Sermon Tone Analysis

As a young boy who grew up in church, and who was in that church every time the doors were open, there are particular memories that come back to mind with sort of a nostalgic aura to them.

And I have to be honest, that studying this passage over the last couple weeks has brought a bit of that feeling back.

Growing up in Sunday school, for me there are particular miracles of Jesus that seem to come back to mind.

I can picture the classroom, the teacher, my friends, the snacks, the flannel board, and this miracle - the feeding of the 5000, is one of those miracles that is burned into my memory from those Sunday school days.

Maybe you have some of those memories, maybe you have a most “memorable” miracle of Jesus if you grew up in church.

If you didn’t, then maybe you can begin to form those memories now.

One of the reasons, perhaps, why this account is so familiar, and maybe so oft repeated, is that the feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded in all four Gospel Records, and in amazing agreement.

All the writers provide a detail or two that the others don’t, but on the details they do all provide, there is exact agreement.

I guess we could say that the Gospel Writers had this one burned into their memory also.

And it is very memorable - it is really the first miracle that Jesus does that touches a whole multitude - thousands of people - at one time.

And, it is not simply memorable because it is vast, it is also memorable because it is marvelous in the truest sense of the word.

Any of you who do any cooking or prepare any food at all know that preparing food for a large group of people is no small feat.

My grandmother was in foodservice her whole life, and she loved to cook for people - she still does.

You may have heard me speak about her famous Christmas breakfast where 35-40 of us family members will gather at their home and eat together.

I have seen the work that goes into just that meal.

The hours of preparation and labor.

Maybe you’ve been involved in restaurant work or catering and have taken part in feeding hundreds of people in one day.

If so, you know the amazing amount of hard, physical and mental labor that is involved.

But here, Jesus and His disciples, relatively unprepared, at least physically speaking, successfully feed thousands of people to the point of fulness and satisfaction, and wind up wit enough leftovers to feed another small crowd afterward.

Lets read Matthew 14:13-21

The Feeding of the 5,000 shows us Christ’s compassion, but it also shows us how He works through means to miraculously provide for what cannot be done otherwise.

Hold on to that big idea as we walk through some of the details of the story and make up the background, and then we will come back and apply them.

We’ve come out of another teaching section of Matthew - the parables of the Kingdom - and now into narrative again.

Last week, Matt did a great job covering the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth and the death of John the Baptist.

In chapter 14, verses 3-12 are really a parenthesis.

That is, Matthew inserts the story of John’s death into the narrative, not because it happened at this time, but because it was relevant to Herod’s thoughts about Jesus, and why Jesus went on the boat with his disciples to where this miracle would take place.

Herod had heard about Jesus, and he was certain that Jesus was actually John the Baptist raised from the dead - and that was troubling to Herod, because he had personally had John beheaded for the sake of his wife - who was really his brother’s wife.

So if John was back, Herod was probably thinking he needed to put another end to this man’s life.

Interestingly, later in Matthew we will find that Herod wasn’t the only one who thought Jesus was John the Baptist.

Anyway, When Jesus heard that Herod was thinking he was John, he departed - went to a desolate place.

That is where we pick up in verse 13.

Jesus would be leaving the region near his home in Nazareth, across the sea of Galilee - to a town called Bethsaida, which was interestingly enough out of Herod Antipas’ ruling area, and into Philip his brother’s ruling area.

Regardless, we see that Jesus wanted to depart - to be by himself - to rest.

He had, over and over again, ministered with his disciples to immense crowds - crowds of crowds.

And surely, as a real man, he did grow physically and mentally weary.

Mark and Luke tell us that this wasn’t long after jesus had sent his disciples out on mission, and in Mark we read that he calls them to come with him to this desolate place to rest a while.

Jesus recognized that they all needed rest - that there was a time for recharging, a time to come away.

But, as soon as they begin their plan of respite, the crowds have other ideas.

We find that they hoof it on foot, and between the travelling crowds and those who heard on the way, there was a multitude that met them by the time they got to shore.

So much for their rest.

We could pause here and ask, how would any normal person respond when faced with this kind of disruption?

We all know the feeling - you sit down at the end of a long day, with a good book or a television show, and just as soon as you think you can breath deeply - the phone rings.

And not only does the phone ring, but the caller ID tells you that it is “that person.”

And its ok to admit - all of us have one or two of “those people” who we are happy to talk to, but sometimes we just want to be by ourselves, right?

But Jesus didn’t respond in that way - even though he was tired and weary, and possibly trying to escape the misled anger of Herod, he still had compassion - vs. 14.

Not only did he have compassion, but he healed their sick.

And we aren’t told how many were sick - but in a crowd this large in a time where medical science hadn’t advanced, there were many sick!

Luke told us he “cured those who had need of healing.”

Which doesn’t qualify it, it just means he healed everyone who needed healing.

Jesus could have perhaps done the celebrity thing, made an appearance, said a few words, and then back onto the boat to try another escape - but in stead, he stayed, had compassion, and healed them.

So not only did he heal them all, but he began to teach them many things.

What things?

We aren’t told - probably some of the very things we have already read in Matthew.

There is no reason to believe that Jesus had countless teachings that we don’t know about.

More than likely, he repeated himself - like any good teacher - so that what he said could be remembered and digested and re-taught.

Whatever he taught, and however many he healed, it took the lion’s share of the day.

And in verse 15, we read that it was evening time - maybe not dark or dusk, but at least dinner time - and we know that because of what the disciples say to Him.

Time to eat, right?

But lets think about it.

These disciples are young men, they are humans, they are also weary and worn out from teaching and healing on their own mission.

They were told by Jesus that they were coming over here to Bethsaida to rest.

The disciples had an inkling that the crowds were getting hungry, because they were hungry!

And let’s be honest, and use our sanctified imagination for a moment - I might have been asking Jesus to send the crowds away also!

I mean, come on Jesus.

We’ve been here all day, most of these people followed us from Nazareth - they’ve all been healed, they’ve all been taught, can we just take a break?

Here is the crisis moment of this whole story.

And this seems to be the emphasis of all the gospel writers, M, M, L, J.

The Miracle is amazing, the healings were amazing, the crowds were amazing - but this little detail is so fascinating.

Jesus says, “you give them something to eat.”

Matthew Mark and Luke all record it just like that.

John records a direct conversation with Philip, where Jesus asked, Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?

And the detail that John gives is amazing too - he said that Jesus asked that question to test them.

He already knew what he was going to do.

But they did consider their resources.

Philip said “200 denarai of bread isn’t enough to even give them all a little.”

A denarius was about a day’s wage.

Even if Jesus and His disciples had 200 days wages on hand, even that wouldn’t feed the multitude of this size.

And then we are told about the 5 loaves and two fish.

Now, Matthew’s version of this story is the shortest - and we don’t get the detail about the little boy’s lunch.

But in John we find out that is where the loaves and fish came from.

Which tells us, that not even the disciples had any food.

So they had no food to give, and not enough money to buy food.

Yet Jesus said, “you feed them.:

The rest of the story is the miracle - Jesus takes this meager meal, 5 barley loaves and two fish.

This was a boy’s provision for the day - and a poor boy’s provision.

Barley loaves and fish were the food of commoners, the lower class.

Yet Jesus took it, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it.

And it was sufficient.

Now, there are many lessons from this story.

We learn about Jesus Compassion - how he loves and heals and serves even when he himself is needing rest.

We see his selflessness.

The last time we saw Jesus in a desolate place, he was tempted by the devil after fasting for 40 days.

At that point, Jesus wouldn’t use his power to make himself bread - but here, when he was again hungry, he uses his power to feed everyone else.

Jesus is the compassionate, selfless, self-giving one.

There are also lessons to be learned from the context.

Just before this, we read of Herod Antipas’ great birthday feast.

A feast of unrighteousness, a feast of self-gratification, a feast where a man had to lose his head to appease a wicked woman.

A feast that was meant to boast and impress and bring attention.

But this feast is so humble, yet so much more profound.

And, it points to another great feast with even greater meaning.