Many of us, if not all of us, have known times of hunger … those times when for some purpose, reason, or even simply by accident … we have somehow missed eating a meal. Maybe while we are working, the job at hand just could not be put on hold, and so we had to miss a meal. Or maybe just as we were about to share a wonderful meal with our family or friends, suddenly someone was involved in a life threatening situation and in order to save their life we had to miss that meal. Or maybe … just maybe someone forgot to bring along food to eat … or maybe there was that time in our lives when we just could not afford to buy food to eat.
I can remember when I was a teenager and I was a member of the Boy Scouts of America. I was sent to a National Junior Leadership Training event in New Jersey, and one of the classes that we were required to attend was a course on “Outdoor Survival.” For three days we were shown how to survive in the wild on our own, and then we were left for 24 hours in the woods with only the clothing on our backs and the items in our pockets. As I picked up an earthworm that I had found that day, I remembered one of the lessons that the instructor shared with us … “If you don’t want to eat it, then you’re not hungry enough. But just remember this: don’t wait until you’re so hungry that you can’t even remember what you should never eat!” And so there was for me a new meaning to the Boy Scouts’ motto … “Be Prepared!”
I’m sure at this moment some of you may be wondering just what all this might have to do with this morning’s Gospel reading. In the reading from Matthew’s Gospel this morning we heard about a time when Jesus truly needed to “get away” for a little time alone. So he went by boat to a deserted place that was far from the towns, but when the people “heard about it, they followed him on foot.”[1] Being the kind of person that we know Jesus was/is … he could not turn his back on them, and so he cured their sick. I find it interesting that his disciples asked Jesus to “send the crowds away.”[2] Oh yes, I indeed understand that they wanted the people to be able to go back to the towns to find food, but that also implies that they were not ready to share their own food with the crowds.
However, Jesus was not about to let them off the hook so easily. Remember what Jesus said? “You give them something to eat.”[3] Now apparently five loaves of bread and two fish were enough to feed Jesus and his disciples, but not enough for 5000 men … as well as uncounted women and children.
I know … I know … we have the advantage of knowing the ending of this story. Not only did everyone have food enough to eat, but there was even more collected in left-overs than there was when they started! And this is but one of the miracle stories of the ministry of Jesus.
Now I have a few questions for you to consider. What was the “real miracle” which happened that day? Did Jesus, the Son of God, take five simple loaves of bread and two fish of average size, and begin breaking them into smaller and smaller pieces until somehow they were then expanded in size until not only did everyone eat their fill, but there was more left over than there was when the meal began? Is this truly a miracle of Jesus creating the food? Or is it possible that the real miracle was that at the gathering of over 5000 people, who watched Jesus and the disciples sharing without hesitation, decided then and there that they would also share what little food they had quietly brought along? It is reasonable to believe that they would bring a little food with them because they had learned over their life-times that it is better to bring along a little food as they travel into the wilderness. It has something to do with remembering to “Be Prepared” … or maybe it’s about deciding that you’re not going be stuck having to eat that earth-worm again.
When we reach into our personal resources and share them with those who do not have enough resources … When we chose to share with those who will never be able to repay us … then we are participating in this same miracle.
