Sermon

Feeding the Five Thousand

As someone pointed out, this story really should be titled "Feeding the Ten Thousand" since the count of five thousand only includes males of age: no doubt women and children also went out to hear Jesus preach.

Well, let the misogynists of the first century be what they were.

The question is what is this story about? To John and to Mark, who wrote a parallel account, this story is about proof. Writing for a first-century Greek audience, John uses this miracle story to prove that Jesus is God; while Mark uses it to prove to his Jewish audience that the acts of Jesus reflect the acts of Moses, and therefore Jesus is the Messiah.

I'm a 20th-Century American, inheritor of 2000 years of development in Judeo-Christian thought, and, for me, the feeding of the five thousand is still a miracle story. But it is not proof about Godhood or about the Messiah. It is proof of something that Jesus did so very well, and so subtly that sometimes it gets lost in the nearly unapproachable ideas of "God" and of "The Christ." Jesus showed people how to live well, which means how to live in peace and how to take care of each other.

Jesus took bread and fish from a little boy's basket, thanked God for it, then told his disciples to distribute it. After everyone was happily full, Jesus sent the disciples back into the crowd to clean up the remainder: and they returned with 12 baskets full of food. At first, almost nothing: at the end, abundance.

I don't want to believe that Jesus somehow short-circuited nature, as some interpret this story, creating bread and fish out of nothing. Such an event may teach that God takes care of creation, but what happens when there's no miracle-worker handy?

I want to believe that the little boy wasn't the only person in that crowd carrying a basket of bread and fish. I want to believe that Jesus helped the individuals in that crowd to share with each other: that those who brought food shared it with those who had none. That everyone present that day received and understood the lesson that sharing with each other leaves everyone not only satisfied, but that hidden abundance becomes evident when everyone takes care of everyone else.

Now, that's a miracle story.

The Rev. Elisheva Barsabe
Vicar
The Mission of St. Clare