. So what do we do? I think we lean on what we learned from the Weeds and the Wheat. We first point out this evil as clearly and as loudly as we can. What they have done IS EVIL! What they have done IS…ANTI-CHRIST!
Then, once we’ve called it out for what it is, we need to pivot and do what those original Disciples did by the Sea. We need to look around and gather what we have on hand. We need to bring what we have to Jesus for a blessing, and then we need to keep on feeding anyone who is hungry.
Now, in this place and in this time, what WE have on hand is more likely to be buns and barbecue, than loaves and fish. But that's okay because we’re still giving people something to eat. In this place and in this time our talents lean more toward creative fundraising than direct service. But that's okay too, because the money we raise supports those who have incredible gifts for multiplying food. So with matching funds, bulk purchasing, and food industry partnerships, they can feed ten with the same dollars we could only feed one.
I know, the hour feels late and our national landscape feels desolate. I look out at our nation the way I imagine the disciples looked out at that crowd, and I say "how Jesus, how?" But my hope for this lesson is that we can help one another remember... not only does Jesus say "you give them something to eat" but he also says "bring what you have to me" and what we've seen, over and over again in the nine years we've been together, is that when we do those two things together, Jesus takes the small amounts we gather and somehow... time and time again... he has multiplied them in unexpected ways into an overwhelming abundance.
May we continue to do the good work we've been doing until the day comes when the leftovers have all been collected and all of our neighbors have enough. Amen.
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