John 6.1-21
Are you hungry?
Well now that’s a loaded question in a sermon; Because you know I’m not hiding a breakfast buffet in the transept.
… except.
I am inviting us to reflect on physical hunger.
Are you experiencing that physical need? An empty belly?
And all that follows when that hunger repeats itself, and becomes the norm… there’s malnutrition, lower resistence to illness, decreased ability to concentrate…
Are you hungry?
…which leads to the next question.
If you are not hungry, Are you fed?
Chances are that if you are NOT physically hungry, then you have eaten. So you have been fed.
But how often do we stop to think about that process?
By whom? Where did this morning’s food come from? What about yesterday’s?
Do you have food security (which means knowing where your next meal is coming from);
do you have food sovereignty (which means having agency over your food system)?
Are you fed?
…which leads to my next question.
If you are fed, Are you feeding?!
Because this is where we recognise that if we are fed, we can share of our excess with those who are hungry, now.
With those who are food insecure, now.
With those who are denied access, for whatever reason.
The hungry who we pray for; and those who we are called to feed.
Pope Francis once said “you pray for the hungry, and then you feed them. That’s how prayer works.”
So. Are you feeding?
This is exactly the conversation, and the opportunity, that our gospel invites us into today. The joys of sharing a meal, of connecting with one another, of responding to need with compassion – and of living a ministry of companionship.
Companion: a word that has its roots in sharing basic food: com meaning TOGETHER WITH, and panis meaning BREAD. A companion is one who breaks bread with another; spends time with each other, offers what they have: physically and emotionally – with someone else, so that both may be nourished.
Because being nourished – both with physical and spiritual bread – is prayerful ministry.
And this is what Jesus shows in this recounting of the feeding of the multitudes. This is one of the only passages that is present in all 4 canonical Gospels, because it is IMPORTANT.
The Gift of bread is important.
The gift of acknowledging hunger; of being filled; and of feeding the hunger of our neighbours: this is important stuff.
The folks are there – to listen to Jesus. For they want to be fed with the words of life, with the bread of heaven.
And when I say “the folks are there” – I mean all of them. Thousands. Multitudes! More than can be accurately counted.
Entire families, communities, neigbourhoods – left their homes to follow Jesus – for his teachings and healings were giving them what they hadn’t even known they wanted or needed. They were starving for the teachings that Jesus gave them; and they hadn’t even known they were hungry.
So they followed. Of course they did.
And: as happens sometimes, when we become engrossed in something that engaging, that exciting, that overwhelmingly amazing: we lose track of time. And then we realise:
We’re hungry.
And the folks today – they’re hungry. They haven’t eaten, and they have walked quite a ways…
And Jesus sees this. And the disciples see this.
So when Jesus asks his disciples – who themselves were probably more than a little peckish – where they’re going to get bread, the disciples of course reply in a very normal, human way; the way any of us might reply.
“I don’t know!”
And that’s okay! Peter is blunt when he says that even IF they had 6 months’ worth of wages, it wouldn’t be enough money –
and it’s not like they’re standing outside a bakery. There’s no bread to be bought.
At this point, we can almost picture the teaching Jesus raising an eyebrow to say “I didn’t ask if we could afford it; I asked where we could get it.”
Jesus reminds them that the question wasn’t about money; it was about access.
He teaches them that sometimes it’s not always about human ideas; but that God will provide a solution.
So there they are, amid the hungry crowds.
Until Andrew shares that he’s seen a boy with 5 barley loaves and two little fishes.
This offering is not opulent: barley loaves were basic fare – this is the bagged sandwich bread of Biblical times.
And the fish – this is not freshly caught fish just off the boat; these are dried fish; preserved, portable, basic protein. The Sea of Tiberius’ tin of tuna.
Yet: this is more than they had before. Because someone was willing to share; to extend faith, to do their part to meet the need.
What a gift when we see children all the time trying to share their food.
Yet even when this is presented from this unlikely sources, the disciples are still stuck in thinking that they don’t have enough.
“But what are they among so many people”
A normal question.
To which, of course,
And again Jesus takes us back to access: and to nourishment.
Jesus sees that the people are hungry.
He knows their hunger is for bread, and the bread of life.
Jesus is demonstrating that the access to being fed is for all.
That sometimes, it’s not about having enough, it’s about sharing enough.
The miracle doesn’t just happen right at the start when Jesus blesses the bread; the multiplicity is not a barrage of barley and flood of fish.
The miracle also happens as the distribution of abundance happens.
No one is hoarding, or hiding this food; and in the sharing a miracle takes place.
Through those simple loaves and fishes, the disciples, the crowds – are all connected. It’s a beautiful timeless lesson; that we are always given the opportunity to share in abundance, to exercise grace, and to faithfully live in covenant.
For we are companions – brought together with, and by, the grace of God.
That connection that God gives us blesses us with each other: a community coming together to glorify God: and to live in love.
Loving God and each other.
Loving, as fully and completely as possible – and then loving some more.
Loving with compassion and courtesy; with kindness and gentleness.
But also loving with justice, and right actions.
Sometimes: loving with bread.
Because for people who are hungry, that bread IS an act of love.
And so Jesus loves the people, and meets their needs. The empty bellies are filled; the depleted spirits are refreshed, the sense of community is renewed.
And we hear that people ate as much as they wanted; and then there was more left over.
Leftovers for people to take away with them: to the folks who hadn’t eaten in days, and had nothing at home for the next day; or to the people who were caring for the infirm or little children or the elderly, or to anyone else who hadn’t been able to make the journey.
There were leftovers for whoever might need it – or want it.
Because the hungry had come.
They had been fed.
They had fed others.
They had received the gift of bread; and the gift of Jesus.
And they had their fill.
This Gospel renews our faith as it reminds us that God provides more than human hearts and minds – and bellies – can be filled with.
God’s grace and gift is abundant.
So.
Are you hungry?
Are you fed?
Are you feeding?
May we be nourished, with all that God provides;
and may we participate in the miracle of sharing.
May we live as companions with God and with each other.
Truly: this is the Good News of God. Amen.
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