This Is The Feast
Pastor Mathew Magera –
8/23/15 – Sermon 116
St. Thomas Lutheran Church,
Trufant, MI
To
God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I love bread. I could eat
bread at every meal. There is so much you can do with bread to make it
interesting, but yet at the end of the day its just bread. I remember a few
months ago when Lane had surgery and a few of you very graciously provided us
some dinners for a few days. One of those meals contained a loaf of bread made
by a member of the congregation. As I looked at it, on the outside it looked like your average
loaf of bread but upon tasting it, I realized I was completely wrong. I made a
grilled cheese with some of that loaf and oh, it was so good. I was reminded
how much I really do love bread, especially when its homemade. A simple loaf of
bread can be turned into a fest. I like bread so much a year or two ago I got
Lane a book for Christmas. It's called the Bread Bible. She loves to bake but
sometimes both of us wonder if that was more of a gift for me than it was for
her. That book has so many recipes, so many different styles of bread for
almost any occasion.
Speaking of bread for
certain occasions, our beloved Bible story for today is about bread, it's about
a couple fish, a bunch of people, some near-sighted disciples and, of course,
Jesus. After a day of teaching and preaching the disciples realize the people
would be hungry. Either they are truly hungry themselves at this point or they
are getting tired of a day-long sermon in hopes that food might get Jesus to
stop talking for a bit. Either way, there is not enough food to go around. Yet,
a miracle takes place and not only do people get fed but there are many
leftovers.
How does a miracle like this
happen? We see the five loaves, we see the two fish, and then something changes
and suddenly there is enough for everyone. Why didn't Luke tell us how this
happened? Why didn't he talk about how suddenly loaves of bread came flying out
of the sky and schools of fish jumped up the side of the hill from a nearby
lake like salmon swimming upstream? And why does this miracle take place in the
first place? The people could have gone into the neighboring towns and gotten food.
Why did they get fed? Why do miracles like this take place? Looking deeper, we
might ask ourselves three questions. Is it where we are? Is it the words we
say? Is it the people we’re with?
Is it where we
are?
"Send the
crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find
food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." – Luke 9:12
The disciples are realizing
they are getting into a situation that is beyond themselves. The mass amounts
of people that have come to listen to Jesus are at some point going to be
getting hungry and there is no food in the middle of nowhere. Is it the
situation they are in that leads to the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000?
Let's ask that question of ourselves. We might find ourselves in many
situations that could use a miracle. Maybe the gas station in town is closed
and we need gas but we know the closest gas station is more than a few miles
away. Because we're in that situation, does that mean we'll see a miracle? What
about if you are having chest pain and need to get to the hospital which is
also more than a few miles away, does that situation mean you'll see a miracle?
Is it the
words that we say?
"We have
only five loaves of bread and two fish - unless we go and buy food for all this
crowd" – Luke 9:13b
Not only do the disciples
notice those little rumblies in their tumblies but they see they just don't
have the resources available to feed the people. Jesus tells them to feed the
crowd but they look at themselves and see they don't have nearly enough. Maybe
a few tuna melts and some leftover bread but certainly not enough for a crowd
of this size. But they were able to admit something to Jesus and tell him the
truth. Lord, we don't have enough. We are at a loss. We are unable to feed
these people. When we cry out to Jesus like this, is that what leads to a
miracle? Is it the words we say?
When we say Jesus I can't
fight this battle on my own, I just can't win. Or perhaps when we look at our
relationships, our marriages and say God I just can't go on anymore in this, I
can't save this relationship. Is it the prayers we pray, or the rituals or
traditions we have? If I pray this prayer exactly right with no errors or
pauses will God hear that prayer? If I mess up, will God not hear it?
Is it the
people we are with?
“About five
thousand men were there” – Luke 9:14a
The disciples not only
noticed they didn't have enough food but they were surveying the crowd. There
are 5,000 men here, not to mention the women and children that must have been
in attendance as well. Surely, having this many people here to listen to Jesus requires
a miracle. He wouldn’t let them go hungry would he? Was it because of the many
many people in attendance that this miracle occurred? How many times do we
think that if we are just with the right people we have a better chance of a
miracle happening. If we only had young people in the church it would thrive
like it did years ago. If we have the best doctors they will be able to cure
that cancer. If we surround our children with the right people they will grow
up to be good people. Have you ever had these thoughts? Maybe it's about the
people.
* * *
Maybe it's about situation
we're in. Maybe it's about the words we say. Maybe it's about the people we're
with. Maybe it's not. Maybe miracles aren't dependent on us, what we’re doing,
what we say or who we’re with. Maybe it's about Jesus. You see, the disciples
look around and they see everything that is going on. They see their situation,
we're getting hungry. They tell Jesus there is only five loaves and two fish
and that it is not sufficient. They see thousands of people and say there is
too many. But they don't look at the one that makes the miracle, the one with
whom they had been speaking with the entire time. They don't see Jesus. It's
not easy to see Jesus in the midst of worrying about what is going on around
you. It’s as if we know he is there but he is not our primary focus. We are so
ready to say, there’s too many of this, or there’s too little of that, and
we’re reluctant to say that the Lord provides. It’s about where Jesus is. It’s
about what Jesus says. It’s about who Jesus is with. Going through this story a
second time with a new focus, we hear this…
It’s about
where Jesus is
“The crowds
learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the
kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” – Luke 9:11
These people needed to hear
the Word of God. These people needed to be healed. Jesus was there. He spoke,
he healed, and in our story today he fed. It was up to Jesus to see what the
people needed and this is what he came up with. The people needed to be fed and
what better way to accomplish this task that to teach them, to heal them and
then to give them an example of the Kingdom of God in the breaking of the bread
which would later symbolize the Kingdom of God come to earth in the breaking of
the bread at the last supper and the breaking of Jesus' body on the cross. This
miracle does not depend on the situation the people are in but rather on Jesus.
It’s about
what Jesus says
“Taking the
five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke
them.” – Luke 9:16a
This is the crucial point in
the story. Jesus lifted up what was provided, gave thanks and broke them. He
saw goodness in what God had provided for them and he gave thanks. This
thankfulness and trust that Jesus had in the Father and the words he spoke in
his giving thanks caused the bread and the fish to be enough to fill the crowd.
In Jesus' speaking, the miracle is done. We can take this all the way back to
the story of creation in Genesis. When God said, "let there be light"
there was light. Jesus, the Word of God spoke the words and the Father caused
it to happen. And now Jesus looked to the Father, gave thanks and broke the
bread and fish and it was done. You'll see in Jesus' miracles that he often
speaks as the miracle is being performed. Your faith has made you well. Lazarus
come out! It is finished. In those words, miracles happen as they do today,
only through the words of Jesus.
It’s about who
Jesus is with
“Then he gave
them to the disciples to distribute to the people.” – Luke 9:16b
If Jesus had performed the
miracle of bringing in more bread and more fish but had not given it to the
people, there would be no miracle at all. This is why we don't hear of how the
bread and the fish multiplied, if it did at all, because just having an
abundance of food is not a miracle in and of itself. The miracle that took
place is not called "The miraculous multiplication of bread and fish"
it is called "The feeding of the 5,000." The miracle itself is a
miracle because of who Jesus was with and who Jesus distributed this food to
and that they were filled so much so that 12 baskets of leftovers were brought
back. The miracles of Jesus are not that Jesus can do magic tricks, but that
what he does benefits us in a holy way. It’s not so much the bread that is
feeding the 5,000 but rather it is Jesus who feeds them.
* * *
If a miracle happened just
because of where we were, what we said or who we were with, there would be a
lot of angry people in the world. Look at our list of prayer concerns in our
bulletins. If miracles were about us, about our love, the words we prayed or
the people we prayed with then we must’ve been doing it wrong or we’d see none
of these names here. That’s because it’s not about us. It’s about Jesus. And
why miracles do and don’t happen is not a question we have an answer to, why
some of these names are on this list longer than others, why people continue to
suffer day in and day out from disease, hunger, homelessness, joblessness,
these are questions we are unable to answer, but we know that Jesus can and
does perform miracles and he wants us to have faith in him, to look at him, to
see in him the ability to feed a multitude of people with blessing, healing,
cleansing, forgiveness, love, and hope. We can all have a bread Bible that can
give us great recipes for bread that smells great, tastes great and can be used
for just about any occasion, but a bread Bible cannot perform miracles. Nothing
in this book can fill us. This is why we don’t hear of bread falling from the
sky or fish jumping out of the lake, because it’s not the point of the story. Our
eyes need to shift focus off of the bread, and gaze upon the one who broke the
bread for the sake of many.
Only through Jesus is a
miracle possible. Jesus told the disciples to feed the people themselves.
Without Jesus they couldn't, they even said so themselves. However, not
realizing who they were with, they could have said, yes, we will gather what we
have if you would bless and break it for us. And those can be our words today,
Lord Jesus by ourselves we cannot share five loaves and two fish with the
world, but with you we know that if we can find hungry hearts you can supply
the true food with your blessing and breaking of it, a food that when given
will always be sufficient for us. Lord, Jesus you are the giver of this food,
we are just the ones who point to you as you point to the Father. Give us this
day our daily bread and may we be always dependent on you to feed the world so
that we may never be hungry again, for this is the feast. To God be the glory,
now and always. Amen.