Abundance and welcome

“…Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” (John 6:5)

2 Kings 4:42-44

Psalm 145:10-19

Ephesians 3:14-21

John 6:1-21

The Scripture readings, above, are from  the appointed 'paired' readings for the principal service of the day from the Church of Ireland while hyper-links to the readings are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © http://nrsvbibles.org

We are on the western slopes by the Sea of Galilee two thousand years ago.  Many are gathering from far and wide to hear and see, and, maybe even touch this extraordinary prophet and teacher who comes from the North.

Five thousand people is a fair number to be gathered in one place. That number of people would not fit into the Waterfront Auditorium in Belfast. And as for ‘has five barley loaves and two fish’ (verse 9), that would fit into a small supermarket trolley. Whatever the numbers involved and the detail of what unfolded that day, we are listening to a story told a little differently in all of the gospels. 

People hunger for food in every sense of the term. Jesus sees this hunger and responds. However, he responds by showing them the real meaning of their deepest hunger.  It is not primarily the miracle or the ‘sign’, as John calls it, that is the focus, here, but the revelation of a deep hunger within human beings to be connected, to be filled and to be saved from meaningless.  But, people need to be literally fed in order to understand their deeper hungers. The two are linked. In a world where much food is wasted and many of us consume far more than we need, hundreds of millions go hungry every night. Perhaps, it would be good for us to experience just a very little of it, ourselves, now and again lest we ever forgot what ‘hunger’ really feels like even if a little self-imposed.

Many Christians see in this story the beginnings of a theology of the Eucharist. Surely, the gospel stories of the feeding of the 5,000 and the extended teachings by Jesus for the entire 6^th chapter of the gospel of Saint John reflect the sacramental experience of the second and third generation of Christians for whom these gospels were written.  Jesus feeds his people with his own life and the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish lead us on to a conversation about Jesus, himself, the Bread of Life broken and given for the life of the whole world.

Just imagine being at a concert where you are among thousands seated to hear a band or a speaker.  Free food is being handed out. No questions. No front rows and back rows. No vouchers and no limits (and no need for vaccination certificates!). No distinction of race, social class or ethnic belonging. And no ‘religion’ as we normally understand and apply the term. Just ‘imagine’ as the title and saying goes in that famous song by pop star, John Lennon.  In short, we might imagine a world free of fighting, rivalry and distrust where there is an abundance of what is essential.

And this is the Kingdom of God on earth and beyond our earthly imaginings.

We are so accustomed to an idea of reality based on scarcity of means, infinity of objectives and hard choices to meet at least some of these objectives. The paradox of modern living is that as some of us acquire more and more by way of material goods, conveniences and options for communication and travel the more we fret and worry over the distribution of spoils.  The mentality of scarcity, non-affordability and general angst over the future takes over. 

The kingdom of heaven turns this mentality on its head by declaring that there is an abundance if we are prepared to take baby steps in trust.

The story moves along from searching for Jesus to sitting down together to eating together to being taught.

Eating together has a profound significance that is often missed in 21st century Western cultures. In many places and times, the act of sharing a meal has more than functional relevance. It is a time of renewal, friendship and conversation.  In some mysterious way it is a rite of passage as we move from one day to the next and from one phase of life to another. The ‘last supper’ taken on the eve of Jesus’ execution was the first of many suppers in which he would continue to share his bread with his friends. Again and again meals are a sign of something living and continuous in the life of Jesus and his disciples. The various miracle meal stories to be found in all four Gospels including chapter 6 of St John tell of a time of renewal, friendship, teaching and joy. In some sense the reality of sharing a meal hints at sacrifice past or in the future.

We celebrate together what has been and what is to come. (Not only is a funeral the central social ritual in Irish culture but the meal that follows – even if it is only soup and sandwiches – is part of the ritual).

And so, at this feast, there is a distribution of the goods without limit to everyone who is in need and as much or as little as they need. Nothing is left to waste as the fragments are gathered up (note that they tidied up after themselves at the picnic!). There is no evidence of preferential treatment or front row pews for some with an offer of extras for these. It is a radical egalitarian meal of equals characterised by God’s fathomless generosity.  In a way the story is a model of how we should live out the Eucharist in today’s world. It is far from the fractious abuse of the Eucharist described briefly by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. But, alas, in the 21^st century the Eucharist is still a battleground among those who seek to control access and exclude dissenters and those who do not conform to a particular theology or preferences. We would do well to pause and ask ourselves who is the chief Host at this feast (pun intended!) and who is any one of us to decide that we are more worthy or deserving or needy than any one else?

The heavenly banquet has already begun and the lame, the wounded, the sinful, the unsure, the tormented, the hurt, the broken, the needy are all invited. Go out and let this be known. To conclude let us consider the uncensored words of John Lennon who sought for something beyond this world and is now somewhere in another world:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

http://bit.ly/1flnY4w

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

This story of the feeding of the 5,000 (or was it 4,000 or was it the first of two miracles reported in Mathew and Mark?) matches those in the synoptics. This was an important moment in the ministry of Jesus where he identifies himself as the Bread of Life and the Word of God. The story, as recounted by John contains some mysterious numbers like 5 loaves and 2 fish = 7 and 12 baskets of left-overs.

John more than hints at a link to the early Eucharist when he writes, in verse 4, that the Passover was near.

Is this passage pointing towards the Eucharist as we have received it in Christian tradition?

It is.

Clearly, it echoes something from the witness of Jesus and the understanding of the early Christian community in which John was written. But the Eucharist as we have received it is, at the same time, about what we hear and see in John 6. There a bigger picture, here, than the particular tradition in which we have received the sign of bread and fish multiplied.  It is the reality of an outrageously over-generous and inclusive God who feeds everyone who comes to be fed and restored. The dispensers of this food are the keepers and messengers but they do not own the message and the bread and do not control, ultimately, who gets to eat and stay. In modern day terms, such a festival of sharing in the divine banquet might leave us shocked and perplexed at who turns up to be fed as well as who doesn’t turn up because they find the whole business unsavoury and scandalous.

6:1       Jesus on the move

‘After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.’

After this refers to his time teaching and healing in other regions. We are on the way to Jerusalem sooner or later. The Sea of Tiberias means the Sea of Galilee which is actually a freshwater lake and not a sea in our sense of the term. This Lake forms the background for much of Jesus’ initial ministry of healing and teaching. The names of the towns and places scattered along the shores of this lake are familiar to us from across the Gospels.

 6:2      The yearning of the masses

‘A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ‘

The crowds yearned for some truth, some light or some healing. Or, was it that among them were persons merely looking for some ‘sign’ to reassure or excite them in an otherwise dull and tough life in 1^st century Palestine? What do we seek? And, were we to find what we seek how would life be, then?

6.3-4    Teaching on the mountain

‘Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.‘

The reference to a mountain echoes the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Here, we can see a gathering around the new Teacher and Giver of the Law of Love. What is about to happen mirrors a story from 2 Kings 4:42-44 when the prophet Elisha mandated the giving of bread to a hundred men. This ties in Jesus as the new Moses who gives a new Law and opens up a new passage or exodus or Passover.

There are strong hints of a great new prophet – like Moses - sitting down on raised ground to teach God’s people.

The bread that comes down from heaven is no mere ordinary bread. Something transforming is happening in this story and it is beautifully summarised in the very ancient writing of the 2nd century Didaché (9):

Just as the broken bread was scattered here and there over the hills and when gathered became one, so now, may your Church be gathered in your Kingdom from the ends of the earth.

6.5a     They came to Jesus

‘When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him’

The crowd seek a saviour. The saviour sees them coming and immediately sense what is required now.

6:5b-10            Who will feed the people and with what?

‘Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.’ 

Some practical matters are raised about how such a  large crowd can be fed. It seems impossible and beyond reason that this can be done. Jesus is testing the faith and the capacity of the disciples to go an extra distance. We may note that the food is brought from a boy or a little one paidarion (using the double diminutive just as ‘boyeen’ in Hiberno-English). The same term is used of Gieza, the servant of Elisha in 2 Kings 4.

Sensitivity to the rich Hebrew and ancient scriptural traditions of Jesus’ time is useful as a way of understanding what was going on here. In 2 Kings 4:42-44, the prophet Elisha is involved in another miracle of loaves.  Again, we see a stretching of faith and possibilities when we allow our meagre resources to be used by God in ways that surpass our wildest expectations and dreams.  The ‘little lad’ who had the five humble barley loaves and 2 fish (in other words the common diet of common people in Jesus’ time) played a key role in making it possible for a doubting band of apostles to distribute God’s bounty. Entrusting our cause even to those of limited means and standing in the community could open doors and possibilities for God’s miraculous everyday work.

6:11     Jesus gives the bread

‘Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks [….eucharistēsas in the Greek and not euologēsen as in the synoptic gospels…], he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.’

Jesus took the barley bread (which was the ordinary bread of the people), gave thanks and distributed it. This has a strong Eucharistic tone in the four actions of: taking, blessing, breaking and giving (the breaking being implicit in the act of giving the five loaves among a large crowd). To be noted is that fact that another provided the bread and the disciples (at least in the synoptic gospels accounts) helped distribute the bread and gather up the remnants. There was plenty for everyone, hungry as they were. Jesus fed and taught and the action created single community on a mountain anticipating, as it did before, during and after the Last Supper the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:17:

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Curiously, Matthew and Mark who, each, recount two stories about feeding the masses use the word eucharistēsas in the second of their second account of the multiplication of loaves (Matthew 15:36 and Mark 8:6).

6:12-13            No waste left behind

‘When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’  So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.’

As they say in some parts of Ireland, they were stall-fed.

Like the people on the side of the mountain fed by Jesus, most of us are lucky to have plenty of food and all manners of substances for drink including plain water in plastic bottles!  The gathering up (the synagein in Greek and also found in the text of the Didache) is an important part of our gathering to be fed. We are responsible to one and another including those not present. The gathering up symbolises (a) abundance and plenty, and (b) the desire to conserve and use again for good purposes.

Didache 9:4 states:

As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains, but was brought together and became one, so let thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into thy kingdom, for thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever. 

14-15   Jesus is no King of this world’s making

 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’   When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.