Loaves and Fishes

[Our lessons this week were Isaiah 55:1-5, Psalm 145:8-9, 15-22, Romans 9:1-5, and Matthew 14:13-21.]

There were three mice who died and went to heaven. After a couple of days, St. Peter stopped by and asked them how they liked being in heaven. The mice said that it was OK, but since they had such short legs, it was hard for them to get around because heaven was so big. So St. Peter told them that he thought he would be able to help them. After a little while, an angel came to the mice and gave each of them a set of roller skates. Right away, the mice put the roller skates on, and they could zip around heaven, really enjoying themselves.

A little later, a cat died and went to heaven. After a couple of days, St. Peter stopped by and asked the cat how he liked being in heaven. The cat answered by saying, “Oh, boy, do I like being in heaven! I’m having a great time and I’m really enjoying myself. And most of all, I love those meals on wheels.”

Jesus has just learned of the execution of John the Baptist. He has just taught in his home town and been rebuffed: “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” Quite understandably, he has tried to withdraw from the crowds to “a deserted place by himself.”

But the crowds follow him. When Jesus sees this great crowd, bringing their sick people for Jesus to heal, his compassion does not let him turn them away. As evening came on, the disciples advise Jesus to send the crowd away so the could buy their suppers in the nearby villages. (That assumes that these mostly poor people could buy their suppers. I rather doubt the rich of Palestine were well represented in the crowd.)

Instead Jesus tells the disciples, “No, you feed them!” Can you imagine what runs through the disciples’ heads at that? Feed five thousand men and the unreported number of women and children with five loaves and two fish? But after Jesus blesses the bread and broke it (and where have we heard of that before?), they do just that and have twelve baskets of broken pieces left over! How can this be?

I have heard many explanations, ranging from the supernatural where the food magically multiplies to the story of the first church potluck lunch, where the crowd produced the food that they were carrying themselves. But I think these all miss the point. Focusing too much on the mechanics of how can cause us to miss what it means: God provides for his people! He has acted to feed the hungry!

The disciples’ reaction to the crowd, like ours would be, was one of anxiety (“that’s not in the budget!”). Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.” While we reach for the handle of anxiety, Jesus approached the problem with the handle of faith. When we take the handle of faith, the results can seem miraculous, even when no supernatural forces seem involved.

Father Bill [Bill Anderson, our rector] often tells Hurricane Hugo stories, so here’s one in his honor:

After months of hard work and years of saving, the day came for Reb and Jackay to open their own restaurant. All that was needed was the final health inspection and the issuing of their business permit. That was scheduled for first thing that morning; then “Our Place,” as they called their restaurant would be in business.

But that morning the winds and rains of Hurricane Hugo hit, unexpectedly making its way 200 miles inland to their North Carolina town. Trees were uprooted, power lines were down, homes and stores were destroyed. Reb and Jackay hurried to their restaurant. Everything was intact.

A deputy sheriff pulled up and told them that their restaurant, the fire station next door and a service station down the road were the only ones that had electricity. Reb and Jackay called the health inspector to come immediately so they could open, but because of the power outage, he couldn’t get into his office to issue the permit. No permit, no business opening. With a refrigerator stocked with 300 pounds of bacon and beef and bushels of tomatoes, lettuce and bread, there was only one thing to do: give the food away.

They told the deputy, “Tell your coworkers and other emergency people you see that we’ll have free BLT’s and coffee for anybody who wants to drop by.” Soon firemen, policemen, linemen and other workers were filing into Our Place. When the couple heard that another restaurant was scalping people by charging ten dollars for two eggs, toast and bacon, they placed a sign in their window: FREE BLT’S—FREE COFFEE. Families, travelers and street people were welcomed.

Then something began to happen. People started to clean counters and sweep floors. Volunteers took over the dish washing from Jackay and helped Reb at the grill. Hearing about what was going on at Our Place from the local radio station, people from a neighboring town that had not been too badly hit by the storm brought food from their freezers. Stores and dairies sent over chicken, milk and foodstuffs of all kinds.

And so the long day went. Those first cups of coffee and BLT’s somehow stretched to 16,000 meals. The restaurant’s small stock increased by 500 loaves of bread, cases of mayonnaise, 350 pots of coffee and bushels of produce.

And this is the real meaning of the story: Out of scarcity can come God’s abundance. Whenever Jesus is with us, there is enough. There is enough to eat and drink, enough to heal and care for, and enough to teach. And whenever Jesus asks us to act, all we need will be provided.