Matthew 14:13-21
“Full”
August 6, 2023
As I entered these words on my laptop on Thursday, my mind was already rushing ahead to figure out if the items I purchased on Wednesday for the charcuterie board I would be preparing or rather toting all of the stuff and putting together in front of my gathered family on Friday for the Smith Family Annual Day at the Track at Saratoga would be enough.
Everything was to be carried in within a cooler on wheels festooned with peacocks that the previous owners left behind in our new home.
That means the cheeses, meats, fruit, vegetables, nuts, crackers, and hummus would all be bagged and before my family’s eyes and with probably much advice offered, I would attempt to present the food on dollar store trays and bowls on the picnic table covered with a plastic cloth that my brother would have claimed and marked at 7:00 a.m. and then, amazingly would have been there waiting for the convergence of my family at noon time.
The questions I have pre-event include – is there enough food (and mind you, everyone else is bringing food to share also) and can I somehow keep it all dry in expectation of a very rainy day?
Food – what we all need for survival and which we produce in abundance and waste in great volume and have not yet solved the distribution disparity around the world of it – is at the heart of this story of the feeding of the 5000 men and all the women and children who were there to hear and see and experience Jesus that can be found in all four Gospels – the only miracle story that is.
Of course, what ended up happening on Friday had less to do with the actual food we put in our mouths but the fact that we were doing it together.
This well-known feeding story of Jesus’ was far from the first in the Bible.
In Exodus, we hear of the manna that fell from heaven to feed the hungry and desperate children of Israel out in the wilderness.
From 2 Kings, we know that Elisha was able to feed 100 hungry men on 20 barley loaves which his followers never thought would be enough. In that story, there was a similar ending with everyone getting their fill with plenty of leftovers.
Jesus here sees what his disciples can’t.
Notice, too, that in spite of their very reasonable and rational first instinct – to have this enormous crowd go find their own food – Jesus engages them in the solution.
They want Jesus, whom they’ve all come to see, to dismiss them and instead, after trying desperately for some time to grieve the death of John the Baptist by carving out some personal time that is interrupted by human need that he went about healing the sick, Jesus involves the disciples themselves into what will be known as the feeding of the 5000.
He doesn’t say “I will feed them.”
What Jesus does is include them in the “miracle” – “You give them something to eat.”
It’s a “we” approach, not a “me” approach.
And together they do they get to work.
The need is now, not later, and to tackle it they must do so with compassion.
The world-renowned chef, Jose Andres took the same approach when he began World Central Kitchen which has provided over 300 million fresh and healthy meals since its inception 13 years ago.
They are currently serving 1.7 million meals a day all over disaster and war-affected places around the globe.
Here is how Chef Andres describes their start and their mission:
“World Central Kitchen started with a simple idea at home with my wife Patricia: when people are hungry, send in cooks. Not tomorrow, today.
Everyone knows that food is central to life and family all over the world. What we learned very quickly was that food is even more essential in a crisis.
It all began in 2010 after a huge earthquake devastated Haiti. Cooking alongside displaced Haitians in a camp, I found myself getting schooled in how to cook black beans the way they wanted: mashed and sieved into a creamy sauce.
You see, food relief is not just a meal that keeps hunger away. It’s a plate of hope. It tells you in your darkest hour that someone, somewhere, cares about you.
This is the real meaning of comfort food. …
After a disaster, food is the fastest way to rebuild our sense of community. We can put people back to work preparing it, and we can put lives back together by fighting hunger.
Cooking and eating together is what makes us human.”
Yesterday’s Chicken Barbecue accomplished this also.
People enjoyed a delicious meal together with their neighbors, catching up on news about each other and their families – good and bad.
And it was also a way to let our neighbors in towns like Weston, Jamaica, and Londonderry know that they are not alone – that others who they’ll never meet care about them.
Jesus viewed the feeding as an act of compassion not a chore.
He also included others which is what makes shared meals so powerful.
It is what happens with Senior Meals every Tuesday and Thursday in Bailey Hall.
We can also remember that Jesus was famous for eating with people, some who were looked down on in polite society, whom he did not know.
He embodied the concept of radical hospitality and that is one of the gifts he passed on to us.
As we prepare to come to the Communion Table, where all are welcome and where just a bit of bread and a sip of juice has the power to satisfy, may we be mindful of our call to feed and care for God’s children – together with Jesus. Before we come to the table, let us pray these words from Sharlande Sledge:
God of the hungry,
Shelter of the homeless,
Provider of all we need
And much of what we want,
You welcome us
Like a parent calling a child
To a nourishing meal.
Coming together as one family
Reminds us that both our affluence
And our wants are known to you,
Our fullness and the things
For which we starve.
As you replenish us with
Food for our souls,
Turn our eyes and hearts
To the needs of our brothers and sisters
Who go to bed hungry
And wake up longing for bread.
Help us realize how much is enough
And how much is too much
To hold lightly in our lives.
Give us enough trust
To live secure in your love
And to share it freely with others
In open-handed confidence
That your grace,
Like loaves and fishes,
Will never run out.
(Sharlande Sledge, Prayers & Litanies for the Christian Seasons, 89)
Amen.