Feeding the 5,000
Do you ever wonder why something is in the Bible? After re-reading this story I found myself wondering why it was included – why this event and why here?
Why are there four gospels? If they were written only to record the movements and teaching of Jesus, surely we would only need one? But we have four, each with a slightly differing perspective on the life and ministry of Jesus.
Matthew wrote his gospel around 80-100 A.D. The early church wanted to know more about the man Jesus – who was he, where did he come from, what was he like, what did he say, what did he do, and so on. Matthew wanted to show that Jesus was the Messiah. His gospel was very carefully constructed: he included a genealogy linking Jesus right back to Adam; he included the angel speaking to Joseph about the child Mary was carrying; he has more references to Old Testament prophecy than the other gospel writers – 11 in all; and he refers back to Old Testament law from Deuteronomy and Leviticus to show how Jesus came to fulfil the Law. He placed Jesus very much as fulfilment of the Old Testament promises.
Matthew wanted to show that the kingdom of God had now arrived in the life of Jesus. He knew that it was not just a future event, but that Jesus the Messiah had brought in the kingdom of heaven. So, he highlighted Jesus working miracles to show God at work. Look at Jesus response to the disciples of John the Baptist when they came to ask if he was the one they should be looking for – ‘go back and report what you hear and see; the blind receive sight, the lame walk’ and so on. (Mt11:4)
Matthew was also concerned that the kingdom of God should grow; he was concerned with outreach and mission. He ended his gospel with the ‘great commission’, but throughout he recorded Jesus teaching – the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, the parables; and for the disciples and the church, their explanations. This was so that they could learn to live as the people of God. He was showing that this new church, where Jew and Gentile worship together, would be truly the people of God and would be witnesses to the world of the gospel of the kingdom. That was why he included this story in his gospel.
We can see that there are great crowds following Jesus. 5,000 men would mean about the same again of women and children, so possibly a crowd of around 10-15,000 people. The crowds follow Jesus on foot, going around the north end of the Sea of Galilee to cross the ford about 2 miles upstream to get to the place where they think he is heading.
We can see that Jesus is the Messiah, able and willing to perform miracles for the people, healing and feeding them.
And we can see Matthew’s call to mission in the two responses to solving the problem of feeding the crowd.
Two phrases stand out for me in this story, two different responses to the same problem. The crowd is huge, they have been with Jesus and the disciples all day, and now at the end of the day, they are hungry.
The disciples are concerned and feel responsible. They want to do something to help, but can’t think of a way to solve the problem. The other gospels record them as saying that it would take 8 months wages to give the people only a bite of bread.
Their only solution – ‘send the crowds away’. Tell them to go and solve the problem themselves, go and buy bread. In our house we have an often used phrase which is ‘be part of the answer, not just part of the problem’.
Jesus had a different idea. ‘You feed them’. This may seem a bit harsh, but in chapter 10 he had sent out the 12 with new authority to perform all sorts of wonderful things, perhaps he is reminding them of this. But they can’t think beyond the physical. ‘But we only have 5 loaves and 2 fish.’
So then Jesus says ‘bring them to me’. Sometimes the only answer to the problem is to bring it to Jesus. Sometimes the answer cannot be bought; it comes as a free gift. How many of our problems fit into this pattern?
The disciples had concern, Jesus had compassion. Out of his compassion he gave, richly. Not only did he feed them, but there was enough left over to fill 12 basketsful. Matthew, concerned with Messiah and Mission, wrote this is a message to the new church about the end times, alluding to the messianic banquet that can be found in Isaiah, it is about how varied and rich the kingdom of heaven will be. We can see this when we look back at the parables we read last week. But it is also more than this; in John’s gospel this story comes just before the ‘I am the bread of life’ statement of Jesus. Matthew is trying to say that there will be enough of God’s salvation to go round.
So what does this passage have to say for us today?
There are three pairs of words
We know that Jesus is the Messiah, and we are still called to mission – to pass on the good news that there is hope, forgiveness, purpose to life. This church that we belong to is not just ours, it belongs to Jesus. It cannot be a holy club, in existence only for the support and comfort of its members; it must be effective in our community, helping people to sort out their problems.
We must move beyond just being concerned for the world, to having the same compassion as Jesus. We are called to have the same attitude as Jesus. If we have compassion, it will spur us to action, in witnessing to our friends, in giving time and money to help alleviate suffering, in being effective in our community.
It is our responsibility as the people of God to hear those words of Jesus when he said ‘bring them here to me’. He wants all people to experience the richness of his love and acceptance and grace; his provision of the bread of life. Jesus is the only one who can give forgiveness and salvation and it comes as a free gift, not one that can be bought, or sorted out by purely human effort or resources.
So, in conclusion when we read this well known passage, we can see those three pairs of words:
But the last word belongs to Jesus: ‘bring them here to me’.
Amen