Psalm 89: 1-18
Jeremiah 16: 10-21
Romans 7: 1-12
John 6: 1-15
The Feeding of the 5,000 is also known as the "miracle of the five loaves and two fish" given
that the Gospel of John reports that five barley loaves and two small fish supplied by a little boy
were used by Jesus to feed a multitude. According to the Gospels, when Jesus heard that John
the Baptist had been killed, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. The crowds followed Jesus on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. The day quickly passed. It got to be later, long into the day, and one of the disciples said: “Lord, the hour is late and the people don’t have any food and we are a long way from any villages. Maybe you should send them home now.” Jesus said, “Look around the crowd and see what you can find.” Andrew found a young boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, and brought the boy, fish and bread to Jesus. Jesus invited everyone to be seated on the green grass. Jesus took the bread...looked up into heaven...gave thanks...broke it...gave it to his disciples...who gave it to the crowds. And they all ate and were all satisfied ...and... there were twelve baskets of bread left over.
The number who ate were five thousand men, plus women and children. The miracle of the five
loaves and two fish is the only Gospel miracle which is told in its fullness in all four Gospels. But what does it mean?
I like the perspective from Pastor Edward F. Markquart of Seattle: "Now, why is this story told over and over again? I believe it is because this story captures the truth, the essence of all the people
involved; the essential truth about Jesus and the essential truth about the disciples and the essential
truth about God." That’s why it was told over and over again. This story captures the very essence of Jesus as the wondrous Son of God. It captures the very essence of God, in God’s abundant and extravagant generosity and grace, twelve and seven baskets full of bread left over. And it captures the very essence of us his disciples, who don’t get it, even after we have seen first-hand, God’s miraculous work in our lives. Jesus can work miracles with five loaves and two fish. That is at the heart of the story, that the little boy brought his meager gifts to Jesus, his five loaves and two fish, and look what mighty miracles God did with them. And God wants to do the same with us; that we bring our meager gifts to God, our five loaves and two fish, our meager and ordinary talents and gifts, we bring the simplicity of who we are to God, and look what mighty miracles God can do with our little lives. The key for me is that the little boy surrendered his meager gifts to Christ, and at the heart of the story today is the implied invitation for us to surrender our little gifts, the gift of our little lives to Christ, and then see what mighty miracles God can do in and through us. That’s what God wants from you and me, to surrender, to give the gifts of our little lives to him. God can use your inadequacies and mine and work mighty miracles through them. Implied in the story is this question: Have you surrendered your five loaves and two fish to Christ? Have you surrendered the meagerness of who you are to Christ? You would be amazed at what mighty miracles God can do with your meager self when you have surrendered who you are to Christ."
Cory Canon