\u201cSo they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves \u2026 they filled twelve baskets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isn\u2019t that amazing? From five loaves of bread, the disciples gathered fragments enough to fill twelve baskets, and that\u2019s even after feeding about five thousand people. John doesn\u2019t tell us how much of the two fish were left over\u2014perhaps none\u2014still, it\u2019s an amazing story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a Gospel we love. It has all the elements of a wonderful story. Jesus is a terrific main character. He has people following him by the thousands because of his teaching and preaching certainly, but mainly because of the signs they see him doing. There are the disciples\u2014willing enough, but still unsure of this very different leader. And there is a little boy with his small lunch that miraculously ends up feeding thousands\u2014with more to spare. It\u2019s a story with a happy ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also a mystery of sorts, because we desperately want to figure out just how Jesus did that magic trick. If we could figure it out, if Jesus would just let us know how to take that little amount of food and multiply it to feed thousands, we could feed all the poor in our own time, couldn\u2019t we? If God would just give us the directions, give us the words, give us the actions to be able to do this, we would be able to do what Jesus did. The walking on the sea in the middle of a storm would be a neat thing to be able to do, and don\u2019t we wonder about that, too? But the best part of the story is really the feeding of the five thousand, and that\u2019s what we should be trying to figure out, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course not. It\u2019s intriguing, and we can be sorely tempted to focus on the how, but this isn\u2019t about a magic trick. The how doesn\u2019t matter. The question of whether it really happened this way doesn\u2019t really matter either. What matters is what this account teaches us about Jesus, and who he is, and what that has to do with us, and how we relate to this Gospel story. It also has to do with how we relate to the person of Jesus, and finally how all of this fits into our living together as a worshipping community here and in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we look at the passage again. The people on the hillside were filled with food. In fact, they ate until they all had enough, and even then there were twelve baskets left over. But that wasn\u2019t all that Jesus wanted to give them. Verse 15 of this chapter says, \u201cWhen Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.\u201d They hadn\u2019t gotten the point that Jesus wanted them to see much more than food. He wanted them to be fed not just with something physical; he wanted them to be fed with spiritual food: the truth about the kingdom of God, the truth about the God who sent him, and the truth about what it truly meant to be his disciples. This story doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum. Jesus, the teacher, knew people needed to experience the truth as well as hear it. They needed to be filled with the word and to experience what this life with God was all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, it might have been a good idea to include most of Chapter 5 with today\u2019s gospel reading, because in feeding the people, Jesus was actually showing them what his words meant. In Chapter 5, Jesus explains who he is. He describes who God is and exactly why God has sent him. Jesus also explains how the people will fit into the life of God if they listen to his words and what the consequences will be if they don\u2019t. We read: \u201cFor the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself does, and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you \u2026 whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he also warned, \u201cYou search the scriptures, believing that in them you can find eternal life; it is these scriptures that testify to me, and yet you refuse to come to me to receive life! \u2026 You have no love of God in you.\u201d These were tough words, but hopeful ones. Jesus was telling them that they needed to do some serious soul searching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, like any good teacher, Jesus gave them a glimpse of what he was talking about. He didn\u2019t let the people go away hungry, for anything. Even when they didn\u2019t listen, he fed their spirits and their bodies\u2014maybe with the hope that in time it would sink in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what about us? We\u2019re asked to listen to the scriptures, examine our lives, and take seriously our response to God\u2019s invitation. Just like the Israelites, we are nourished with the word as well as with the bread, and that should be pretty filling. If we take that seriously, we\u2019ll be well satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need to take a good look at Jesus\u2019 words in Chapter 5. We often gather together to \u201csearch the scriptures.\u201d We all believe that in the scriptures we can find eternal life and that they testify to Jesus, but we also have to examine whether or not we\u2019re coming to receive life. Our lives are bound up with the whole people of God as well as with our communities. We are called by our baptism to continue spreading God\u2019s message through our faithfulness to God\u2019s word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there is that feeding of the five thousand to deal with. Jesus showed his followers exactly what he was talking about. He fed them with food\u2014real food. And again we\u2019re so tempted to ask, \u201cHow\u2019d he do that?\u201d Lots of scripture buffs try to figure it out, but we\u2019ve already said that\u2019s not the point. It doesn\u2019t matter how it happened. The important thing was that Jesus was preparing them for the gift of his own self that would carry them on when he was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He does that now each time we gather to share the Eucharist with each other. We\u2019re fed with real food, the sacrament of his body and blood. And that\u2019s a much more impressive miracle as far as I\u2019m concerned. We\u2019re the inheritors of the promise he gave to his followers that day, and we\u2019re still constantly filled to overflowing with both word and sacrament. So, in the end we have been given the directions, the words, and the actions to do what Jesus did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But remember, we\u2019re also the inheritors of the apostles\u2019 ministry. Jesus is saying to us, \u201cWhat are you going to do so these people can eat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are lots of hungry people right here in our own communities. Summer, when so much food is visibly growing right before our eyes, is a good time to reflect on how we\u2019re helping Jesus feed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what are we doing to feed people with more than physical food? Jesus has given us more than enough food to be fully satisfied in body and spirit and to strengthen us as we continue his work. We only need to open our eyes to the richness of the word and sacrament that is already an intimate part of our lives and let it empower us in love and service to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSo they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves \u2026 they filled twelve baskets.\u201d Isn\u2019t that amazing? From five loaves of bread, the disciples gathered fragments enough to fill twelve baskets, and that\u2019s even after feeding about five thousand people. John doesn\u2019t tell us how much of the two fish…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33,3],"tags":[333],"class_list":["post-511684","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-12b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":333,"label":"Proper 12B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949642,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511684\/revisions\/949642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}