After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. John 6:1-15

What a ridiculous story! I mean, isn’t this ridiculous? Here we have this large crowd – other gospels give a number, 5,000 people – following Jesus around. I love this verse: "Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him," Don’t you just figure he kind of went "whoooaa!" And he says to Philip, what the heck are we going to do NOW? How are we going to feed all these people? And Philip, ever the practical one, doesn’t realize that Jesus is kind of testing him, ‘Cause Jesus already KNOWS what he’s going to do, so he gives him – you should pardon the expression – a straight answer. And the answer is, six months wages wouldn’t be enough to feed all these people. "two hundred denarii [which was actually closer to eight months wages at the time] wouldn’t buy enough bread for each one to have a single bite" And he doesn’t add, if any of us HAD six months wages, which we DON’T anyhow, Jesus. And Jesus thinks he’s going to feed all those people. Isn’t that ridiculous?

Let’s put this in perspective. I heard on the radio the other day that the average Canadian household income is $58,000 per year. That’s household, not individual. I have no idea know what average individual income is. I’m guessing some of y’all are thinking right about now, "Hey, what gives? I don’t make NEARLY that much!" That’s what went through my mind, anyway, and I thought, ohmygosh, I’m below average. I get this mindset that I don’t have enough! So I guess I need to hear this sermon.

So anyhow, if the average household makes $58,000 a year, half of that, the 6 months salary that Philip wanted, is $29,000. Is that right? Math’s not my strong suit. And $29,000 may seem like quite a lot to those who don’t have it, but it’s actually NOT a whole lot to cater a meal for several thousand people. That’s about six bucks a head; just about enough to get them each a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. Fine dining, this is not.

But wait. It’s not like they started with nothing. That’s got to make all the difference in the world. Peter’s brother Andrew’s found some food. They’ve got a little boy’s lunch box, five whole barley loaves and a couple of fish. Sounds about like a Happy Meal to me!

By the way, there’s a reason that it specifies barley loaves. Barley was the cheap food. It’s not as good for making bread, because it has less gluten. It doesn’t hold together as well; it’s crumbly. It’s literally "crummy" bread. If you had any money at all, your bread was made of wheat. Only poor folks ate barley loaves. So that’s telling you what kind of bread we’re working with here. And what kind of people we’re working with here.

So they’ve got these five barley loaves and two fish. Does that make this story more or less ridiculous?

Well, you know, I’ve got to somehow come to a conclusion that this isn’t ridiculous. If I don’t I might as well pack it in as a pastor, right? So how can I make some sense out of this miracle? Both of these miracles, really, because our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures is similar. Both stories have certain things in common. Elisha's servant, on being told to feed a crowd with just a little, doesn’t think it possible and complains to the prophet saying: "How can I set this before a hundred men?" And in both accounts, despite these small beginnings, the hungry are fed, and there are leftovers - indeed in the story involving Jesus there’s an abundance of leftovers - there’s somehow more than when the feast first began.

How do we make sense of that? Well, there are a few important things about these accounts that may help us make some sense out of them. First of all is the fact that this story shows us how Jesus is used by God -- that like Elisha, Jesus has God's favour and is able to feed the hungry -- much like the people of Israel were fed by God in the wilderness with Manna. In fact John goes on after the telling of this story to speak of Jesus as BEING the bread of heaven come down to earth -- the one who’s not only able to satisfy our physical hunger -- but our spiritual hunger as well.

So Jesus isn’t JUST about feeding people. Feeding people is important, but y’all know the old saying, right? Give a person a fish, and they’ll eat for a day. Teach them to fish, and they’ll eat for a lifetime. Well, Jesus is not just a short term solver of problems. Jesus has, and is able to use, the power of God to feed the hungry, to make enough.

The second thing that may help us make some sense of this story is that it shows us not only God's power at work in Jesus, but also God's care. God reaches out through Jesus to meet human need. Jesus cares for those who seek him out. He wants to meet their needs, he wants to see them fed.

And finally, and I think this is the most important thing if we want to make some sense of this teaching: the gospel shows us is that Jesus is able to take what is offered to him and to multiply it -- so that what first seemed not enough ends up being more than enough. And I’m going to suggest that we meditate on that. On the fact that there really wasn’t enough. And then there was. ..... there really wasn’t enough..... and then there was... It was somehow multiplied, to be enough.

You know, if I really wanted to make this story seem ridiculous, I guess I’d try to show you how it was done. It’s been speculated about a lot, this miracle of feeding the great crowd of people, and perhaps more than any other miracle, people have tried to figure out how Jesus did it. There are a lot of theories. One of the most popular is that when the boy who had the loaves and fish shared them with others his example inspired others to bring out what they had brought with them and share as well. Which in a 21^st century North American context might well be the REAL miracle.

I can't say how it the loaves and the fish were multiplied. And I don’t even want to try, because I can’t.

But I do want to stress to you the fact that they were, – there wasn’t enough..... and then there was.... – and I think that we really need to meditate on that fact. I think it’s really important for people in general, and for us here at Christos in particular, to consider how "too little" becomes "more than enough" when it’s offered to God. Because sometimes we think we have too little.

Look at the story about Elisha. Someone brings the prophet an offering during a time of great famine -- some bread made from the first ripe grain of the season. And Elisha, after receiving the offering, says to his servant "give it to the people to eat". Give it to the hungry ones here with me, Feed them, because they need it.

And in return he’s told it’s not possible, there won’t be enough to go around. Let’s assume that’s correct, because it seems to be. There WASN’T enough to go round. We hear the same thing in all four gospel accounts about the feeding of the great crowd. Jesus is teaching on a hillside and there are over 5000 hungry people there, and when evening approaches the disciples become concerned, and their solution is to ask Jesus to send the crowd away.  But Jesus says to them - "YOU feed them," and he asks Philip "how are we going to do this?"

Meditate on that. There’s a great need. And there doesn’t seem to be enough to meet that need. How ARE we going to do it? How are we going to feed the hungry?

Does this sound familiar? Great need. Not enough. You can hear words like this anytime, especially when there are social or political problems that require an infusion of resources. How can we help with what little we have? We don't even know how we’ll we make do ourselves, let alone share. We have so little and the need is so great. How can we feed so many? How can we fund so many? How can we afford health care, housing, etc.?

Anything we can do is only a drop in the proverbial bucket. We don't have enough money to help out. We don't have what it takes. That’s what we hear in the world.

And what do we hear in church? What do we hear about our emotional and spiritual resources when confronted with problems of caring for those who are lost and alone, those caught up in guilt and despair, in doubt and depression and confusion? The chorus goes something like this, doesn't it? We don't have enough time. We don't have enough energy. We don’t have the training we need. We aren't professionals. There aren't enough of us to make a real difference, there aren't enough of us to get the job done.

But Jesus didn't listen to this from his disciples, He didn’t berate them for it.... he just showed them a different way.... rather, he took what was offered to him in faith, blessed it, and gave it back to the disciples so that they might share it around. And there was enough. And there were leftovers - There was so much left over, that there was more than there was to start with.

What voice do we listen to in these stories? The voices of the disciples who say, like we do, it’s impossible, there’s not enough. Or do we listen to the voice of the one who tells us "feed the people" and who takes what little we have to offer and blesses it and makes it enough?

Mark, Matthew, and Luke all begin their account of the feeding of the great crowd by saying when Jesus saw the people he had compassion for them, that he cared for them. And all God asks is that we do the same - to care for one another, to have compassion, and to go out into the world, and teach, and heal, and feed the people. That’s the commission Jesus gives to Peter when he asks "Do you love me Peter?" and when Peter says "You know that I love you, Jesus," he says to him "Feed my sheep." That’s the command he gives to us. Feed people, with what we have.

We’re called to be like Jesus, to feed those in need, to feed them with both the bread of heaven and the bread that’s the work of human hands. But we’re not left alone in the doing of it. God's power is promised to us. All we need to do is to do is bring what we have, like the man of Baal Shalishah to Elisha, like the boy on the hillside to Jesus. To bring it without worrying about how much or how little, without worrying what it might or might not be able to do. Without worrying about what it is, but relying on the one to whom we bring it, relying on God and God's love.

I was wrong. This story isn’t ridiculous. Because it shows us that what’s small and insignificant in the face of this world's need can, when offered to God, be multiplied and provide for the world what is needed.  We may be small in number.  We may think we don't have enough.  But miracles all have beginnings, and almost always those beginnings are to be found within us, when we offer what we have to God.  All it takes is that we cease to worry about how little we have and begin instead to think about what we can offer. Because God multiplies it. And because there really is more than enough.