August 2, 2020
Matthew 14
In one of my first ministry callings, I was in the mountains of NE Washington State. Isolation. Mountains. Streams. Great distances from one town to another. My nearest UCC colleagues were 60 miles south in New Port and 60 miles to the West in Colville. It was isolated. For a number of years some seminary colleagues who had ministries in the big cities of Washington and California would hold a week long retreat for study, reflection and fellowship. I journeyed to join them in SW Oregon one summer and Southern Idaho the next summer. And every one of those Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle ministers would declare how wonderful it was to get away from the big city and go to an isolated mountainous region. After two summers of this, I realized that I was traveling for about two days to get to places that were not as isolated as the place in which I was living and ministering.
The next summer I decided to go to Berkeley, where my seminary was and study and be in traffic, and crowds of people on Telegraph avenue and sit in crowded coffee houses in San Francisco and prowl the art stores and the bookshops and movie theatres. I liked my ministry in the mountains but I also relished time among the masses and the crowds and the urban environment.
Here we find Jesus, no longer in the boat, escaping the crowds. No longer being hounded to preach and heal as soon as his feet touch the shore. Now he is in his element…preaching and teaching but a bit more on his terms.
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
And he does. But then he is confronted with the issue of what to eat.
A couple years ago in Vacation Bible School, we taught the story of the feeding of the 5000. I tried to get the kids to understand what feeding that many would be like. Most commentators of the Bible figure on say, 13,000 were probably fed. Men, only would have been counted back then…it was another era. I tried to get them to understand what 13,000 would be like so I said, 3 High school football stadiums….I think the 10 year olds got the idea. The next night I asked the 4 year olds how many were fed and one little girl said, “Three football stadiums!”
In one evening, I have successfully combined America’s two great religions into one.
No matter where you are in our society…the term Samaritan is understood by most to refer to someone who helps. Likewise the miracle of the loaves and fishes is quite well known…whenever we see a meal, a picnic, a Thanksgiving dinner, heck….a pizza…whenever we see that food stretched so that no matter how many are present…all are fed. Whenever that sort of thing comes upon us…and we are stretching to feed the hungry and we see that we actually DO feed the hungry…someone invariably says…aha!…the loaves and the fishes. And good for them.
Hey, want to perform your own miracle of feeding the five thousand with 5 loaves and two fishes…donate to the Food Pantry. Right now….jot a note to yourself. “Go and buy food for the pantry.” Over the past decade, the Dublin Irish Festival has not just been a source of civic pride and celebration but on Sunday mornings, if you come to one of the six or seven worship services there…and we would have been there at this very Sunday…but everyone could get in if they brought a food item for the Dublin Food Pantry. This year…no Irish Festival…hence no huge food drive…hence…well, you do the math! People will be hungry. BUT….what we are encouraged to do is….have each church contribute to the Pantry. They are missing 16 thousand pounds of donations this weekend…unless…and I think you will…unless you come through. Put on a facemask…take $20 and go to the store…bring it back to the church Food Pantry downstairs. Where’s the miracle in THAT you may say! To which I would say to you….where is there NOT a miracle in that. The hungry are fed. The hungry are fed. Don’t want to shop. Send the pantry $20 via the church office…made out to the Dublin Food Pantry.
Indeed, there may have been the miracle of the loaves and the fishes but an even greater miracle, an even greater event was that Jesus was able to help the people realize the value in sharing and talking and treating strangers with respect.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Miracles abound every day. In the midst of all that surrounds us these days…we are a people who care. We are a people who believe in and participate in…miracles. And all the people ate…where is the miracle in that? Perhaps the greatest miracle is in believing that it could and can be done.
Amen