Fishes and Loaves
Notes
Transcript
Jesus feeds thousands of people from a few loaves and fishes. Twice. The first time, he shows compassion even while seeking solitude in mourning for John’s death. In the Kingdom, resources are NEVER a barrier. His power is made perfect in weakness. His glory is most on display when we are hungry and desperate.
Food for Church
Food for Church
I have a tendency to not plan far enough ahead. Shocker.
The worst is when it’s time to send out Potluck sign-ups. Ideally, we would have weeks to sign up, see what we need, plan ahead.
Or… you know, send it out at Friday midnight and see what happens?!
Not great.
What is amazing is that we haven’t starved just yet. Now… I wish that was an absolute miracle like the story we are going to read today. In reality, it’s folks seeing and often scrambling to make stuff happen. Last KVD I ordered a stack of pizzas, which turned out to be a bit of a panic and an over-order and I took home a dozen uneaten pizzas… but y’all are so wonderful to bring and cook food.
And my wife KK has the power to summon food from the atmosphere at will.
Actually, more like, after a long day like yesterday, up and at work at 5am, gets off after an over-long day, goes to Sam’s gets food for everybody, goes to church, preps and sets up, and still makes it to Drew’s diving meet in the afternoon.
Hard work, that’s what that is!
And we have that meal rotation, volunteers for that, welcome and desired, by the way.
This is how we have the privilege, the opportunity to eat and fellowship together. Planning and hard work.
So.New plan. Way easier. 2 fish. 5 loaves. Then we divide the food up until everyone has some.
We know the story… but we know it’s not a plan. No one has (to my knowledge) every planned this for their Church Conference or Retreat or Camp. No one goes in with this plan.
And that’s right. Here’s the thing: Jesus didn’t go in with this as the plan.
As we’ll see, it is impromptu… even though, and this may surprise some, it was NOT a one-time thing.
The First Feeding
The First Feeding
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate 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 on them and healed their sick.
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Elisha had done a miracle before, similar, but feeding 100 students.
And here, 5000 men, likely at least 10,000 people. Some estimates have 175,000 people for the whole region of Galilee, so 5-10% of the entire population. Crazy! Every one going out to see Jesus.
And the scale of this is absolutely incredible.
Is this matter duplication, like Star Trek? Creation ex-nihilo, out of nothing?!
I really wonder what it looked like. Every time they reach for a loaf, there was another loaf? Or when they broke he loaf in half, it was still too big so they broke it again… and again… and again. It kept getting bigger when they weren’t looking, or it grew before their eyes?
But it happened again and again. The scale of prepping thousands of meals, this must have taken hours!
Second Breakfast
Second Breakfast
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
33 And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?”
34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground,
36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Both Mark and Matthew record two separate “fishes and loaves” miraculous feedings.
Again they have “loaves and fishes?” That’s crazy!
No… not crazy. That’s pretty much what you ate. You have a lake, there, you have fishes.
You grow grain… you have bread. Meat, like cattle or goats, would be saved for very special occasions.
Five loaves, two fish.
Seven loaves, few fish.
Fish and chips… that’s what is on the table.
AGAIN it’s a desolate place.
AGAIN they have been there listening to Jesus teach for a long time.
This time, 3 days.
and AGAIN what is it that motivates Jesus to feed the people?
First time, he had compassion and healed their sick. And then evening came in what reads like one day and Jesus wants to feed them before they go away.
He had compassion (v 32). Compassion for their need, the need of the moment. They weren’t going to die, but they might faint. Simple hunger.
Now, how good does a preacher have to be that you would delay going to lunch? How long would you delay? 15 minutes? No problem. Let’s shoot for an hour? By the time I am rolling into nighttime, so good that you sleep where you’re at so you can catch the first words in the morning? That’s pretty good.
That’s camp out all night for Star Wars opening night good… except not so disappointing.
Multiple days of Jesus teaching, and they are still there and so glued in that they haven’t eaten for three days. Incredible.
The Word of Life.
Jesus had compassion on their hunger.
After this we are moving VERY quickly to death and resurrection. So maybe Jesus knows, maybe even the crowd senses that time is precious.
We see the compassion of Jesus for the people. He is acquainted with our sorrow, with our need for healing, with our need for fish and chips.
Little is Much
Little is Much
Where did they get the food? Matthew doesn’t say, either time. Nor does Mark, or Luke.
Only John has that little detail. Andrew, Peter’s brother, finds him:
9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
What are they for so many?
The boy offers up what he has… or how would the disciples even know he had it? Among 10,000 folks, you can hide a lunchbox if you really want to. I have to think they sent out the word and he came forward to offer the little he has.
And with God, with Jesus, little is enough. More than enough.
Little is Much
Little is Much
God multiplies our meager offering to be more than enough.
God multiplies the meager offering to be more than enough.
There’s a reason this story is so famous. It’s that right there. This is what God does. When we don’t think what we have is enough, we give anyway. When we don’t think our resources are sufficient, we move forward, we obey, we are faithful anyway.
Because it is never about the resources, with God.
There’s another piece to this idea.
Why was Jesus off in a desolate place? Recall last week? He was off mourning the death of his prophet, his forerunner, his cousin, maybe even his friend.
And the crowd just follows him. Won’t leave him alone, won’t let him mourn.
You ever been there? Where the kids just won’t leave you alone, even when you try to hide in the bathroom…
Or the coworker is on your absolute last nerve!
Or the friend who calls when you have absolutely everything going on, but they “need to talk.”
When you just want to be alone.
When you have very little “compassion” to give.
I feel that some days. That’s where Jesus is. He wants to be alone, he is in mourning… and yet He gives what He has.
The boy gives what He has.
And God multiplies that meager offering. The surrender of self… and thousands are fed, both in fishes and loaves and in the Words of Life… and God is glorified.
God multiplies our meager offering to be more than enough.
This is important. It isn’t just that God can make the most of what we have. The truth is, what we have is always little in the scope of God. We get confused about that. We get puffed up, large in our own eyes, full of pride and wealth… It’s all nonsense. We are monkeys playing with shiny rocks. We have value only in the eyes of our Creator, beautiful and wonderful because He said so.
So it isn’t just that He can make the most of what we offer… there is inherent value in the smallness, in the weakness, where it gives opportunity to show the strength, the glory of God.
This is one of my life verses:
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul’s specific context is a weakness, a temptation, a thorn in the flesh that God has given him and, though Paul has prayed a WHOLE 3 times, God won’t take it away.
But this is a HUGE principle that God teaches Paul, and teaches us, through that case.
God’s grace alone is sufficient… he doesn’t need our power. It isn’t our power + God’s power to be extra powerful!
Our power is such a tiny and insignificant part of that equation, that it actually distracts us from what is important. What is really going on.
Here Are My Fishes and Loaves
Here Are My Fishes and Loaves
God multiplies our meager offering to be more than enough.
This is our life. Here is the meager time I have. Here is the more meager amount of energy I have. Here is the last of my patience, the last of my “go”, the last of my attention. Here are my fishes and loaves.
What can God do with that? There is literally no limit on what He can do with that. Thousands full, and baskets after that.
This is connected to our Spiritual Discipline of Submission. We Submit first to Christ, then to others… not because they are worthy but because He is worthy. We take our will, we take our power, little as it is, we take our need to be right, our need to have it our way, our time, talent and treasure… we give it to him.
Here are my fishes and loaves.
That is what we do here in church.
It’s a small building… and it’s God’s. To do whatever great and beautiful things He desires to do in us and through us. Here are my fishes and loaves.
It’s a small group of people. That’s real. The measure is not butts in seats… it is in Faithfulness to God’s Calling, it is in sacrifice and submission to His leading. Here are my fishes and loaves.
Dylan’s going to sing this song for us. The story of a boy, offering Jesus all he has. Trusting that Jesus is going to do something better with it.
This is all of us, offering whatever we have.
We will listen, and then respond in worship and expectation.
For lunch, we have 2 fish and 7 loaves and we will see how far we get!
