Trinity 7 – Feeding of the Multitudes
Bishop Ray Sutton

A man once told of a household incident of which he had been an innocent but perplexed spectator. Seems he had called a Venetian-blind repairman to come pick up a faulty blind. The next morning, while the family was seated at the breakfast table, the doorbell rang. His wife went to the door, and the man outside said, "I'm here for the Venetian blind." Excusing herself in a preoccupied way, the wife went to the kitchen, fished a dollar from the food money, pressed it into the repairman's hand, then gently closed the door and returned to the table. "Somebody collecting for the blind," she explained, uninterruptedly pouring the coffee.

It’s easy to misunderstand a request. Our next stained glass window under consideration teaches powerfully how one little lad comprehended correctly Jesus’ request. The scene is the feeding of the multitudes or five thousand. The window is the first one in the nave on the north or Gospel side of the church. Prominent in the window is a little boy. He is offering two fish and five loaves to Jesus.

The feeding stories are mentioned six times in the Gospels, twice by Matthew and Mark and one each by Luke and John. In this particular instance as recorded by John, Jesus has been followed out into the wilderness by thousands of people. As the day passes, people become hungry. But they’re too far out into the wilderness to make it back and they are just far enough away from their destination to press forward. They began to converge on Jesus for a solution to their hunger.

Jesus called His faithful disciples to ask them what their solution to the problem would be. He first questioned Philip. His answer was, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat” (John 6:5). As if the test could be failed worse, Philip adds, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little” (6:7).

Andrew, one of the other disciples, found the little boy with the fishes and the loaves. But even with the solution right in front of his eyes he doubted that the boy’s food would be enough. He told Jesus, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” (6:9) Jesus’ response was to tell them to sit down. Then the Lord performed one of the greatest miracles in all of Scripture. He took what the little boy gave, blessed it by giving thanks and began to distribute until all had enough with more than plenty left over.

Theologically in John’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as the Lord of the New Creation. It is the Gospel that begins like the Book of Genesis, “In the beginning . . .” The first five chapters preceding John 6 on Christ as the Bread of Life have to do with water themes. Water was created according to Genesis 1 as the source God used in the rest of life. The feeding of the five thousand in John 6 follows with this emphasis on Christ as the Creator and sustainer of life. The miracle of the feeding is a type of creation miracle proving that Jesus is the Sovereign Lord of all.

I used to wonder about the precise connection between the movement in John’s remarkable Gospel from water to bread. Then I heard the other day about a restaurant here in Dallas. They sell Philly Cheese Steak hoagies. They fly in the bread direct from Philadelphia, however, because no one in this part of the country can make the bread just right. I’m told the key to the taste of the bread in Philadelphia is due to the water. It is water in the final analysis that is the essential element in the taste of bread. In a similar way in John’s Gospel, Jesus is the source of life as He is revealed as the Water and the Bread of the life of the world.

Sacramentally, there is another theme woven within this story of Christ as the source of life for the world. It has to do with the message of the window. The disciples saw need in terms of human resources available to meet the need. Jesus Christ understood the need according to offering. The disciples immediately tried to address the need by what they could find. The little boy approached the crisis by what he could give. And Jesus didn’t need a lot. What He did want was for the disciples to give to Him knowing that the need would be met through offering not finding. Furthermore, what was given would be given back to them in abundance. Here is the great sacramental reality demonstrated to us every time we receive Holy Communion. If you read carefully the rubric language on page 73 of the BCP for how the Priest prepares the table for Holy Communion, it instructs the following: “And the Priest shall then offer, and shall place upon the Holy Table, the Bread and Wine.” Notice that the Bread and the wine are offered. The Priest does this on behalf of the congregation. In some of our parishes, the bread and the wine are brought down with the offering to demonstrate that the elements are part of the offering. Regardless, the point is that what the people offer is consecrated. Their Bread and Wine become the Bread of Life, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the sacramental food consumed by the multitudes that come to Holy Communion.

A miracle takes place at every Eucharist. What is offered is consecrated for greater use. This is all that God wants. Martin Luther once wrote, “I have tried to keep things in my hands and lost them all, but what I have given into God's hands I still possess.” In Other Words, a publication of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, recently told a story about Sadie Sieker, who served for many years as a house-parent for missionaries' children in the Philippines. Sadie loved books. Though she gladly loaned out some, others she treasured in a footlocker under her bed. Once, in the quiet of the night, Sadie heard a faint gnawing sound. After searching all around her room, she discovered that the noise was coming from her footlocker. When she opened it, she found nothing but an enormous pile of dust. All the books she had kept to herself had been lost to termites. What we give away, we keep. What we hoard, we lose. Surely those disciples of Jesus had something to give Jesus to offset the need. It never occurred to them to give. Only the little boy gave what he had to Jesus. Offering was the solution. It’s as we give that God consecrates what we give. And then our gift spreads to multitudes. God help us to be like the little boy. Amen.