The Citizen, 2018-07-12, Page 16PAGE 16.THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2018.
From the Minister's Study
Feeding the 5,000: a story of compassion
By Charmila Ireland
Melville Presbyterian Church,
Brussels
The story of the feeding of the
5,000 is the only miracle story that is
in all four Gospels; the only one.
Clearly the early church thought
that it was worth remembering. I
think that might be because it
touches on so many important
issues, in a way that was and is real,
tangible and important: with food.
In the time of Jesus, food scarcity
was a real problem. While King
Herod feasted in his palace, many
people starved on the streets. There
were no food banks or social safety
net to help them, only the
generousity of neighbours,
community or maybe the Temple. A
gnawing sense of emptiness in the
pit of their stomach would have been
a normal feeling for a lot of Jesus'
followers. People's lives depended
on the strength of the harvest.
Starvation was real. Perhaps that's
why the story of Jesus feeding more
than 5,000 people resonated so
strongly with the early church. And
that's why it should still resonate
with us.
According to Worldhunger.org,
there were 925 million hungry
people last year. That's roughly one
in every seven people who don't
know where their next meal is
coming from. Although we might
like to think the problem of
malnutrition and hunger doesn't
exist here in Canada, the reality is
that it does. Locally, the North
Huron Food Share distributes
thousands of pounds of food every
month of the year. Food scarcity or a
lack of nutritious food is a serious
problem here and around the world,
just as it was for Jesus' followers.
Consider this event from Jesus'
perspective. According to Matthew,
it happens just after Jesus learns of
the beheading of his cousin and
friend, John the Baptist. That is what
Matthew 14:13 is referring to when
it says, "When Jesus heard what had
happened, he withdrew privately to a
solitary place."
It's no wonder Jesus wanted to be
alone: the man who had baptized
him had just been murdered. He
needed time to mourn, to have a
quiet moment of respect and some
time with God. I'm sure most of you
have had this desire before, the need
to escape. To go somewhere by
yourself, to just be alone. When the
noise and demands and pains of the
world become too much and you just
want to be by yourself, not needing
to put on a front for anyone, to act a
certain way. So he went to a solitary
place.
But the crowd followed him.
Jesus' need for a private moment to
grieve was interrupted by a crowd of
more than 5,000 people, all making
demands on him. "Heal me! Save
me! Teach me!" they demanded.
Here is the first miracle. Jesus,
exhausted, grief-stricken, desiring
solitude, does not turn them away.
When he was confronted with the
needs of the crowd, he had
compassion. His heart went out to
them. The first miracle is that Jesus
has compassion. He healed their
sick, even while he was sick at heart.
That is the character of God,
revealed through Jesus.
And the second miracle, the
feeding, also shows us the character
of Jesus. It shows us that God loves
justice. Not retributive justice as
many humans believe in. Not
punishment. No, Jesus showed
distributive justice. His miracle took
nothing away from anyone else. He
just gave. Such is the nature of God.
We see repeatedly throughout the
Bible that God wants us to have
enough food. Ezekiel 34:27-29 says,
"The trees of the field will yield their
fruit and the ground will yield its
crops; the people will be secure in
their land. They will know that I am
the Lord.... I will provide for them a
land renowned for its crops, and they
will no longer be victims of famine
in the land..." Or Psalm 107: 8-9,
"Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his unfailing love and his
wonderful deeds for men, for he
satisfies the thirsty and fills the
hungry with good things." Or Psalm
146:7, "He upholds the cause of the
oppressed and gives food to the
hungry." Or Luke 1:53, in Mary's
Magnificat in which she says of
Jesus, "He has filled the hungry with
good things."
There are more examples, but I
think you get the point. This story
shows Jesus feeding the hungry,
desiring that everyone be fed, not
just the rich and powerful.
So here Jesus is, his quiet time of
mourning interrupted. Instead of
turning the crowd away, he has
compassion and heals them. And
then he uses it to teach the disciples
something, to equip them for
ministry. When the disciples would
have sent the people away, Jesus
simply says, as if it's nothing, "They
do not need to go away. You give
them something to eat" To this his
disciples rightfully reply, "Huh?"
They only have five loaves and
two fish! How will this feed 5,000
men, plus women and children? Oh,
ye of little faith! Jesus,
foreshadowing the Last Supper,
takes, blesses, breaks and gives the
food, and in the end, there is more
than enough for everyone. But the
title of this miracle is a bit
misleading. Jesus doesn't actually
feed the 5,000. He gives the bread to
the disciples and the disciples give it
to the people. Jesus has been
teaching the disciples for a while
now, and now he shows them what
they can do, with some help from
God. Jesus takes what the disciples
can bring him and multiplies it. He
empowers the disciples to feed the
people.
Let's consider their perspective.
The first thing we hear from the
disciples in this story is, "This is a
remote place, and it's already getting
late. Send the crowds away, so they
can go to the villages and buy
themselves some food."
The disciples are clearly thinking
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in a very linear and logical way. This
is a desert. It's past supper time.
These people need to eat. Therefore,
we should tell them to go to the
nearest town and buy some supper.
Very logical. But they don't take into
account that Jesus can work
miracles. Of course they don't. If
miracles were common and planned
for, they wouldn't be miracles any
more!
The disciples couldn't have
predicted what Jesus said to them.
"They do not need to go away. You
give them something to eat." Note
that Jesus isn't offering to do it
himself. No, he says, "You give them
something to eat" How do you think
they felt when Jesus told them that
they were responsible for feeding a
hungry crowd of more than 5,000
people? Likely pretty overwhelmed.
Probably shocked and maybe a little
put out that Jesus would dump such
a huge task in their lap with no
warning.
So it's not surprising that they
incredulously say, "We have here
only five loaves of bread and two
fish!" They acted like the five loaves
and two fish were nothing. And,
logically, in the face of more than
5,000 hungry people, they were
basically nothing. The disciples
were overwhelmed by the magnitude
of the need and their scarcity of
resources.
Big needs and problems can feel
insurmountable, paralyzing us so
that we do nothing. A few years ago,
I worked for Project Ploughshares, a
peace and justice organization. Part
of my job was putting together the
annual Armed Conflicts Report,
which is a summary of every
conflict currently ongoing around
the world. And as I researched
conflict after conflict after conflict,
bus bombings, refugees, chemical
attacks, rockets fired at schools,
children kidnapped and made
Continued on page 18
BRUSSELS
United Church
Join us July 15 at 9:30 am
Worship leadership by pastors
from Huron/Perth
Meet us at our Hospitality Booth at
"The Barn" every Friday from 2 to 6 pm
Everyone Welcome
The Regional Ministry of Hope
Everyone Welcome!
Trinity Anglican Church St. John's Anglican Church
BLYTH BRUSSELS
00. 9:15 am Closed for the month of July
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519-357-4883
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email: revjoann@hurontel.on.ca
The Regional Ministry of Hope
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
We will be closed for the month of July
Reopening for worship on August 5th
Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm - Soup & More 2
- a free community meal held in Melville's basement, and
made possible by the Brussels churches working together.
Nursery care available
519-887-6687
Blyth United Church
Est. 1875
Worship Service
at 11:00 am
Office Hours:
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blythunited @tcc.on.ca
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