Chrisy
NRS John 6:1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the
2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.
4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.
5 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?"
6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,
9 "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?"
10 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.
11 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.
12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost."
13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.
14 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."
15 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.
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to
18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.
19 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.
20 But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."
21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
Grace and Peace to you from the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If someone were to put a trumpet in my hands, I could play it…. I know where to put my hands and what to do with my mouth and I would huff and puff and get some noise out of it…but put that trumpet in the hands of Wynton Marsalles or the Stoneback Sisters who are down at Augustana and its beautiful music for hours. Give me a bunch of cattle and a barn and I’ll get them there eventually, but a couple of people on horses with a dog will likely get them there a lot faster… Pastor Halaas and I went to Hansel’s open house yesterday…and there was a lot of wonderful food to eat there and we had a great time but if 5000 people came to Boyd and Terri’s door, my guess is there would have been issues.
We hear very familiar words today in our Gospel text and this is the only miracle of Jesus that can be found in all four gospels. …Jesus feeding 5000 people, and that’s not counting the women and children with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. We’re not talking 5 loaves of Subways 5 foot long sub bread and 2 giant 100 lb fish but 5 little loaves of bread likely no bigger than a fist and fish about the size of sardines…
This text began much in the same place we were last week…Jesus with the disciples, and the crowds near the sea. It does not say what time of day it was but my guess is it was near mealtime given Jesus asking Phillip where they were going to get bread to give to the crowd. Phillip had no idea where they were going to get bread and he knew none of them had the money to buy it. Andrew suggested a young boy’s meager meal of 5 barley loaves and 2 fish but wondered aloud what are they among so many people? In fact who were the disciples among so many people and who was Jesus among so many in a crowd.
Jesus was indeed someone for all of these people had heard stories of his healing the sick. They, the crowds, were probably thinking hmm, I wonder who this Jesus fellow is and if he can really do what my neighbor heard about. Others likely had heard the teaching of Jesus and wanted to hear more. Some probably thought he was some kind of magician or wizard and my guess there were more then a few who thought this Jesus guy was a total crock and just wanted to get a glimpse of Jesus not doing anything all the special and be able to report back to their neighbor that Jesus was nothing more than an average guy with a lot of people following him around.
Even the disciples didn’t know Jesus completely. They knew he was their teacher and a man who did marvelous things. They had seen many things that Jesus had done but even they weren’t quite sure how Jesus was going to pull off feeding 5000 people. But he did just that.
There are many theories as to how this actually happened…one was that once people saw that Jesus was handing out food, they too got out the food they had and shared it with those around them. It is highly unlikely that all of these people would have left their homes and followed Jesus across the country side without bringing some food with them. The other is that some how some way, Jesus with the power of God somehow made 5 loaves and 2 fish feed 5000 people. I certainly don’t know how Jesus accomplished what he did but either way it was pretty awesome. Everyone ate their fill and there were 12 baskets of leftovers!!! What an awesome power of God that Jesus was showing the people this day. Jesus through God has given these 5000 people what they need and given them so much that they have leftovers. We could learn a lot from this.
Often we find ourselves in a situation where all we can see is the situation in front of us. We are confronted with homelessness, hunger, drug and alcohol issues. We find ourselves spending beyond our means, spending too much time at work away from our families and wondering how we are going to buy new shoes for our kids. We find ourselves in Phillips role looking at our situation and not seeing any way out and not being able to look at the situation any differently than our viewpoint. We see a need and know our solution to that need but don’t stop to consider that there might be other ideas or solutions. Someone has handed me a trumpet and all I can do is huff and puff rather than consider that I might and should try a different instrument.
We need to have faith that Jesus can take the little we have and multiply into something much more. Jesus can take my one or two dollars and add it to yours and yours until there are dollars from 40000 youth that adds to more the 1 million dollars raised for various ministries throughout the world. Jesus shares bread and plants gifts in people so that those same People become foster parents from children needing homes. People come together to share ideas and thoughts about what to do with their communities drug and alcohol problem because they know they can not handle nor change the situation by themselves. People will have ideas to help families with children in a pediatric Emergency situations and a benefit like a shooting stars program will be held, now in its third year
The disciples, especially Phillip didn’t have any clue how Jesus would handle feeding this mass of people. Andrew saw something in that little boy and Jesus took what little the boy had and turned it into much more for a whole lot of people. We are given each and every day so much from God. It is now our turn to give our fives loaves and two fish back and watch what Jesus does with them. We may never see something as awesome as 5000 people being fed, but Jesus is and will continue to use whatever we give in whatever way he can. Amen.
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