Mark 6:30-44. (King James Version).
30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus,
and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place,
and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no
leisure so much as to eat.
32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him,
and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them,
and came together unto him.
34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with
compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd:
and he began to teach them many things.
35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him,
and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and
into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.
And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth
of bread, and give them to eat?
38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see.
And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies
upon the green grass.
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes,
he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them
to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes
divided he among them all.
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments,
and of the fishes.
44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
Good Morning Friends,
I am very pleased to have the opportunity this morning to be here with you.
and to praise God with the members of Christ the King congregation.
And it is great to be able to share with you all the story of
Jesus feeding the five thousand in a lonely place. This is one
of the most popular stories in the Gospel, and I am sure this
is a favorite story for many of you.
This story is the only miracle story which appears in all the four Gospels.
I would like to call this story a Bread and Fish Party on the Green Grass,
Hosted by Jesus. This morning, I would like to think of this story from the
disciples' point of view. My reflection starts from a question:
what kind of experience was this for the disciples?
For the disciples, this whole time was meant to be a quiet day to refresh
themselves after a long and difficult journey with Jesus. That was what
Jesus proposed, or even promised, as we read in the verse 31. "Come with
me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Therefore, originally
this was a time for reflecting, praying and recovering. How desperately
they longed for that kind of time! For when they returned from the mission
journeys, they did not find any single minute for rest, "because so many
people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat!"
We know it very well that after several days of hard work.
We need a total rest.
However, when people saw them leaving the town, they ran after them on foot
from all the towns and got to the place ahead of them (v. 33). As soon as
Jesus and the disciples arrived at the lonely place, a large crowd who was
already there started asking Jesus questions, for advice, healing and
encouragement. When Jesus saw them waiting for him, he had compassion
for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34).
It seemed as if Jesus' concern was shifted from the disciples to the crowd.
The disciples may have been disappointed at this, but they were patient
enough to wait until it became late. When the nightfall came, they started
worrying about the evening meal for the crowd, for Jesus, and perhaps for
themselves as well. So they went to Jesus and suggested, "This is a lonely
place," they said, "and it is already very late. Send the people away
so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves
something to eat."
But Jesus had a different idea. Responding to the disciples, Jesus gave them
a striking answer. "You give them something to eat." The disciples must have
been at a total loss! "What on earth does this man want us to do?"
This was a question which may be in their mind and they must be looking at
one another. Finally, one of them opened his mouth and said, "Do we have to
buy food to feed these people? That would take eight months of one man's
wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
This shows how much they got puzzled at this point.
Then Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see."
They needed to go and recognize what they had and what they did not have.
The disciples went and found out that they had five loaves and two fish
altogether. Thus the miracle of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish
started. Five thousand men were made to sit down on the green grass and the
mysterious Bread and Fish Party started with Jesus' solemn Prayer and action.
But what was it for the disciples themselves, I wonder? They must have been
just overwhelmed as well as feeling lost.
OK, we can laugh at them, if you like; but then we cannot learn anything out
of this story. Under the circumstances, the disciples were tired and focused
on themselves. They could not see the compassion of Jesus toward the crowd.
They could not resonate with Jesus' heart which was deeply moved by the
crowd. They could not connect what was happening with the reign of God.
They could find no connection at all! They thought that since they were the
disciples who had journeyed with Jesus, learned from Jesus, who were given
authority over evil spirit, they were somehow different from other people.
Yes, they were special partners with Jesus. But Jesus' concern and priority
was focused on the crowd, the people whose individual names were not even
mentioned. Jesus wanted to involve these people in the story of the Kingdom
of God as important members and invite them to share an enormous joy
of God's reign. In other words, Jesus wanted these people to become aware
of God's wonderful mercy.
We may find a similar situation at church. Sometimes church members who have
been serving many years feel the church is too focused to outside issues.
They may feel that the rector's attention goes to the needs of the people,
not to the church itself. This kind of feeling can occur when our focus
is distracted from the focus of Jesus' own concerns.
Jesus is always concerned to involve a wide range of people into
participating in the life of God's Kingdom. For Jesus, the voices of those
who are made weak and small or even outsiders need to be heard, and to be
cared for first. Jesus wanted to stay with them and enjoy the taste
of bread and fish with them.
The initial purpose of the journey was apparently to train the disciples
to be the workers of God, but when Jesus met the people, his choice was
to be with them and feed them with abundant food, that is itself God's
blessings. The base of this choice was the deep mercy and compassion to
"the sheep without a shepherd". Jesus taught the disciples that day that
all persons everywhere are invited into the Kingdom of God and he will
provide for them.
It is a great blessing that two of our church members from Tokyo All Saints,
Kazu and Shun are here and join the service with you. We are most thankful
that our companion relationship between Christ the King and Tokyo All Saints
has been sustained for these years. We believe that our relationship has
been in God and of God. I also believe that our companionship is connected
to the mysterious party of bread and fish on the green grass hosted by Jesus.
I am also sure that wherever we share grace and food with people and nations
of the world of diversity, we are connected even more closely with Jesus.
Let me close this with a prayer:
Jesus Christ our Lord, we heard again this morning that you hosted the
mysterious party for the crowd of five thousand men. Help us to see others
as you see them, as sheep without a shepherd, who need our care and our
ministry; and to have faith that you will provide us what we need to care
for them. This we pray with thanks for being gathered here from half way
around the world in your name.
AMEN.