I’ve been preaching on Paul’s letter to the Romans for most of the summer, so I want to take a minute now to re-orient ourselves to the gospel narrative that leads up to today’s reading from Matthew. Jesus has been traveling and teaching, both with his disciples and with great crowds. He has been teaching in stories, or parables, about the kingdom of heaven, comparing it to a mustard seed, seeds sown in different soils, a field where both weeds and wheat grow and then to yeast mixed into unleavened dough, a hidden treasure, a pearl of great value and a fisherman’s net filled with fish of every kind.
And while he has been teaching, his cousin John has been imprisoned by Herod. And now word has come to Jesus that John has been executed, beheaded, and is dead. That is where we are when we enter today’s text which has Jesus going off to a deserted place by himself.
You can probably imagine a time when you heard the news of a death of someone you loved and recall the emotional and physical exhaustion that accompanies grief. That is where Jesus was when we encounter him in this text.
And yet, when Jesus saw the crowds following him, he didn’t send them away. Instead, Matthew says he had compassion for them and he cured their sick. (v. 14)
Maybe Jesus recognized that they weren’t trying to be a nuisance or just tagging along because they could. They were hungry, for healing and for food. And those hungers were worth the risk of being identified as followers of Jesus,
whose coming had been proclaimed by his cousin,
who had now been killed by the state.
We don’t experience the kind of persecution that Christians experienced in the first century so it’s easy for us to underestimate the cost of following Jesus. In the hills and valleys of Israel, his followers would have been exposed and visible.
But their desire to draw near to Jesus and satisfy their hungers were greater than any fears they may have had about being singled out as a follower of the King of the Jews or seen by Roman soldiers as traitors to the empire.
While the historical context of this passage is important, often a sermon will focus on the wondrous multiplication of loaves and fish that made it possible to feed thousands of people.
But what stood out to me in this morning’s Gospel wasn’t the feeding of the crowds, or even the earlier healings, as miraculous as those events were. What stood out to me was Jesus’ instructions to his disciples.
The disciples had noticed the time and knew it would soon be suppertime. They didn’t have enough to satisfy the crowd, so they went to Jesus and telling him about their meager fish and loaves of bread, they suggested he send the people away that they might find provisions for themselves.
They weren’t being callous. Just practical. And perhaps they were protective of Jesus. Do you remember how the day had begun? With the news of his cousin’s brutal death? If he had sent the crowds away, do you think anyone would have said he hadn’t done enough?
But, he didn’t send them away. Instead, looking at the meager loaves and fish, Jesus tells the disciples, “Bring them here to me.” And he blesses them, breaks them and gives them out to all who hunger, and they are satisfied.
There is a church in Israel where it’s believed this story happened. And in that church there’s a mosaic that has an image of two fish and a basket with four loaves in it. When a visitor asked where the fifth loaf was, the reply was, “On the altar of every church across the world.”
Discipleship is never centered on us as disciples, or what we can do. Following Jesus is always about what God is doing. God is always the actor. And God is always bigger than we can imagine or understand.
The Good News is that we are invited to bring all of our broken bits and pieces to God.
“Bring them to me.”
The broken relationships. “Bring them to me.”
The disappointments and half-finished projects and forgotten promises. “Bring them to me.”
The hurts that we have caused others or inflicted on ourselves. “Bring them to me.”
The fears, insecurities and grief. “Bring them to me.”
God doesn’t care how meager these bits and pieces seem, or how little value you think they have. Bring them to God and ask God to use them for God’s kingdom and wait expectantly for what God will do.
Out of these broken bits and pieces, God fashions us into God’s people and puts us to work in the kingdom of heaven, where God not only fills empty, rumbling tummies but satisfies the hunger in our lives for a Savior, Redeemer and Lord.
Thanks be to God.
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