You give them something to eat (2)

Mark 6:30-46
As preached on 6 June 2010

"You give them something to eat," Jesus said, when the disciples suggested that he say the benediction and send the crowds on their way. They did not have much, but what they had, they shared, and miraculously, it was more than enough. That's the story.
Let me set-up the scene for you: According to Mark, the apostles had just returned from their journeys-- Jesus had sent them out, two-by-two, to do all the things Jesus had been doing: they preached, they cast out demons, they anointed the sick with oil and cured them. Jesus proposed a vacation, so they got in a boat and sailed away to a quiet place on the other side of the lake. But, when they arrived, a crowd was there to meet them. Jesus had compassion for them, and began to teach them.
When it got late, the disciples, who still had not had anything to eat since they returned from their mission trips, thought it was time for Jesus to send the crowds away. And Jesus said, "You give them something to eat."
They were tired, they were hungry, and all they had were five pitas and a couple of fish.
Eventually, the disciples would get their rest, but right there, right then, there were hungry people in need of food. So rather than resting and reflecting, the disciples found themselves serving and clearing.
Here’s how the story might go today, in a modern retelling: People come here, drawn to this place for all the various reasons people were drawn to Jesus. Some seeking enlightenment, others healing, some are just hungry, and some simply have nothing better to do. Jesus says to us: you give them something to eat.
But we have nothing, we might say, nothing but a 125 year-old sanctuary (with loose roof shingles), a few hundred members, and a modest annual budget of… whatever it is. And Jesus says, bring it here. I’ll bless it. Now distribute it among everyone. And by the grace of God, it is enough to feed every soul present, and then some.
So what if the disciples had only 5 whole wheat pitas and a couple of herring. It was enough. So what if we only have what we have. We begin ministry with what we have. If we waste time worrying about what we haven’t, no one is fed; share what we have, and pretty soon everyone begins to share, and we find that we have enough and then some! It's a miracle.
You know, one explanation of this miracle story, from the "demythologizing" movement of the early 20th century, is that in the first century, no one would have traveled anywhere without a little lunch in their napsack. When the people saw the apostles sharing what they had, they were moved by example to share what was in their own sacks. Unexpected generosity is no less a miracle than the Sunday school interpretation.
Nobody travels through this life on empty. Everybody has some provisions. By the grace of God, we discover that (even if we though we were bereft) we have enough and more to share. It's a miracle. What happens when someone begins to share, is that the recipients of that generousity realize they have something to give too. Every Sunday, it's "stone soup."
Another way to interpret the miracle stories of Jesus is to think of them as parables. If the feeding of the five-thousand is heard as a parable as well as a miracle story, then, in addition to being a demonstration of God's creative power at work through Jesus, it is also a parable of God's "kingdom," God's reign, the world as God would have it. In God's world, everyone has enough and more, more to share with the poor.
According to Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Parker's book, Saving Paradise, early images of Jesus at table with his 12 disciples include a serving platter with five loaves and two fish, and no chalice. Early Christians celebrated the breaking of the bread, the last supper, in the context of the feeding of the 5000. What we call Holy Communion was not the sacrificial meal that it became in the second millennium. For the first thousand years of the church, this meal was an enactment of a parable, a reenactment of the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. It was an overture to the feast of paradise, which we could share with the living and the dead, who were already feasting at the head table with Christ in the paradise of God.
This is the joyful feast of the people of God. We are invited to this table to share in the miracle of God's abundance. See how the single loaf is divided among us all and yet is never completely consumed. We share and eat and drink to the day when sharing by all will mean that no one goes hungry. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.