Pentecost 9B, 2024

9th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

My grandmother Edith was the head cook at the Junior High in my hometown. She loved cooking for people. Although she was retired before I got to Junior High, the staff still talked about her. The principal (pretty scary guy at the time) was fond of the apple pies she used to make for him. He made sure to tell me that… which certainly made him less scary. So Grandma used to put on lunch for around 350-400 kids, I think. I remember our meals being pretty good. Now I know she didn’t do it alone; there were 4-5 other workers in the kitchen with her. They did quite a good job of putting out that much food in a short amount of time.

Fast forward to my college days. Of the 3 meals served each day, 2 of them were mandatory. And here’s the kicker: we all sat down at the same time to eat. When I was there, that was 4,400 cadets, give or take a few dozen. That’s around 10 times what my grandma used to serve. It was quite an efficient process. 10 students to a table, so probably 450 tables. Workers brought out carts filled with trays of food. They had enough workers that we could have all the food out and on our tables in about 10 minutes from when we sat down. There must’ve been 100 workers delivering food.

Having eaten at least 2 meals a day there for 4 years, I can say with some confidence that I have a pretty good idea of what a group of over 4,000 people looks like, and a fairly good idea of how much food it takes to feed a crowd that size. Five loaves of bread and 2 fish ain’t gonna cut it.

The Gospel lesson for this morning begins with the return of the apostles after Jesus had sent them out 2-by-2. They had been sent to teach and to heal the sick… and having completed their mission, were returning to their Master. Notice his first instruction to them when they meet him: retreat and REST. Last time I talked about rest, God took me seriously, so I’m gonna leave that topic alone for now. But let’s remember that rest is important for all of us.

So Jesus gets a little quiet time with his apostles. These are the men who will be taking over His work after He ascends to be with the Father, so this time is vital to their development. They share with Him what they have seen and done, and certainly He must have helped them to understand their experiences and offered them further teaching. Mark doesn’t go into detail. We only know that Jesus did get some time with them while on that boat.

Before they could even arrive at shore for their “retreat”, the crowds had already gathered in the new spot. Scholars tell us that as they *ran* (not walked) from Jesus’ previous teaching spot, others joined them on the journey, so the crowd actually grew as it moved to catch up to the Teacher from Nazareth and His team of Galileans. We don’t know how many started at the first location, but we know the gathering was as much as 5,000 - on this number, the Gospel writers agree. It was a HUGE crowd.

Mark points out to us that when Jesus saw this crowd, Mark 6:34 “... he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” Jesus’ role as shepherd was to bring the sheep - God’s people - back to God. It seems clear that those who had been entrusted with that duty were either negligent (not doing their job) or corrupt (using the resources gathered from the tithes to benefit themselves instead of using them for the needy). Jesus saw this group as having no shepherd, because the ones they did have… it was like they weren’t there. And so he taught them. He shared the Word of God with them.

At this point in the Gospel account, the Apostles are still learning, and they definitely still have some doubts and uncertainties. None of them were raised as teachers of the Scriptures. They were fishermen and common people with no formal education. And we can see in this passage that their practical experience takes over. “Uhhh, Teacher, it’s getting late and we think it would be a good idea for you to pause your teaching for today and dismiss the people so they can go find food for the night. If we don’t let them go soon, there won’t be anywhere for them to get food. We are in a pretty desolate location - there’s nothing here for them, so we need to let them go.” This is rational, practical thinking. They are considering the consequences of not paying attention to the larger situation, and of course with a crowd this size, riot-like behavior could spark… and that would be extremely dangerous. And 13 unarmed men would have very little ability to do anything about that if it started.

Jesus’ response here is really amazing when you think about it. “You give them something to eat.” [Mark 6:37] He didn’t say “Bring them to me and I’ll feed them.” I think from Jesus’ point of view, he had already been feeding them all day - with the Word of God. No, he wanted the apostles to feed the crowd. Remember: they had just returned from public teaching and healing the sick. They had performed their own miracles. Jesus had given them authority and power to act and carry out the work of God’s Kingdom without their Master present to hold their hands. Giving them this command is, in some ways, just a continuation of what they’ve already been doing.

The practical side isn’t easily persuaded though. It’s hard to gauge the part about 200 denarii. That’s 200 days’ wages for a single person. It’s also probably a lot more money than the 12 were carrying around with them. And it seems obvious that it’s nowhere nearly enough money to buy food for a crowd of this size. Besides, they’ve already told the Teacher that it’s getting late, and this is a desolate place - the kind of place He wanted them to be. The 12 would have to find a place to buy this much food, and transport it back to this spot. It would be much more realistic to let each household take care of their own feeding. This task seems more and more impossible the closer we look at it.

So Jesus appeals to their practical side: “How many loaves to you have? Go and see.” In other words, what do we have to work with? Five loaves of bread and two fish. That would be like me splitting one of our small communion wafers between everyone in this building. That would maybe be enough to feed Jesus and his apostles. But 5,000?

Jesus then takes charge and shows his apostles exactly who he is. We’re not told if the crowd knew where this food came from, or if the 5 thousand knew the meal was produced from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I suspect it was only the 12 and Jesus who knew the magnitude of this task and the miracle that Jesus worked to care for his sheep.

We cannot talk about this passage without recognizing its connection to the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Our shepherd feeds us in this meal with the Bread of Life - his own body. And he feeds everyone who comes to him - with his body and with his Word. Luther tells us that the bread combined with the Word is what makes it a Sacrament. It is the Word that does something to the element such that when we receive it, we encounter Christ more closely than in anything else we do until His return at the end of the Age. Christ feeds His sheep. And when He feeds us, He gives us what we need.

Notice in this passage who does the work? Jesus blesses the food and divides it, but it is the disciples who distribute the meal and gather the leftovers. Leftovers. Imagine me splitting one small wafer between all of us in this room, but all of us being completely satisfied, and their being a bucket full of leftovers! I don’t know how accurate my scale is here, but you get the point. That’s what happens in this scene.

Jesus’ closest followers, the students who sat at his feet and learned from every day of his earthly ministry, who had themselves performed miracles… they did not expect that he could provide for the crowd. Did they doubt his power? Did they simply not want to trouble their master? Was it practical reasons or respect for their Master that they didn’t trust him to care for the crowd? Mark doesn’t tell us. Either way, the Good Shepherd cares for his flock.

As I read this lesson, I can’t help but wonder if I, too, place limits on God. “Oh God won’t do that.” Or maybe it sounds more like “I shouldn’t ask God for that.” Anyone have that thought? What are my expectations of God? Are they practical expectations? Or are they faithful expectations? In other words, do my expectations of God reflect my practical understanding of the world and how it works? Or do my expectations of God reflect my faith in Him and how He works?

It’s clear to me that the world has a great amount of influence on me. The world gets a great deal of my time and attention, so my brain is very prone to think the way the world has taught me to think. If I am to trust God that He will provide according to how HE works, then I need to let Him influence my thinking more than the world does. And that means I need to spend more time with Him, in prayer and in His Word.

I think all of us can take a lesson from this individually. But more importantly, I think we need to take a lesson from this as a congregation. We have started down a path to doing something good and fruitful with our lake property. You all know that I think this is the best thing that could happen to our church family in decades. It’s going to bless us, and we are going to bless others with it. Kingdom work is going to happen there, and people are going to grow closer to God on those 14 acres. There is not a doubt in my mind.

I also know that there are a lot of us that have concerns about where the money is going to come from to make this happen. That’s legitimate. This effort isn’t free, nor will it be cheap. But if this is what God wants us to do with this property, do you think He won’t provide what’s needed for it to happen? Have we placed limits on what God can do? Let me ask it this way: can the Creator of the universe bring $50,000 dollars to us? What about $100,000 so that we can build everything we want to put on that property for our youth and our church partners? Is God capable of that? I don’t know the price tag… but I know that I’m not going to limit God’s generosity. If God wants it to happen, it *will* happen.

Brothers and sisters, please understand that I’m just using this as one example of how I believe that God can and will provide for us, as He does for all of His Church around the world. Let’s not put limits on what He can do. Instead, let’s seek to follow His will - individually, but also as a church family. When we’re following His will, then we only need to ask Him to provide what we need to do the task. He will either empower us, lead us, or bring us to the people we need, so that it will get done… whatever that task might be. And as we engage in this Holy Work, let’s watch the good that God will do with us, among us, and through us. The world can certainly use some more good, and I think it’s a wonderful blessing that God can use us to do it.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.