Drive-Thru Jesus
The Rev. Amy Morgan
February 20, 2011
Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Ichthus (Ik-thoos) – Greek word for “fish,” but the letters also stand for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” It was a sign early Christians would use to tell each other secretly that they were Christians.
Isn’t that funny that Christians would choose the symbol of a fish for one of their earliest symbols? Not a cross, not a crown, not even bread or a cup. But a fish. An ordinary, everyday food.
When people remembered Jesus, what he did and said, they remembered a story involving two of these ordinary fish. The story we heard today is the only miracle story to be remembered by all four gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It’s a story that many of us have heard before.
Jesus wanted some time to himself, so he went off into a deserted place. In the bible, deserted places – the desert, the wilderness – are places where transformation occurs. God’s people wander in the desert for forty years so they can be transformed from slaves into God’s blessing to the nations. John announces the coming of God’s kingdom in the desert. Jesus overcomes temptation and prepares to begin his earthly ministry in the desert. So when we read that Jesus is in a deserted place, we know to expect a major change, a big event.
Just like those crowds of people who followed John out into the desert, crowds of people followed Jesus out into the desert. When John baptized those who came out to see him, he told them that one greater than he was coming after him. That one was Jesus, of course, and people had started following him because he taught with authority and healed the sick and was compassionate. People began to hunger for Jesus. They wanted to hear what he would say next. They wanted him to cure those illnesses that caused people to suffer and be alone. They wanted to be near him because he had some kind of power they didn’t understand but that seemed to be changing the world they lived in. And so they came out to the desert, hungry for Jesus.
Jesus did heal their sick and have compassion on them. But as the day grew long, another kind of hunger began to set in. It’s interesting that the bible doesn’t tell us that anyone in the crowd got hungry or worried about what they would eat. Instead, it’s the disciples who came to Jesus and said, “Ummm, Jesus, I know you’ve been really busy with this whole healing thing…but…it’s getting pretty late, and this crowd is going to get pretty hungry. You know how people get when they miss a meal…crabby and irritable…We certainly don’t want a crowd of over 5000 people to suddenly have a meltdown because they have a rumbly in their tumbly, you know!”
The solution the disciples came up with was to send the people away. Have them go to the closest villages and grab some dinner. Maybe they could come back after dinner and sing kum bay ya around the campfire. Or maybe they could come back tomorrow. Or maybe it was time for Jesus and his disciples to sneak away to another place without so many people. Whatever the next part of the plan was, the disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away to get fast food. Or, at least, to get food fast. First century Galilee was certainly lacking in MacDonald’s and $5 pizzas, but people could buy bread and fish and whatever else they might need to satisfy their hunger.
But Jesus didn’t want the people to get fast food. He didn’t want the people to come out to the desert, get healed, and go away. He didn’t want to give the people drive-thru Jesus. Crowds of people followed him out into the deserted place because they were hungry for what Jesus really had to offer. Not just healing, not just compassion. He was the bread of life, the living water. He was the Kingdom of God coming into the world. He was transforming the world from a place of “haves” and “have-nots” to a place where all are fed and cared for and whole. People saw this transformation happening, and they were hungry for it. So Jesus wasn’t going to send them away.
He told his disciples, “the people don’t need to go get fast food. You feed them.”
And the disciples looked through their bags and took a count of what they all had and decided they had…nothing. Now, I know the story says they have five loaves and two fish. But the disciples told Jesus they had “nothing…but five loaves and two fish.” True, it’s barely enough to feed Jesus and his disciples. But it’s not nothing.
But the disciples are looked out at this massive crowd, this hungry crowd, and the little that they had looked to them like nothing.
Do we ever do that? Do we feel like we barely have enough? Does the thought of giving more – time, energy, money, love, attention – feel impossible? We’re stretched so thin. And the needs of the world are so massive. We are overburdened by 24-hour news of catastrophes near and far. People are poor and hungry and oppressed and depressed…but we have nothing to give them. We barely have enough to keep ourselves going. And even if we gave away the little we do have, it would make such a small dent in the massive wall of need that it would make our sacrifice seem foolish. Why would the disciples give away their entire meal when it would only feed about a dozen people in a crowd of 5000 plus?
But Jesus said, “give me what you have.” And the disciples did. Then Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed the food – he drew on God’s power and strength. And then he gave the food to the disciples and the disciples gave it to the people.
This story is often titled in the bible, “Jesus feeds the 5000.” But really, it’s the disciples who feed them. Jesus told the disciples to feed the people, and they did. Now, Jesus gets credit for the miracle making it possible for the disciples to feed all of those people with only five loaves and two fish. But the disciples had to give up everything they had. They had to trust that Jesus would somehow take what they gave and make it enough. And he did.
Christians in the first couple of centuries had to use the Ichthus, the fish symbol, to identify themselves to other Christians because it wasn’t safe to be a Christian at that time in the Roman Empire. Christians would be arrested and hurt. In order to be a Christian, a person might be asked to give up everything they had. Their property could be seized by the government, they could lose their job, their family might kick them out, they could even lose their life. But those early Christians trusted that whatever they gave up to spread the story of Jesus, to live the way Jesus taught – Jesus could take it and make it enough. Enough to feed a whole world of people hungry for Jesus. And he did.
So what do we want to offer people here at First Presbyterian Church?
We can offer up drive-thru Jesus. Come to FPC if you’re having a tough week, if you’ve hit a rough spot in your life. Get a little pick-me-up, some soul cleansing and some nice hugs. And then send people back out into the world to get their real needs met. When we are met with a real and overwhelming need, we can look at our meager resources and see nothing. We can send people away to get “fast food” – quick fixes for their hunger.
Or we can offer people everything. All we’ve got. We can dream bigger than careful management of our resources. We can find bounty in our meager offerings. We can trust that God will take all that we have, all that we are – and transform it into something that can feed multitudes, something that can tear down the massive wall of need we see in this world. Instead of drive-thru Jesus, we can offer people God’s table spread in the wilderness, we can offer people a table prepared in the presence of our enemies, we can offer people the bread of heaven and the living water of Jesus Christ.
So what will it be? Drive-thru Jesus? Or a miracle meal? What are we willing to trust God with? Nothing? Or everything?
Let us pray:
Gracious God,
You have given us so much,
And you have called us to feed your children.
Help us see your transforming power at work
In all that we give up and entrust to you.
Give us the courage to face the needs of the world
Knowing that, by your power, all can be fed,
If only we are willing to give what we have over to you.
In Christ’s name. Amen.
