Sunday
08/06/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Feeding The 5,000 And US!”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 17:1-7, 15
New Testament Scripture: Romans 9:1-5
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 14:13-21
How many people here have ever been to
a big dinner with a lot of people? Maybe it was wedding reception? Maybe it was
a large event or convention? Maybe it was an awards ceremony? Maybe it was
something else altogether.
As you are thinking about the largest
dinners or meals that you have ever been to, how many people were there? I am
sure most of us have been to dinner or a meal with one-hundred people. How many
of us have been to meal with two-hundred people? Anyone here ever been to meal
with five-hundred people? How many of us have been to meal with over
one-thousand people? How about over ten-thousand people? I have, and it was big
crowd!
I remember the first time that I went
to the Upper New York United Methodist Church Annual Conference in 2011. I
think there were about 2,000-3,000 pastors and lay people present. This took
place at the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, and at meal times we all
ate in this massive room with tons of tables. The amount of food, coffee, water,
etc., was just unbelievable!
Some of us have eaten food at sports
games before too. If you were at a professional baseball game, basketball game,
and or football game, how many people were there? If all of the people at that
game ate a meal, then how many people did you indirectly eat with? When I
observe that many people are sharing food and drink, it really shows me how
advanced our system of food and drink production in this country is.
So, depending on how we look it at then,
you could have been in a place where thousands of people were eating within the
same space. I have a quote that is fitting
here. I don’t know if this is a real quote or more of a myth, but I remember
hearing of the great Roman Army during the Roman Empire. The statement that I
heard was that when the Roman Army stopped to drink water, “they drank the
river dry”. Some of us might not think much about it, but imagine the amount of
food it takes just to feed the people of Sidney, the Sidney Area, New York,
this whole country, and the world. It’s staggering!
Sometimes it is so beyond me that everything
just works and keeps going. The gas station, generally speaking, always has
gas, and there are always groceries on the shelves at the grocery store. The
size and the scale of production in this modern world, is truly remarkable.
Imagine then if you had to put a meal on
for let’s say 5,000 people. How much food and drink would it take to feed and
refresh 5,000 people? If were you in charge of this dinner, how much food would
you buy? How much drink would you buy? My guess is that the head of food and beverages
at Yankee Stadium for example, would laugh at needing to get enough food to
feed 5,000 people, as I read that the record attendance at Yankee Stadium was
50,960 people, on October 6, 2011. This was of course in the new Yankee Stadium,
and this was at a baseball game. There have been much more people at Yankee Stadium
than this for other events. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Stadium). Makes
our Thanksgiving dinners seems a little lack luster when we put in these terms.
When this record attendance at Yankee stadium of 50,960 people happed, I wonder
how many hotdogs, pretzels, drinks, etc. that were sold that night?
I say all of this because this morning
in our gospel of Matthew 14:13-21 reading for this we have a famous gospel
story commonly called the “Feeding Five-Thousand” or “Feeding the Multitude”.
Unlike the head of food and beverages at Yankee Stadium though, Jesus did not have
truck loads of food and drink that had just arrived to feed his crowd. Instead,
Jesus has two fish and five loaves of bread. This to feed a multitude. How
could Jesus’ feed all of these people with so little food?
This got me thinking about some of the
large venues I have talked about, like Yankee Stadium, and how so many people
can get fed. It is truly impressive when you think about it. Further, outside
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the “Feeding Five-Thousand” is the only other
miracle listed in all four gospels, of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There is
also a second miracle of the “Feeding Four-Thousand” in gospels of Matthew and
Mark only.
I was blessed in 2014 when I went to
Israel/Palestine with my seminary group. Among many other places, we got to go to
the place of the “Feeding Five-Thousand”. It was a beautiful place, and a
really special experience for me.
Some Christians and non-Christians over
the centuries have decided that the “Feeding Five-Thousand” in all four of the
gospels is only a story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeding_the_multitude).
Some of these people say, “how could Jesus have fed the multitude with only five
loaves of barley bread and two fishes”? These sorts of arguments are common arguments
that I encounter often.
Sometimes we are so focus with certain details of
the story that we miss the larger context of the story. By the way, Jesus’ fed not
only five-thousand men on this day, but including woman and children, I have
read that it could have been to 11,000 people or more (Africa Bible Commentary,
pg. 1,116). This would still make the head of food and beverages at Yankee
Stadium laugh, even if Jesus fed more than 11,000 people on this day!
I give you all of these examples to ask
this, with God do we believe that feeding a multitude is something that Jesus
did with only five loaves of bread and two fish? Do we believe that Jesus died
on a cross on Good Friday, and psychically rose from the dead and walked out of
the tomb of Easter Sunday morning? I do. Do you?
To believe in the power of God, is to believe
in miracles. People that have been healed from diseases and illnesses, people
that have had experiences in their life where they believe with all their heart
that God was there with them. To believe in miracles, is to believe that
outside of the natural world that God is able to intervene and do as God will.
This challenges us greatly sometimes when feel that God did not intervene where
and when we wanted Him to. This is something that many of us struggle with.
Yet, feeding a crowd, for Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the second person of
the Holy Trinity, our Lord and Savior, yes, I believe that this miracle this
morning happened. After all, other than the resurrection of Christ, it is the
only other miracle that is listed in all four gospels. I am thinking that the
gospel writers believed that this miracle was significant!
This also addresses our perspectives
of feeding a crowd. As the church, do feed people, just to feed people? Yes,
but we should also want them to grow closer to Christ. Jesus did not feed the
multitude today simply because they were hungry, but Jesus in addition to
meeting the earthly needs of the crowd, wanted the crowd to believe in him.
Often Jesus’s miracles were about much more than what Jesus did in the miracle,
and more about creating deep and abiding faith in him. So, feeding 11,000
people or more at once, well if were to ask the food and beverage head at
Yankee Stadium, they would probably say that number is child’s play.
What was the goal of Jesus “Feeding the
Multitude” this morning? I really like what our reading from Psalm 17:1-7, 15
says for this morning. Once again, Psalm 17:15 says:
15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness (Ps. 17:15, NRSV).
Behold the righteousness and the holiness of Christ this
morning, because this is the bigger picture of the “Feeding Five-Thousand”. Do I believe that this miracle
really happened? I sure do, but it’s bigger than just the food. In fact, I have
talked with folks from different churches before who have told me that they
have various church dinners, but those dinners to do not result in more people
coming to or attending their churches. I have asked some of these folks that if
in addition to feeding people physical bread, do they offer people the
spiritual bread that is Jesus Christ? We need to feed people food for there
physical bodies, as this keeps their body alive, but to receive salvation we
need the spiritual bread that is found only in Jesus Christ. Food and faith
must go together, and the “Feeding Five-Thousand” in Matthew 14:13-21 for this morning,
is no different.
In looking at our reading from Romans
9:1-5 for this morning, the Apostle Paul says that everything he has said and
taught about Jesus Christ is the truth. The Apostle Paul then laments that more
of the people of Israel did not believe in Jesus, but since the Apostle Paul
had witnessed the power, the mercy, the grace, and the healing of Jesus Christ
through the Holy Spirit, he believed in what God could do (Rom 9:1-5, NRSV).
This leads me up to our reading from the
gospel of Matthew 14:13-21 for this morning that, once again, is one of the
four gospel narratives of Jesus “Feeding Five-Thousand” or “Feeding the
Multitude”. Let’s look again at our gospel of Matthew 14:13-21 reading for this
morning that says starting in 14:13:
13 Now when Jesus heard this, 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. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick (Mt. 14:13-14, NRSV).
At this point in his earthly ministry, Jesus had become so
popular that crowds would amass to see and to follow him. Sometimes he could
sneak away to rest. He tried to do the same this morning, as the gospel says
that Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place. The crowds of people figured
out where he was though, and by the time Jesus’ boat got to the shore a large crowd
was already waiting for him. The gospel then says that when Jesus saw them people,
he had compassion for them and that he cured the sick.
After Jesus was loving, healing, and caring for all of
these people, the evening was fast approaching. The Apostles were worried about
all of these people going back to their villages and or towns to buy food for
dinner before it gets too late and dark out. In fact, picking up in the gospel,
it continues in 13:15-16, saying:
15 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.’ 16 Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ (Mt. 13:15-16, NRSV).
Jesus tells the disciples to not send this large crowd of
people home before dark so that they can buy dinner for themselves. Instead,
Jesus tells the disciples you feed them. I really believe that Jesus did this
to see if the disciples would trust in him. Do any of us ever struggle to trust
God? The disciples though were not trusting Christ, they were only seeing their
own limitations. I think that we all do this sometimes. In fact, continuing on
in our gospel reading for this morning, our reading from Matthew 14:13-21 continues
and ends with 14:17-22 saying:
17 They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ 18 And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ 19 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. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children (Mt. 14:17-21, NRSV).
Beyond just the miracle of “Feeding Five-Thousand” or “Feeding the Multitude” was the power of Jesus
Christ. People seeing him as Lord and Savior, and learning to do for others, as
he has done for us. It is probably true, that some only wanted the food and did
not accept Christ, but I am sure that some did. Not only did Jesus perform the
miracle of “Feeding Five-Thousand” or “Feeding the Multitude” today, but he
loves, heals, and forgives. All of this is designed to draw us towards him, and
to have us live like him. Feeding others is something Christ told us to do, but
we should the body and the soul. This is why the first Thursday of every month
our ministry is called “Sauce and Cross”. Food for the body, and food for the
soul, both needed, and both will keep us alive. One will keep us alive physically,
and other spiritually.
In closing I want to tell a story that I have told before, but that I think
is so appropriate for the gospel lesson that we have for this morning. The
title of this story is called “Heaven and Hell: The Parable of the Long Spoons”. Here’s the story:
“One day a man said to God, “God, I would
like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.” God showed the man two doors.
Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a
large pot of vegetable stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth
water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They
appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and
each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but
because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons
back into their mouths. The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
God said, “You have seen Hell.”
“Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful vegetable stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The man said, “I don’t understand.” God smiled. It is simple, he said, Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves… (https://sofoarchon.com/heaven-and-hell-the-parable-of-the-long-spoons/).
While
I believe that Jesus performed the miracle of “Feeding Five-Thousand” or “Feeding the Multitude” this morning, I
believe that Jesus was also drawing us to him. Jesus wants us to believe in
him, to be like him, and to follow him. So often we are focused just on the miracle
Jesus performed in the gospels, but part of that miracle, and maybe even the
most important part of that miracle is the change in us through the miracle.
The people of Christ understand feeding and caring for each other. The people
of Christ also understand feeding the body and the soul. This is why “Feeding The
5,000 And Us!” matters. Amen.
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