Feeding the 5000, meeting needs God's way

17 Aug 25 Sermon

The Scripture reading from Matthew is one that many of us are very familiar with – the miracle of the 5,000 being fed with just a tiny amount of food which, in Jesus’ hands, was more than enough.

This morning, I’d like to focus on vs 15-16, where we are told: 

¹⁵ Toward evening the disciples approached him. “We’re out in the country and it’s getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.”

So, Jesus tells His disciples, ‘There’s no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.’ In His ministry, Jesus sought to meet the needs of the people who came to Him; on this occasion, He wanted His disciples to take on that responsibility. This was a big task, thousands of hungry people and Jesus had handed the responsibility for their well being to them – the disciples had to have a discussion about how to go about this. After some chat they, ultimately, decided to go out and about and in to the crowd and see what the food options might be before bringing back what they ‘found’ to Jesus. Here’s, another version of what happened.

So, one disciple went in among the crowd and came across a couple who had done some ‘forward planning’. They had a picnic with them – some bread, some fruit, some meat, some wine and some water. Result, thought the disciple. They had quite a lot of food with them, so he was sure they’d share some of their food with others. Confidently, he approached them and explained the situation and the fact that Jesus had given His disciples the responsibility for feeding everyone. ‘So’, he asked, enthusiastically, ‘could we have some of your food to share with others?’ ‘No’, the couple said, ‘Folks knew they would be coming out into the countryside and wouldn’t have access to Tesco or Starbucks so they should have done some forward planning, like us. It’s not our fault they’ve been feckless and are now hungry and expecting someone else to look out for them. They don’t deserve our support; they need to learn a lesson.’ The disciple was really deflated and sad at having to take this response back to Jesus.

Meanwhile, a second disciple approached a young family who had some bread, some simple meats and some water. He too explained what Jesus had said to His disciples and asked the family if they would be willing to share some of their provisions. The young family were genuinely concerned for the plight of the others who were out in the countryside with them; they didn’t want them to go hungry but, they didn’t feel they could share what they had. ‘If the quality of the food was better we would happily share what we have but the bread’s a little stale and the meat’s a bit tough’, they said. ‘We’d be too embarrassed to offer this to anyone, let alone Jesus and His followers. We’re really sorry. Next time, we’ll try and bring something that’s better quality and then we’d be delighted to share what we have.’ Although the disciple understood their hesitancy he too, was a bit disappointed at having to take this response back to Jesus.

A third disciple approached a young lad who had five loaves and two fishes. He explained the situation to the youngster who replied, ‘This is all I have. It’s not much and the quality isn’t the best but I’m happy to give it to Jesus; in His hands, anything is possible.’ The disciple was delighted! He scooped up the provisions and rushed back to Jesus and we all know what happened from there!

Now, I don’t need to tell you the version I’ve just told isn’t real but I thought it was a useful tool to help us do a bit of self reflection on our response to Jesus’ call to service.

When Jesus calls us to do His work how do we respond? Does the task just seem too daunting, too overwhelming for us? Or do we prayerfully ask for Christ’s help while speaking to our fellow Christians to discern the way forward?

Or are we like the couple who decide how they will respond. to the needs of others, depending on whether they feel the recipients deserve the help? Do we make judgements as to who is and who isn’t deserving of us showing them God’s love? Do we decide who is worthy and who it’s OK to just ignore? Where would that leave us if God had decided to only offer His love and forgiveness to those who deserved it; to those He deemed to be worthy?

Perhaps, we’re more like the young family. Genuinely concerned for the plight of others but ashamed of what we can offer; we don’t think it’s good enough; we don’t think it would honour Jesus as it should; we don’t trust that Jesus will welcome what we offer, irrespective of it being imperfect. Do we hold back from offering God’s love until we think we can do it well enough?

Or, are we like the young boy – we know that what we have to offer is imperfect, we know that it is limited but, we also know that, whatever we offer, in Jesus’ hands the ordinary can become extraordinary. Are we confident enough in God’s love for us, in Jesus’ love for us, in the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to say, ‘This is what I have, Lord, take it and use it and me, for the furtherance of Your Kingdom.’

God didn’t wait until we were worthy or perfect before He sent His Son, for our sake. We are forgiven, we are valued, we are loved by a faithful Heavenly Father, a gentle Saviour and an empowering Holy Spirit. We are loved and trusted as we are, where we are. Do we truly believe that and live in those promises so that, we can serve God by serving His people with the imperfect, limited vision, abilities and gifts that we have and are knowing that, in His hands more can be accomplished than we could ever envision. And to God be the glory.