Trinity 10
Reading: Matthew 14: 13-21
31/07/05
Jesus has just heard some terrible news, his cousin John has been murdered by King
Herod. He
takes a boat to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, probably hoping for some peace and
quiet; time to gather his thoughts, to grieve, to reflect on recent events and future
priorities.
Instead, he is met by a great crowd of needy people. He could have felt he was the victim
of
his own success, got irritated, and refused to meet them. But instead he meets them with
compassion, and heals their sick. He puts God’s will before his own needs, but he
does this
knowing that whatever he gives will be given back to him and multiplied by His Father. And
he does it in order to teach that lesson to his disciples.
Imagine all the people who went to the Live 8 concert, and not so much as a burger van to
feed them. There were five thousand men with their wives all reminding them that if only
they hadn’t been in such a rush to go out there would have been time to prepare a
packed
lunch, and all the kids are whinging. The disciples were probably worried about a riot
breaking out.
The disciples had only recently returned after Jesus sent them out among the villages of
Israel to bring the news of the Kingdom of Heaven. They have performed miracles
themselves,
in Jesus’s name. They have spent this day watching Jesus and perhaps helping him
healing
physical and spiritual ailments. You’d think they’d be ready by now to think
outside the box
when it came to a practical problem like feeding people, but no.
“Send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for
themselves.”
They don’t see how on earth they can make a difference in this situation, so
they’d rather
back away from it and even make it somebody else’s problem.
But Jesus doesn’t let them get away with that. “You give them something to
eat,” he says. I
imagine the disciples were rather dismayed at this, as they discover the small packed
lunch
of loaves and fish is all they can come up with. They seem to have forgotten not only what
they knew about Jesus, who has before now turned water into wine, but also what they knew
about God Himself.
This is the God who provided manna to the Israelites in the desert. There is also a story
in
the Second Book of Kings, about the prophet Elisha, who fed an army of one hundred men
with
twenty loaves of bread, prophesying they would have food left over. God is the same in the
past, now and in the future, and Jesus is His Son who has the same nature, but the
disciples
needed to learn that lesson over and over again.
Jesus takes control of the situation, asking the disciples to bring their loaves and fish
to
him, and asking the crowds to sit on the ground. I imagine the situation instantly
becoming
calmer with a sense of expectation; after all, this is a man who can tell a storm to calm
down and it obeys him, who tells demons to leave their victims and they obey him –
crowd
control should be no problem.
As the Lord offers up this food, little as it is, blessing and breaking the bread before
giving it to his disciples to share out amongst the people, we can see a forerunner of the
Last Supper and the breaking of bread at communion which we will share later this morning.
God is the same in the past, now and in the future.
The disciples are very much a part of this miracle, as they find the food, bring it to
Jesus
for blessing and then distribute it to the crowds. It is part of their learning
experience;
it helps strengthen their faith. And their faith in Jesus paid off. “All ate and were
filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets
full.”
Twelve baskets. One each for twelve disciples who thought they couldn’t make a
difference.
They were normal people like us, with doubts about what they could achieve in a seemingly
impossible situation. They couldn’t have fed all those people by their own skills,
but
nothing is impossible to God. And in being obedient God used them to do what seemed to be
impossible; as he will use us, to act as his voice and hands and heart in our communities,
if we give him that opportunity.
I found an inspiring story on the Internet while researching this sermon about Hattie May
Wiatt, a little girl who died in 1886 in Philadelphia, USA. It was first told as a true
story by Rev Russell H Conwell in a sermon he preached there.
This little girl had been turned away from the Sunday School due to over-crowding as it
was
so popular. But when Conwell found her outside he picked her up, took her inside and found
her a space. He later met her in the street and just for something to say, told her he was
planning to raise money for a bigger building. She must have taken this to heart, because
soon after she died and her mother gave Conwell a bag containing 57 cents which were
savings
Hattie had made to donate to the building fund. By various investments, Conwell made more
money from that donation and, by telling the story to his congregation, encouraged further
giving. After some years, the church were able to buy a bigger building, but the fund
didn’t
stop there. Out of that fund came a church, a hospital and a university, which in one
shape
or another, still exist. Conwell’s sermon ends with some truly inspiring words which
I’m
going to share with you:
“It is one of the great comforts of life that every person is used of God, that every
individual is loved just as closely and in careful detail as though he were the only
person
on this earth. Think of that, my brother, my sister, if there were not another person
living
on earth God could not take any more individual care of you than He now does. He sees and
knows you; though you may think your life is humble, unknown, hidden, yet God sees all,
and
your life has probably just as great an influence for the uplift of mankind and the
progress
of His kingdom as has been the life of those who are seemingly great, seemingly famous in
this world. There is no difference before God. The humblest of His Christian servants is
doing just as much for His kingdom, when waiting, or doing faithfully their little duty,
as
are the seemingly great”.
Let us take those words to heart as we go out from here today. Whatever impossible
situations we might encounter, remember that God does not set out to make us fail. Rather,
he gives us opportunities to learn that we can trust him to make us the best that we can
be
to His eternal glory. He is the same now, as he was then, and will be in the future.