PENTECOST 6

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 6
PROPER: 11 B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: July 20, 2003


TEXT: Mark 6:30-44 – The Feed of the Five Thousand
“And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.”

ISSUE: The story of the Feeding of the 5,000, seems to be a Gospel Refrain. It is repeated some six time, and is found in all four of the Gospel accounts. It is the Christian Scripture’s 23 Psalm. It recalls the leadership of Moses and Elijah. It fulfills the promise of God in Ezekiel and Isaiah. And it suggests that the disciples and the church will feed others, becoming shepherds like Peter. “Feed my sheep.” It is the perpetual ritual of the Holy Eucharist.
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How many times have I preached on or alluded to the Biblical Miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in the past forty years, I could hardly count. The Feeding of the 5,000 (or in some instances the 4,000) appears six times in the Christian Scriptures. The miraculous story appears in all four of the canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You know how some hymns have a repeating refrain after each verse. It would appear that the miraculous story of the Feed of the Five Thousand is the gospels refrain since it appears with such frequency. The 5,000 Feeding was generally in Jewish territory, whereas The 4,000 Feeding was in Gentile territory, giving some indication of the church’s mission to all people. (Mark 8)
We know that miraculous meaningful feeding stories are not limited to the Christian Scriptures. The Hebrew Scriptures (O.T) has several important feeding stories. One of the first of these stories is in the Moses Saga after the escape from the oppressive Egyptians; the Hebrews are wandering in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Part of the epic story tells of a period of great hunger, and the complaint of the people before Moses, “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meant and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.” (Exodus 16:3) God, hearing the complaint, sends a flock of quail and the thin flaky manna from heaven to save Moses’ people. Jesus provides in the feeding story for his people in the wilderness, like Moses. His leadership becomes associated with one of the greatest of leaders.
Ancient Israel’s most favored and honored prophet was Elijah. There is a story of a miraculous feed by Elijah during a time of famine, when he is training other prophets. Elijah is brought 20 small loaves of barley bread. He tells his servant to distribute the loaves to the 100 prophets in training. The servant replies: “’Do you think this is enough for 100 men?’ So the servant set the food before them, and as the Lord had said, they all ate, and there was still some left over.” (2 Kings 4:42) Here you have Jesus miraculous feeding associated with the greatest prophet Elijah, and notice how many more Jesus can feed with even fewer barley loaves.
While I believe that these associations of Jesus with Moses and Elijah are certainly a part of the manifestation of the glory of Jesus, there is still another association that is also very highly likely. The construction of the Feeding of the 5,000, is also a fulfillment or likeness to the comfort given in the Twenty-third Psalm, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” And the story of the feeding makes Jesus shepherd-like.
v “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.”
Jesus said, just like Moses about the Hebrews, “They were like sheep without a shepherd. (Numbers 27:15 :”Moses prayed, ‘Lord God, source of all life, appoint, I pray, a man who can lead the people and can command them in battle so that your community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’” Jesus becomes the shepherd, and feeds 5000 men not to mention women and children.
v “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.” And “He ordered them (the disciples) to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.
Jesus has just crossed the Sea of Galilee, and the crowds follow him around the still waters of the lake to be with him, where they are seated in green grass pasture.
v “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.”
The disciples say, “This is a deserted place (wilderness of evil spirits) and the hour is now very late (dark).” It is a deadly place to be.
v “You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”
And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Everyone had enough to eat and more because of the bounteous abundant care of the good shepherd.
The image of Jesus in the Feeding of the 5,000 of being likened to a shepherd is the Christian witness and follows up to the Hebrew prophets. Ezekiel (34:11f) declares that God himself will become the Shepherd of his people, since their leadership has failed to lead them. Isaiah proclaims in the name of the Lord, “I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them in the same way as a shepherd takes care of this sheep that were scattered and are brought together again.”
The emphasis of this wonderful story, and the meaning of the refrain, is that in turning to, and following Jesus Christ, you find the shepherding that you need, and from the bounty of God everyone will get their belly full of his grace, unearned love and forgiveness! There comes an empowerment to live life fully spiritually, in the way that food gives life and strength to the body.
Notice that in the story, the disciples are urged to feed the multitude, and they see that as an impossible chore. Yet God in Christ feeds the crowd and them once again, and there is an abundance of food left over. Five thousand have been fed, and there are twelve baskets left over. Ever since the church of Christ ever began, it’s central act of ritual and worship is the Eucharist. It is the ritual of feeding. It is the essence of Jesus Christ abundantly provided that has come down through the ages, where faithful people gather to get their bellies full of the grace of God, and the empowerment to spread that food, the spiritual grace of God. For this very reason we meet weekly, at least, to be fed with the love of God, and to receive the empowerment of God to take his grace and be instruments, ambassadors, agents of the grace to the world.
In the great religions of the world, and especially in Judaism and Christianity, the most important rituals center on eating together. In Judaism, the greatest feast is the Passover, which is a meal commemorating the liberation of the Jews and their escape from death and the beginning of their journey to The Promised Land. In Christianity it is the Eucharistic meal, the feeding with and upon the Lord that gives to us a foretaste of the Messianic Banquet in the Realm or Kingdom of God, and being the children of God under the rule of the Good Shepherd. It keeps our bellies full of the essence of Jesus Christ in our lives and being, and not to be taken lightly. According to John’s gospel account not only are the disciples fed at the Last Supper, they are taught to be servants to one another and in the world through the footwashing.
In the time of Jesus one of the most important things that people did together was to eat together. Nearly every meal was an important ritual. Meals were not rushed. They were an occasion for community, and for hospitality. There were, of course their cultural quirks in that men and women did not eat together and that people of the same class ate together. However, Jesus ate with women (Mary and Martha), sinners, outcasts, tax collectors, the least and the last. All people eating together without class distinction characterized the Feeding of the 5,000. Jesus himself rose above those quirks of the culture. The feeding was a time of prayer, breaking the bread, sharing, and fulfillment.
If there is anything we might learn from this story, other than it provides us with the understanding of the abundance of God’s grace, it is the importance of feeding together in the presence of Christ. We are now living in a world where people and families say they are too busy to spend time around the table with one another: too busy or pre-occupied to spend time to say a blessing and to break bread together around the dining room, or kitchen table, too busy to spend time at the Lord’s table on Sunday morning, too busy to spend time at the Hospitality hour. Eating and feeding together is dreadfully important to fellowship and family in the development of love, grace, and empowering support. One of the things peculiar to Alcoholics Anonymous is their fellowship and their sacrament of doughnuts and coffee, the bread and wine of A.A. Their bellies are filled and the empowerment of being a community together under their Higher Power has healing power.
Never underestimate that Jesus Christ leads us to our Higher Power. Never underestimate that Christ is our Shepherd, who makes our bellies full and our cups running over with His grace, and empowerment.
At the end of St. John’s gospel there is another refrain that comes from the Good Shepherd to his disciple and apostle Peter. Jesus says to Peter, “Do you love me? . . . . Feed my sheep. . . . . . Feed my lambs. . . . . . . Feed my sheep!”

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ADDENDUM: It would be good to add to this sermon that the 5,000 sitting in groups of 50’s and 100’s may be related to David’s army and Jesus as the commander in David’s line See Chronicles 13:1, 26:26, 27:1, 28: 1.