Matthew 14:13-21
Feeding the Five Thousand
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. 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.” 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.
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I originally preached this sermon on July 29, 2020 for the prerecorded service for Mandarin Lutheran Church in Mandarin, Florida that will premiere on Sunday August 2, 2020. You can read my sermon manuscript or watch it on YouTube below.
In every Bible that I own, and I own quite a few Bibles, this passage is called “the feeding of the five thousand”
Five thousand, we might think, that really is a miracle. That’s a lot of people to feed with just a couple of fish and loaves of bread. And if we were diving deep into this text, we might talk about exactly how this miracle happened. People love doing that, right— trying to explain miracles as if they aren’t really that miraculous. Maybe all the people saw the disciples take out their loaves and fish and were inspired to share their own food as well. That would make us feel a bit better— that way we don’t have to believe too hard with this miracle.
But what is most interesting to me in this text is what we miss when we call this the feeding of the five thousand. Five thousand, yes, but, the text says, besides women and children. So really, this miracle is the feeding of 20,000 people or so. This, we might admit, is not so easily written off.
In campus ministry, we say that if even one person shows up, it’s a miracle. This isn’t a trite saying to make campus ministers feel better about low turn out. We believe that it’s true. But to understand the truth, we have to notice who showed up. We have to be aware of each person as God’s child and their individual needs and gifts in the community.
Jesus’ followers, the ones longing for his word and teaching, were not just men. They were not just the elite, and they were not just the people in power.
There were women in their midst, women who were used to preparing food and picking up the scraps. Women who usually set up camp and tended to the fires. Women who kept track of the children and mended the clothing.
And there were children in their midst. Children who were not considered much more use than dogs until they were old enough to work. Children who took up resources and especially food, while not contributing much to the economics of society.
And yet… these are the ones Jesus names as precious. These are the ones Jesus continues to show up for, continues to heal and touch and be present with in his ministry. The ones in the background, the ones society claims are useless, the ones we barely ever notice.
What do we miss when we fail to see who shows up?
I think of some of the people in the background or in the shadows of our lives, who are making the world turn. They are sanitation workers in our streets, our offices, and our hospitals. They are cooks and janitors in our schools. They are nurses working long hours without any praise. The people who show up in the midst of important events, in the midst of revolutions of love like Jesus are not usually the rich and the powerful. They are usually the downtrodden and the discarded. Because they are the ones who are used to working hard for what they need. They are the ones who know what it’s like to skin their knees or starve for the sake of the kingdom.
I think of the people who are often unnoticed because they don’t have the most glamorous jobs, but they are needed and so important nonetheless. Not only are people important to the functioning of society, feeding people, keeping them healthy, but they are important to God. The really remarkable thing about Jesus is that he doesn’t love people because of their productivity or how much they work in society. He loves them because they are children of God. And when we fail to see that worth, when we fail to see that every human is made in the image of God, we fail to notice who showed up and why they are so important. Not because of what they do or how much money they are worth, but because they are named and claimed in the waters of baptism as God’s beloved children.
And the good news is that you are too. Regardless of your productivity level in the middle of this pandemic. Or how much money you’re worth. Or how important society might say your job is.
You are important enough to be invited to the banquet, to have a seat at the table. You are important enough to be fed. Amen.
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