We need to back up to what has just happened. The disciples have just told Jesus that John the Baptist has been killed. Jesus’ cousin and fellow prophet, the one who leaped in his mother’s womb at the news of Jesus’ conception, the one called to announce the coming of Jesus, to be the voice crying in the wilderness, the one who baptizes Jesus. Go back to the beginning of chapter 14, on your own time, to read about the ridiculous way that John dies. Suffice it to say though, that John was killed in a callous and careless act, for palace entertainment.
Imagine if you’re Jesus hearing this news. Jesus gets in a boat and withdraws to a deserted place. He is seeking space for himself. To be alone. To be away from all of the noise and chaos of everyday life. To begin to mourn. To perhaps try to grasp what this death will mean for himself and his followers.
But he can’t get away. Many people know what’s just happened to John and the crowds follow him immediately. They coming streaming out of the towns. What could they be thinking? Are they looking for a revolution? To go storm Herod’s palace in an act of revenge?
When Jesus sees them he feels compassion for them, he knows they feel this sorrow and confusion too. Instead of turning away, he goes to the crowd and heals the sick. He’s hurting too, but turns that energy into healing power. He can’t bring John back and make that right, but he can work in the lives of other people.
He does this healing work for a long time. So long that day turns into night and the disciples come up to him and say “you know, Jesus, it’s getting late, we’re all getting hungry and restless, let’s send everyone away so they can go get something to eat.” Instead, Jesus says, “no, feed them.”
Since when is this our problem? We ask God to “give us our daily bread,” but does that mean we have to give it to others?
The disciples have never cooked for this many people before. They don’t know where to start. The crowd, it turns out, is not your average summer gathering. It’s 5000 people. And by people, we mean men. So there are at least that many women and children as well.
The loaves and the fishes is one of the stories that makes Jesus so amazing. He shows such utter love and patience. He’s already been tired and sad for hours, but he keeps going. He’s still teaching the disciples and showing them how the world ought to be. When people are hungry you feed them. It’s basic human care. If people are hungry, not much else matters. We can talk about world peace all we want. We can take military action and mandate sanctions. But if people are hungry, there won’t be progress. We all need to be fed before we can work together.
We live in a time of plenty. Statistically, there is enough food in the world that no one should have to miss a meal. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we waste 96 billion pounds of food in America each year. Jesus demonstrates good stewardship of their food sources. They are able to pull together their resources and share them across a wide expanse of people. There ends up being so much, that after everyone has eaten, there are still leftovers.
There’s a long history of debate in the church about how Jesus was both human and divine. Some have thought that Jesus was all God and only appeared to be human, or had a human body and a divine mind. This would save Jesus from have to deal with the messy parts of being human. He was an apparition of sorts. God doesn’t have to eat or do other bodily functions. Some that Jesus was all human with an unusually close relationship to God. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon declared that Jesus was both “truly human and truly divine.” The standard mathematical formula is that Jesus is 100% human and 100% divine and of course, that may be good theology, but it’s terrible math.
The point of the incarnation, of God becoming incarnate among us, means that God has to go all out and be fully human as well. Christ is united body and mind with humanity so that he can redeem us fully. The gospels do a good job of reminding us that Jesus was completely human. Of course he is also God, but he lived the full life of a human and took no short cuts.
Jesus weeps. Jesus goes off to be alone to rest. And Jesus eats a lot. It’s clear that Jesus thinks that meals are a wonderful thing. He eats them with everyone he can find including those people that he’s not supposed to eat with like tax collectors, lepers, and sinners. Jesus also sees meals as a great time to get to know people. The food and the fellowship are two of Jesus’ favorite things. Now, this is not to give you a permission slip to jump off of your diet, Jesus is not telling you to eat that extra piece of cake. But Jesus does think that proper nourishment is a good thing. He worked hard. He traveled much. And he knew how to sit down and eat. He didn’t do this alone. He didn’t sneak off for a granola bar and keep going. He gathered whoever was near him, regardless of who they were, and called them to sit around his table.
This was the best way that Jesus could literally demonstrate how he thought people should behave. Like a family. We are the children of God, the body of Christ. And we ought to act like it. We are to sit down and talk and share bread with everyone.
Jesus frequently describes the kingdom of heaven as a banquet. It’s like a large banquet that a rich man planned for his closest friends. And when the time came, his friends were busy and would not attend. And so this man sent his servants out to the streets, to invite everyone they could find to come inside for a good meal and a fine party.
Jesus demonstrates this sort of radical hospitality with the loaves and the fishes. Rather than sending folks away to fend for themselves, Jesus says to his disciples, you will feed them. It’s not enough to heal the sick and pray for them and show compassion. They need to eat too. We don’t live by bread alone, but by the word of God. But Jesus knows that we also physically need food. Spiritual food can only take us so far, and then our bodies start to complain.
In a troubled world, Jesus gives us all the tools that we need. Prayer, healing, and bread. These are our mighty weapons in the face of great evil. In response to the death of John, Jesus heals the sick and breaks bread. What more can we do? If we are Christ for the world? We, who are just little bits of time and energy? What gifts can we give?
Jesus says “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” And we say, “when? When did we do these things?” And Jesus answers, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25)
Jesus offered bread on another night too. And then he offered himself. He gave everything that he was. Don Saliers, says that “Jesus loved meals so much he became one.”
When we share the common loaf, we share much more than a bit of bread. The bread satisfies more than a physical hunger. As United Methodists, we believe that jesus is spiritually present in the bread and the juice. We ask the holy spirit to pour down and make the elements Jesus’ body and blood. We also ask for the Holy Spirit to transform us gathered here that we might be Christ’s body for the world. Communion is not just about us and God. It’s also about us and the world. Jesus thanks God for the bread and fish, then breaks and gave it to the crowd. So, too, Jesus thanks God for us, then breaks and gives us to the world.
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