John 6:5, 8-9, 11-13 (NIV) 5 When
Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon
Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small
fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 11 Jesus
then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as
much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When
they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”
13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the
pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
The miracle of feeding the five thousand is so rich in
meaning that it never seems to become exhausted. Even when handled by the hands
of disciples who had only a dim understanding of what it was all about, the
message of the miracle is obvious. Like the deliverance of the people of Israel
from bondage in Egypt, this miracle was an act of deliverance from bondage to
hunger.
We are physical people with real physical needs. And most
of us know that this need can dominate our life. When the tangible concern of
finding bread consumes our waking hours there is little else that is of concern
to us. But it is not just lack that dominates. Abundance can hold us in bondage
as well. We make a god out of the goods and give in to the tyranny of the
tangible. But what can be done about it?
For centuries the church has claimed that the life of
Jesus Christ can satisfy us in a way that wealth never can. But what is it
about His life that satisfies? Is there some mystical experience that delivers
us from bondage to bread? For some of us that has happened, somewhere in the
laboratory of real life Christ has been able to break through and teach us to
receive our bread without believing our life and happiness depend on it. This
is the life style we see in Jesus Himself. He received His bread and all good
things as gifts from God. He lived freely, openly. He did not grasp, but
allowed the good things in life to come to Him in its own measure. There was
not agitating concern about how He would be fed or clothed as He carried out
His appointed task on earth. He had an eye for the generosity of God. And He
seeks to feed us with that life and that freedom.
The desire for more, the anxiety of not having enough will
rob us of our freedom and deliver us into the hands of those claiming the power
to provide for our needs. We may
wonder “what difference can I make? I still have my own struggles with needs
and desires, anxieties and worries. What small morsel of freedom I have found
is not enough to go around.” If that description even approximates our
attitude, then there is still another miracle Jesus wants to work in our life.
He wants us to share whatever freedom we have found. He wants us to discover
the power of our resources to challenge this blind belief and for us to feed
the crowd with the life that will set them free.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 9, 1986
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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