Reading: John 6:1-15
This is a story of Jesus, early on in the Gospel, as he starts to show people what the kingdom of God is and what God intends life on earth to be about. In this story, he shows it’s about feeding the world with what we already have.
All four Gospels have some version of the story, and that's unusual. The four Gospels are so different from one another that even stories of Jesus’ birth appear in only two of the four. But all 4 Gospels have this story of Jesus feeding a multitude of people with just a handful of loaves and fishes to start with. Shows how important this experience and this calling was to the early church’s own faith and in their memory of Jesus.
Among the four, only this
version in John says it’s a young boy who offers his five loaves and two
fish.
After this (some controversial and
very public healings both in Galilee and Jerusalem), Jesus went across Lake
Galilee. A large crowd followed him,
because they had seen his miracles of healing the sick.
(As one commentator, Kayla McClurg
of the Sojourner community puts it, “The people search him out, seeking yet
another miraculous sign. We keep asking
for more of what we already have.”)
So, Jesus went up a hill and sat down with his disciples. …He looked around and saw the large crowd coming to him, and he asked Philip, “Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?” He said this to test Philip; actually, he already knew what he would do.
Philip answered, “For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins – the daily wage of two hundred labourers, to buy enough bread.”
Another disciple, Andrew, said, “There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But that certainly won’t be enough to feed all these people.”
“Make the people sit down,” Jesus said. So, the people sat – about five thousand men. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted.
When they were all full, he told the disciples to gather the pieces left over, and not waste any. They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves the people had eaten.
Seeing this miracle that Jesus had
performed, the people there said, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come
into the world!” Jesus knew they were
about to take him and make him king, so he went off again to the hills by
himself.
Reflection
As mentioned, some form of this story appears in all four Gospels, each with its own little twist or perspective to it. I wonder, if even within this one version of the tale we were to listen to different people who were there that day narrate what they saw, and tell us how it felt, what we would hear.
Witness One:
Jonah
I was there. My name is Jonah. I was way in the back of the crowd.
That’s where I would hang out in those days at gatherings like that. I was interested in what the teachers and healers and prophets had to say. I knew there had to be a better world coming someday and somehow. But I’d seen too many charlatans and snake oil salesmen, and too many Jonestowns and hate rallies to want to get engaged with some misled and misleading messiah, and with some half-right-but-mostly-half-wrong version of the kingdom of God.
But then I saw what he did.
We were a crowd of hungry people, and when aren’t we all hungry? Hungry for food, for acceptance, for meaning, for help, for work, for a fair share, for love. And with just the little bit there was among us, he fed everyone full.
He took what he had – what somebody gave him, lifted it up and gave thanks to God for it. Then he gave it all back to his disciples to break into pieces and put into baskets, to give out and give away to the people who were there. And by the end, everyone was fed.
Who would have dreamt there would be enough for everyone? But somehow he made a feast of our life together, and I received it along with the others – gratefully and wonderingly.
Which is why these days I sit in the front row. When he speaks, I want to listen. When he calls, I want to hear. When he acts, I want to be there to see and be part of his new world. And if he ever changes his mind and is willing to be king, I wanna be there to serve him.
What did I
pray that day as the basket came to me, and I received bread and fish for
myself? The same thing I and my family
have prayed ever since, before every meal we eat.
Bless, O Lord, this food to our use,
and us to thy service,
and make us ever mindful of the needs of others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Witness Two: Zebedee
I was there, too. And at a certain point I felt uncomfortable. My name is Zebedee, and I like to sit here in the back of the church – right near the door, so I can duck out if I need to.
The day of the Great Feeding was a miracle. Starting with only a few loaves and a couple of fish, I didn’t think he’d be able to do it.
I saw what the young boy gave him, and it was touching to see something so simple offered with such trusting innocence. It was also troubling, though, to imagine the disappointment and disillusionment that would follow when it proved not to be enough.
It was startling to see how far the gift seemed to go and keep going, and how many people’s need it kept on feeding. And then it was disturbing as the basket came my way and I had to decide what to do.
What was in the basket didn’t look nearly enough to feed all the people still waiting their turn. So instead of taking something out, I put something in. What can I say? I wanted this to work.
So I secretly reached into my bag, felt the three small loaves and two figs I had brought along for myself, pulled out two loaves and one fig, put them in the basket for others, and then went over to a little spot by myself to have my own private meal of my remaining loaf and fig.
In the end, there was enough. Everyone was fed. There were even left-overs. He did it. It worked.
I just hope he doesn’t count on us like that all the time. It can get tiring, to have to balance my needs and the needs of everyone else around. And I hate being guilted into giving that way. That’s why I sit near the door. So I can duck out if I need to.
My
prayer? Maybe it’s the same one I heard
from a friend some years ago. He was
half-joking, but it kind of rings true.
“Yes, let there be peace – and plenty and love for all, on Earth, O God;
but let it begin, this time, with someone else. Someone other than me.”
Witness Three: Andrew
I was there, too. I’m Andrew, one of the disciples. It was me who was found by the young boy, and who helped him find Jesus when he was looking for him.
I was struck by a lot of things that day.
I was struck by the audacity of Jesus in even thinking that the crowd could be fed – that such a thing is possible in the world.
I was struck by the innocent eagerness of the young boy to give what he could to help. I still remember the expectant hope in his eyes that his little gift would make a difference.
I was struck by the grace of Jesus in the way he accepted it for what it was – a gift of the heart. I saw the look of deep and grateful love that shone in Jesus’ eyes as he looked at the boy.
And, most of all, I was struck by the deep bliss and total happiness that radiated from that young boy as Jesus then took his gift, elevated it, gave thanks for it, and shared it with others – making it all that was needed for the miracle to start. That boy, at that moment, could happily have died and gone to heaven.
And maybe that’s exactly what happened that day. In that boy, and for all who saw him – something of what we call the old life – the life of the ego, of self-concern, of defensiveness, of closed circles and of fear died and fell away, and a new way of being, of being open, and of being happy in the midst of others came to birth, as God’s kingdom came and God’s will came to be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
That day and through that boy, I saw the joy that comes of giving what we can to Jesus and to God and to others, to be part of something bigger and better – the better world we all long for, and that Jesus opens up for us.
I think it was Kayla McClurg of the Sojourners community – you heard some of her commentary at the beginning – who says, “Everything we need has already been given. We live already in the shadow of so many blessings heaped upon blessings. This is the miracle and the sign. We need no other. No one who comes to Jesus and joins him in what he is doing in the world will ever hunger or thirst again. Whether or not we see it or believe it, the miracle is radical abundance, enough for all.”
My guiding prayer since that day?
It’s simple.
Lord, I wanna be like that young boy.
I wanna believe, and act like I believe,
that when I give what I have,
you will make it enough
to meet the needs of us all.
So here … it’s yours.
Amen.
*****
Three tellings of one story.
I wonder, if I had been there that day, what my telling of the story and my take-away would be.
What’s your telling of the story? And your take-away from it?
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