Proper 13A 2020 – Loaves and Fishes (Aug. 2, 2020)
Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22; Matthew 14:13-21
Tomorrow, August 3rd, is Marcel and my first anniversary. We were married last year at St. Michael’s Parish Retreat at Shrine Mont. Those of you who have been part of St. Michael’s since that time know that it was a “surprise” wedding… not to the two of us but to everyone else except our families and a few friends.
There were a lot of things that attracted me to Marcel as we began to get to know each other… He is a hiker, like me. That’s actually how we met. We’re both in the James River Hiker’s Meetup Group. He’s a strong Christian, which, of course, is very important to me. He speaks French, having grown up in Canada… and I was a French teacher for my first career. Not only that, we were both beginning to study Spanish, so we can actually text each other in three languages. He had started taking salsa dance lessons when we met, so that’s been fun. He plays the guitar. He used to be a scuba instructor. He has studied massage therapy. He also dabbles in writing sci-fi novels. And, as some of you know who came to our open house last February, he brews his own beer.
One of the simple things that endeared me to Marcel early on was the fact that he baked his own bread. Week in and week out he made the bread he and his three boys would use in sandwiches for lunch and toast for breakfast. He uses a bread maker, which might seem like cheating to some purists, but it’s just part of what he did to provide for his family’s daily bread. It was simple, economical, and delicious. Besides, it smells great when it’s baking!
The first Thanksgiving he spent with my family a couple of years ago in West Virginia, he brought along several loaves of homemade bread. As we were preparing to sit down for dinner, My brother’s wife leaned into me and whispered,
“He’s cute AND he bakes his own bread? What more do you need?
Of course these days, we’re actually trying to cut back on the bread… We need to counteract the last few months of reduced activity and the COVID – 9 pounds so many of us have added on.
But bread is a comfort food indeed.
There’s a story I first read in the book, Sleeping with Bread: Holding what gives you life.
“During the bombing raids of World War II, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, ‘Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow.’”
You can understand the fear and anxiety the children must have felt, and the great need they had for healing and security. Holding the bread helped to ease their troubled souls. It gives them a hope for abundance in the midst of the scarcity they’ve experienced.
I wonder if that’s part of what’s happening in the story of the feeding of the 5000. This miracle by Jesus is the only one that is told by all four Gospel writers, which tells us how very central this story is to understanding who Jesus is and what God is up to.
Jesus himself was experiencing some anxiety or grief, and in need of comfort after the death of John the Baptist. That’s why he took a boat to go to a solitary place to get some time alone. But the crowds that had heard about him and had been following him ran on foot to get to where he was going to land. And when Jesus saw them, he had compassion on them and began to heal the sick.
How are we, like the crowd, searching for answers and seeking healing?
How do we, like the children in the refugee camps, have trouble sleeping at night, anxious about what tomorrow might bring?
How are we, today in the 21st century, looking for what will truly satisfy our needs and desires?
The passage we read from Isaiah says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”
Many of you have found ways to find centeredness, wholeness, and satisfaction in these strange times. You’ve embraced new ways of being that have brought you back to yourself, and closer to God.
But there are also many of you out there, and many in the world, who are anxious, hurting, grieving, and experiencing scarcity.
COVID numbers aren’t going down as quickly as we’d like, and we don’t want ourselves or our loved ones to get ill.
Many parents are scrambling to figure out how to manage remote learning for school this fall, especially if they need to work away from home.
Our cities, Richmond included, continue to experience additional property destruction when peaceful protests go rogue, while real change in racial justice issues seems slow to come.
Our national politics continue to be divisive and it’s only going to get worse as the election approaches.
Meanwhile, on a personal level, many people are out of work. Many are grieving loved ones who have died, who they haven’t been able to celebrate the way they would have wanted. Many people are in need of their own physical or emotional healing. Lots of us are uncertain about the future.
We are hungry for good news, hungry to find meaning and purpose, and some are just plain hungry, in need of basic necessities.
The crowds in Galilee sought out Jesus because they knew that he offered what they were hungry for: healing, compassion, respect, and love.
And then, when he turned five loaves and two fish into a feast to feed 5000 men, plus women and children, - and have leftovers! – well, I think they were delighted and amazed.
This story of multiplying the loaves and the fishes is preeminent example of God’s lavish abundance in the midst of scarcity, of God’s provision in the midst of need, but it is by no means the only story.
Just like the meal around a thanksgiving table is a place where family stories are remembered and retold, so I imagine it was with the feeding of the 5000 in the desert.
Jesus’ miraculous feeding in the wilderness would have reminded the people of all the other stories they knew.
God provided the Manna in the wilderness to Moses and the Hebrew people as they left slavery.
Elijah being fed bread by an angel as he was fleeing King Ahab, and then later the Ravens bringing him bread and meat each morning and evening.
There’s that wonderful story of the Widow of Zarapheth, whose jar of flour and oil never ran out, even in the midst of famine.
And all through the Hebrew Scriptures, like in the Isaiah passage we read today, we see images of a great feast and heavenly banquet that show God’s lavish abundance.
“Ho, everyone who thirsts,come to the waters;
and you that have no money,come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;listen, so that you may live.”
Over and over again, the bible tells us that where we are afraid or grieving, anxious or lacking, God provides an abundance… in ways we cannot imagine.
And of course, as we Christians look back at the story of feeding the 5000, we remember other stories too. We remember especially how Jesus fed his disciples on the night before he died with the bread and the wine, his own Body and Blood. We remember how the grieving disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus recognized their traveling companion as Jesus when he came in for supper and broke the bread at the table. We remember the abundance Jesus offers us as you and I receive the bread and wine of communion… a sacrament we have been hungry to celebrate together again. One that we can enjoy together next week here at church, or that I can bring to you in your own home.
This feast of abundance and satisfaction is one that we get to be part of making happen.
Jesus does not let his disciples sit on the sidelines in providing bread for the hungry. He told them not to send the people away. “YOU give them something to eat,” he said.
Sometimes even when we feel like we don’t have enough ourselves, Jesus reminds us that we still have much to offer those who are hungry and thirsty for the basics of life and for the good news of the everlasting life Jesus promises.
God uses us, materially, emotionally, and spiritually, to bring his abundance to the world.
As our psalm today said, “You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature.”
So for the rest of today, and perhaps for the rest of the week, I’d like you to reflect on the ways Jesus has brought abundance into your life, even in the midst of scarcity.
For the crowd, Jesus is the one who gave them the comfort food of bread.
He spoke their language, sharing the good news in ways they could understand.
His therapeutic touch brought healing.
And his teaching showed them the steps to the dance of life.
I imagine many of the crowd fell in love with Jesus that day.
Maybe you and I, like the crowd, can fall a little deeper in love with Jesus as we reflect on how he satisfies our deepest desires with his abundance. Amen.