A Sermon preached on Sunday 28 July (Pentecost X) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden and St. Christoph, Mainz
2 Kings 4:42-44, Ephesians 3:14-21, John 6:1-21
So today we’re getting the account of the miracle we missed last week, the feeding of the 5000. It’s a miracle particularly suited to this church, as we seem to be able to feed an awful lot of people very well, if not quite 5000 of them. [I know we don’t have coffee hour today, but instead we will be feeding 80+ young musicians later, before and after tonight’s concert.] Not with the help of a miracle I should add, but thanks to a whole bunch of faithful volunteers, which is what makes most things happen around here.
We just heard John’s version of the feeding of the 5000, last week Mark’s version was left out of the Gospel reading, we just got his introduction to and his conclusion of the story. It is the only miracle, or in John’s terminology sign, that all four gospels have in common and with significant agreement in all essential details. It’s always 5000 (though sometimes just men, with the women and children uncounted), it’s always five loaves and two fish, and there are always 12 baskets of leftovers that are collected afterwards. John has some interesting extra details. For one thing it’s Jesus who asks his disciples, represented by Philip and Andrew, where the food is going to come from rather than the other way around. John tends to show Jesus as someone who is never surprised and always fully in control of events – even on the cross. John also tells us that the loaves are made of barley, a tiny detail that is intended to make the connection between this feeding story and that of Elisha in the Second Book of Kings who, as we heard, was able to feed a hundred people with 20 loaves of barley “according to the word of the Lord.” And finally, John tells us how the crowd reacts, impressed by the sign and yet misunderstanding Jesus’ mission, when they want to take him by force and make him king, causing Jesus to withdraw to the mountain by himself.
What does this sign point to? First and foremost, like all the signs in John’s Gospel, to who Jesus is and what power he has. The crowd sees him as “the prophet who is to come into the world,” (John 6:14) the prophet like Moses mentioned in Deuteronomy (18:15) “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people.” But we know that this and all of John’s other signs point to something much greater, to the Son, God incarnate. That is made even more explicit in the second miracle, when Jesus walks on the sea, which both Mark and Matthew have versions of in their gospels[1]. In all three gospels Jesus tell the disciples: “It is I; do not be afraid” – in Greek Ego eimi or I AM – recalling when “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)
At the most basic level, we see Jesus meeting a human need. 5000 people are hungry and a long way from home, and he feels compassion, both for this immediate, physical need of hunger, as well as for their deeper spiritual need that Jesus can also nourish. We note that Jesus meets their human needs without asking lots of questions. There is no means testing, no checking of ID, no counting the number of children, no distinction by gender, class, race, or belief: People were hungry, they needed to be fed. It really was and still is as simple as that! And it reminds me of a meme I’ve seen a few times on the theme of loving your neighbour:
Love your neighbour who doesn’t look like you, think like you, love like you, speak like you, pray like you, vote like you. Love your neighbour, no exceptions!
The way John frames both the feeding of the 5000 and the walking on the lake is intended to connect them to the Exodus event. John is the only Evangelist to tell us explicitly that “the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near” (John 6:4) when this happened. As Moses had commanded, the Passover is the festival at which the people were to remember the “day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the Lord brought you out from there by strength of hand.” (Exodus 13:3) Jesus’ walking on the water shows his mastery over the sea, just Moses was able to divide the Red Sea to let the people pass through in safety. During their long trek through the wilderness, the Israelites were fed miraculously with manna and quails from heaven, and now Jesus feeds them miraculously by multiplying the bread and the fish. In both cases, there was more than enough food! The end of the journey from Egypt was the Promised Land, “the land (God) swore to your ancestors to give you.” (Exodus 13:5) Exodus is all about how God liberates a people from slavery and death and leads them to a promised land. Jesus too saves us from slavery to sin, from all that separates us from God and our fellow human beings. Jesus takes away the power and fear of death. And with the kingdom of God Jesus promises us a land that is available everywhere and for everyone.
Finally, John includes references to the Eucharist. When we hear: “Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.” (John 6:11) John also wants us to think of the Last Supper: “Our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples.” (Eucharistic Prayer A, Rite II, BCP) In Greek, to give thanks is the word eucharisteo. The boy’s offerings are brought to Jesus and turned into something much more plentiful and bountiful. In the Eucharist bread and wine are brought before God as our gifts and turned into something greater, something much more nourishing and lasting, into Jesus’ body and blood, into his real and physical presence among us and in our lives. But not only bread and wine are offered, we offer ourselves for transformation: “accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies.” (Eucharistic Prayer II, Rite I, BCP) A miracle happened on that day on the side of a mountain on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And a miracle happens every week in the lives and ministry of those who feed at the Lord’s Table. With the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation, we receive a blessing to share well beyond our selves. Our power, our ability to serve, our impact in the world - all are increased and multiplied, just as the loaves and fish were well beyond the immediate needs of the 5000.
The blessing with which the prayer from today’s extract from the letter to the Ephesians (3:20-21) ends, also describes that gift of abundance and so I will finish with the version we use as a benediction at the end of Morning Prayer:
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
