Michel and I
One
time Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan scored 63 points in one game. After
the game, a reporter interviewed one of his teammates, Scottie Pippen. The
reporter asked, “What’s the highlight of your day?” Pippen answered without
hesitation, “The highlight of my day is Michael and I together got 65
points!”
5 Loaves vs. 5,000 People
We, as
an individual and as a church, often feel that what we have is so limited,
whereas the needs of the world around us are so great. In today’s scripture the
disciples worried about their limited resources and how it could reach a
growing crowd. They said, “We only have five loaves, but what good is that with
this huge 5,000 crowd?” (9) Like the disciples, we often feel like what we have
is 5 loaves, and the challenges we are facing are like 5,000 people. So we
worry. We feel overwhelmed and powerless and say, “I have only such and such,
but what good is that with the great needs? What should I do now?” If you have
ever felt that way, today’s scripture is for you. In particular, I want you to
pay attention to the following four verbs used in today’s story: “take,” “give
thanks,” “break” and “give” (cf. Matt 14:19; Mk 6:41; Lk 9:16; Jn 6:11).
“Take”
First,
Jesus takes what we bring to him. The story of feeding the 5,000 is
written in all four gospels. In fact, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus asks his
disciples, “How much bread do you have? Go and see! (6:38)” Here Jesus
gently invites us to think about what we already have. His point is not
to literally check and count how much bread we have. For Jesus, five loaves or
seven loaves – it doesn’t matter. His point is for us to see what we are
already given. Because so many times we tend to focus on what we don’t have:
Our church is so small. We don’t have enough resources to do missions. We don’t
have young people. We don’t have children and youth, and so on. Philip,
one of Jesus’ disciples, had a similar mindset. He basically said, “Even if we
worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” (1 denarius = a
worker’s full day’s wage). He focused on what he didn’t have. But then,
another disciple, Andrew did go and see to find something what he already
had. And he found one boy. He brought the boy to Jesus. Jesus took what
the boy brought to him – five loaves and two fish. Jesus takes what we bring to
him – our bread, our prayer, our work, our strength, our weakness, our
hunger, whatever we are. Jesus takes who we are.
“Give thanks”
Jesus
then gives thanks for what we bring. He blesses and celebrates. He
doesn’t criticize or reject our offering. Jesus welcomes us just as we are. God
loves us not because we did something good or impressive for him. God just
can’t stop loving us even before we commit our lives to him. When Israel was
still in their sins, God said to them through the Prophet Zephaniah, “The LORD
your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (3:17)
Our giving does not change God; it does change us. In today’s passage
Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread to feed all these people?”
Jesus said this to test his faith, for he himself knew what he would do. Here
Jesus was inviting Philip to come and see and learn from him.
A few years ago, in an interview Dallas Willard was asked about the challenges facing the church. Dr. Willard spent much of his life addressing the problem of why the church isn't raising up more people who look and act like Jesus. At the end of that two-hour interview, Willard was asked this pointed question: "When you look at how off track the church is, do you ever just throw up your hands in despair?” Willard smiled and said, "Never." "But how can you not?" the interviewer asked. "Because," he said, "I know Christ is the head of his church and he knows what he's doing." [1] Jesus knows. He knows his church. He knows his people. He knows us. And he loves us even before we turn to him. But when we turn and come to him, when we bring ourselves to him, we hear him say, “You are my beloved!”
“Break”
Jesus
takes and gives thank for what we bring. But then Jesus breaks what we
bring to him. Once we ourselves are in Jesus’ hands, we are not permitted to
remain self-sufficient. We ought to be broken or pruned first before
feeding the world. I like the story of “mashed potato love” told by Juan Carlos
Ortiz. I know many of you in this room are very familiar with potatoes. Hope
this analogy helps you to understand what it means to be broken. The story goes
like this. As you know, in growing potatoes, each potato plant in the garden
has three, four, five or more potatoes under it. Each individual potato belongs
to one particular plant or another. When the potatoes are ready for harvest, we
dig up all the potatoes and put them into one sack. Now they are all
“regrouped” – but they are not yet “united.” They may say, “Oh, praise the
Lord! Now we’re all in the same sack.” But they are still not yet one! To
prepare the potatoes for use, they must be washed and peeled. Now they think
they are closer yet. They may say, “How nice is this love among us!” But that’s
not all. Next, they must be cut in pieces and mixed. They have now lost a lot
of their individuality. However, what God wants is mashed potatoes. Not
many potatoes, but “one” mashed potato! The word “I” no longer exists, but only
“we” do. [2]
So we become one with Christ, and one with each other, and one in ministry to
all the world. In John 12:24 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel
of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it
dies, it produces many seeds.”
“Give”
Jesus
takes, gives thank, breaks, and then he gives back what we bring to him.
But it is no longer what we brought. Something happened in the meantime. It’s new
creation, new bread that feeds thousands of people.
Do you remember how God fed the Israelites in the wilderness? God said to Moses, “In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want.” But Moses said, “I’m standing here with 600,000 men on foot… Even if all our flocks and herds were butchered, would that be enough? Even if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough?” But Moses believed in God. He believed somehow God would make a way. So by faith he went out and told the people what the Lord had said. Then what happened? God sent a strong wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp – for miles in every direction, there were quail 3 feet deep on the ground! (cf. Num 11:16-23). So they all ate and were satisfied. It’s a mystery how Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. But the Bible says, “They all ate and were satisfied” (cf. Mt 14:20). And it still happens today when we share what Jesus gives back to us.
Jesus and I
In
today’s passage there is a boy who could be easily missed. It seems like he is
from ordinary or even poor family. At that time, barley bread was very common,
and it was typically for low class people. And the Greek word used for the fish
the boy had was opsarion, which meant very small fish. So if this kind
of fish was caught in the net, people released it back into the water. What the
boy had – five barley loaves and two small fish – was not great, but it was everything
he had. By faith the boy brought what he had to Jesus. He had no idea what
Jesus would do with it. But he had faith that Jesus would do something
with it. Jesus wants us to have this faith: “If I bring what I have to him, he
will do something with it.” Once one of my colleagues encouraged me to put myself
on the boy’s shoes. She said, “Have you ever thought what the boy would tell
the story to his parents after coming back home?” Do you think he would simply
say, “Mom, Dad, today Jesus fed the 5,000?” Probably not! He would say with
excitement, “Mom and dad, today Jesus and I together fed thousands of
people!!!”
Through today’s story Jesus invites us to a rich and satisfying life. What do you see? Do you see what you don’t have? Or do you see what you already have? Because of the COVID pandemic, we haven’t had our VBS for the past two years. It was hard to keep our Sunday School going. So this year it was harder to resume VBS again. At the beginning, it seemed we didn’t have enough teachers, volunteers, and children. But we brought what we had – our heart, our prayer, our faith, our time. Then, the Holy Spirit took over. He sent, assigned, empowered right people in right positions – from leadership to decorations, to snacks, to art and crafts, to puppet, to mission moment, to group leaders. We were all well fed and satisfied.
Each of us in this room has something to offer, something to share. This morning Jesus says to us, “Bring them here to me.” Jesus takes, gives thanks, breaks, and gives back. And all are satisfied. So what do you have? Let us bring them here to Jesus. And we will say with great excitement, “Jesus and I together did feed all these people!” With Jesus all things are possible. Amen.
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