Matthew 14:13-21

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost | 6 August 2023 | Sermon on Matthew 14:13-21 | Paul Bieber |

Matthew 14:13-21 Revised Standard Version

            ¹³ Jesus withdrew in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” ¹⁷ They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

also

Isaiah 55:1-5

Psalm 145:8-9, 15-22

Romans 9.1-5

What Is Broken Can Feed Many

Grace, peace, and much joy to you, people of God.

Jesus withdraws to a lonely place. Why? Because his cousin and fellow preacher of repentance and the kingdom drawing near, John the Baptist, has just been beheaded on the order of Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee. So Jesus withdraws, as he withdrew to Galilee when John was arrested back in chapter 4. Jesus is grieving the death of the one he had called “a prophet and more than a prophet,” and perhaps sensing what lies ahead for him, too. He withdraws to a lonely place, no doubt to pray—perhaps a foreshadowing of Gethsemane.

But the crowds will not allow him to slip away to grieve and pray in a lonely place. They follow him. And Jesus once again has compassion for the crowds, harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. He translates his sorrow into compassion. He has compassion on them and heals them. At evening, the disciples helpfully point out to Jesus where they are and what time it is, together with a suggestion (voiced in the imperative!) that he send the crowds away to buy food in the villages roundabout.

The great throng that follows him to this lonely place is reminiscent of Israel in the wilderness, where God fed the people with manna, the bread from heaven. Jesus refuses the disciples’ suggestion. Instead, he says (using the imperative back to them), “You give them something to eat.”

What does he mean, that they need not go away? We can’t feed them, the disciples think. “Limited resources” doesn’t even describe the situation. Five little loaves and two fish wouldn’t even be enough for Jesus and disciples, much less this wilderness throng. What can they do with what they have?

The disciples bring what little they have to Jesus, because he invites them to do that: “Bring them here to me.” Jesus’ invitation translates their sense that what they have isn’t anywhere near enough to meet the need around them into a willingness to give what little they have to him. Discipleship is not just a matter of managing limited resources. It is a matter of bringing what we have to Jesus as his disciples. In the hands of Jesus it becomes enough.

Jesus took, blessed, broke, and gave the bread, as at the Last Supper. This feeding in a lonely place has the same shape and rhythm as the meal in the upper room in the night in which he was betrayed. And that supper—with these same disciples—is a foretaste of the banquet of the kingdom that God promises the returning exiles in the prophecy of Isaiah. This is the meal of the everlasting covenant of steadfast, sure love, God’s gift to Israel—along with the glory of his presence, the wisdom of his law, and the promises that lead to the Messiah, the Christ.

The new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ does not supersede those gifts; it fulfills them. The feeding miracle that adumbrates his gift of the real bread from heaven—the bread that becomes his body and the wine that becomes his blood—leads us to the feast of the kingdom by way of the brokenness of the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross is the way that God’s promises to Israel are broken and shared with all who will receive them.

The Lectionary skips the first part of chapter 14, Herod’s birthday party, a banquet of death—the death of John the Baptist. St. Matthew intends us to see the contrast between a banquet that ends with an execution, and this wilderness banquet that offers life in the midst of a world filled with death and offers a look ahead to the banquet that offers eternal life by way of Jesus’ death.

When we gather in his presence, adopted as the Father’s children, hearing again his law and promises, celebrating the new covenant of his cross and rising, Jesus not only gives us his own body and blood. Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives back to us what we have offered to him, and we are called to give it to others. This, too, is discipleship. We offer what little we have. Jesus takes ideas, money, loaves and fishes, time, talents, energy, artistic gifts, a sense of humor, skill with words or lands, love. He blesses them. He breaks them. What is broken is changed. What is broken can feed many. Jesus gives those offered things, that he has blessed and broken, back to us so that we can give them to others.

Left to ourselves, we have too little. Jesus takes what little we have and miraculously multiplies it: a sign of God’s abundant giving. Hungry and weary we may be in the wildernesses of our lives, but the providence of God nourishes us and every living creature:

            The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,

                        and you give them their food in due season.

            You open wide your hand

                        and satisfy the needs of every living creature.                                  (Psalm 145.16–17)

Of the Lord’s Prayer’s Fourth Petition, Luther’s Small Catechism says, “To be sure, God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that God may make us aware of his gifts and enable us to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.”

Hunger and thirst are biblical metaphors for our longing for God. Our real hunger is for God, who alone can truly satisfy. The greatest gift God in Christ offers is himself. “Come,” he says through the prophet Isaiah. The invitation to God’s banquet calls everyone who thirsts. May we be aware of all of his gifts and receive them always with thanksgiving. And may we receive his gracious gift of himself with gratitude.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle of Jesus’ ministry to be told in all four Gospels. Jesus feeds the hungry. Even now he gathers, heals, and feeds his people as a sign of the kingdom drawing near. And he shows his disciples how to feed those around us: by bringing what we have to Jesus to bless it, by being willing to have it (and ourselves, perhaps) broken, and by receiving it back from his own wounded hand, so that we can give it to others.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

—

The Rev. Dr. Paul Bieber

San Diego, California, USA

E-Mail: paul.bieber@sbcglobal.net