+In the Name…
“One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?’” (St. John 6: 8-9).
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, knew both what people wanted and needed. Acknowledging their wants, He would then meet their needs.
In the verses just before where the Gospel for today begins, St. John tells us that after Jesus have gone to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, “a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased,” and that “Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples.”
Those who were fascinated with Jesus were increasing in number. The demand upon the stamina of Jesus in the fullness of his humanity was increasing because of this.
Jesus knew that a multitude had followed him and why they were so doing, but before He responds to them He goes away (ever so briefly) to be with His disciples. It was the rhythm of his earthly ministry – solitary prayer, time with the disciples, and then engagement, to be repeated many times over- solitary prayer, time with his disciples, and then engagement with the people to teach, preach, and heal.
The multitude who followed Him was seeking healings. This is what they wanted. Jesus discerned what they needed, and that was for them first to be fed. It was the very nature of Jesus to serve, and here His desire is to serve the people not to satisfy their wants, but to provide for their needs. He knew that they were hungry or would soon be hungry, and He wanted to feed them.
He asked Phillip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” We’re told by St. John the Gospel writer that “This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.”
Jesus’ desire was to feed these people. He knew through His divine nature what was available as food – five barley loaves and two fish. He knew that He could perform a miracle, and His desire was to do that. Why?
Well, first of all is because that was the only way that the multitude could be fed because there was not enough money available to buy enough food for so large a crowd. But secondly, and more importantly, Jesus’ desire was to teach His disciples to trust in Him whenever they would meet up with difficulties in future apostolic endeavors. His intent was to teach them that they were to engage in their ministries and the challenges of them using whatever resources they had, even if they are plainly inadequate, as was the case with the five loaves and the two fish because He would supply what was lacking and supply even more than necessary.
Isn’t it interesting that Andrew was the one who answered the question of Jesus as to how so many could be fed with the response, “There is a led here who has five barley loaves and two fish”? It was Andrew who after leaving his discipleship of John the Baptist to become a disciple of Jesus who first found his brother Simon Peter telling him, “We have found the Messiah,” and brought him to Jesus.
In Andrew we see a man who saw that with Jesus all things were possible, and that he was to look beyond himself in caring for the souls of others as he found and brought his brother to Jesus.
Andrew was exemplary of what our Lord wanted the other disciples to do and see – to bring others to Him, and to know that He could and would supply what was needed to do what was necessary in the challenges and trials of their ministries.
With the feeding of the 5000 which stemmed from just five loaves and two fish, we are told that after the crowd was given “as much as they wanted,” and after “they had eaten their fill,” twelve baskets of fragments from the five loaves were gathered. Jesus not only fed all present in abundance, but there was much, much more food left over in abundance.
The principles here for our learning and appropriation as the Lord’s disciples are that He when sought by us does provide what is needed, and His provision goes well beyond what is needed.
I can say from personal experience that both are true, that when Jesus is sought as Lord and Master in faith and trust with a humility before Him, He does provide what is needed (not necessarily what is wanted), and His provision is more than adequate. Faith and trust beget deeper faith and trust.
Jesus invites us to Him with the words, “Come unto me all ye that travail, and I will refresh you.” When the invitation is accepted, when we come to Him and give Him ourselves to be used for His purposes, He gives and He gives abundantly. Jesus said,
”…give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap” (St. Luke 6:38). He also teaches us about the power of prayer when He says, “….whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you are receiving it, and it will be yours” (St. Mark 11:24).
As I have said before, there are no coincidences in the loving activity of God for us. We have before us today the story of a miracle done by Jesus for our spiritual confidence and solidity. To those who seek Him in faith and trust with humility before Him, He does provide what is needed, and His provision will be super-abundant through good or ill.
When I write sermons, I often think of hymns. As I wrote this sermon, my mind went to a stanza of Hymn 600 (1940 Hymnal):
“Ye saints, who toil below,
Adore your heav’nly King,
And onward as ye go
Some joyful anthem sing;
Take what he gives
And praise him still,
Through good or ill,
Who ever lives!”
Our immediate task is to claim that truth as we do what we’re called to do each day as we live in and by faith with good works. We are to keep our hands to the plow upon which Jesus has placed our hands, for He said, “No one who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (St. Luke 9:62).
St. Paul’s words to the Ephesians which we have heard this morning are the Word of the Lord to us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Let us like Andrew the Apostle believe that Christ Jesus takes what we give and does mighty things with it and us, and like Andrew let us witness to others as he did to his brother with surrendered lives to Jesus, lives that echo Andrew’s compelling words to Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah.”
+In the Name… |
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