Summer Worship 9:00 a.m. July 5 - Sept. 6
Summer Worship 9:00 a.m. July 5 - Sept. 6
Christ the King Epiphany Church, Wilbraham
The Rev. Martha S. Sipe
August 2, 2026 / Pentecost 10 (Lect. 18A)
Matthew 14:13-21
Miracles are pretty hard to believe – including the one we just heard about the feeding of the 5,000. You might even say that “hard to believe” is part of what makes a miracle a miracle. The crowd was huge – 5,000 men plus women and children. If the average family size was 4, which is actually probably a conservative estimate of family size in that time and culture, that would make 20,000 people, more or less. And Jesus helped his disciples to feed everyone in the crowd with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In fact, the meal didn’t just feed the 20,000 – there was so much excess food that they collected 12 baskets of leftovers. That’s pretty unbelievable, by human standards – and so we call it a miracle.
But a miracle is more than just something beyond our human understanding – a miracle is also, and perhaps more importantly, a story that teaches us about God. Think about the healing miracles, for example: they teach us that God’s will is that all of God’s children be whole. Or, remember how Jesus turned water into wine: that miracle teaches, among other things, that Jesus has the power of God within him. Or think about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead – that miracle teaches us that Jesus is more powerful even than death. Miracles teach us about Jesus and about God. The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is no different. This miracle teaches us that the people are hungry, and that Jesus wants his followers to do something about it. The story of Jesus feeding the hungry crowd might well be a metaphor – but hungry people are not. Hunger is a reality.
Worldwide hunger is a reality. According to an article published by Deutsche Welle hits week, there are currently three main threats to food security. “Russia’s war in Ukraine still hangs over one of the world's major grain-exporting regions, where repeated attacks on ports and farmland continue to threaten one of the planet's key breadbaskets. The Iran war has driven up energy and fertilizer prices, raising the cost of growing food worldwide and causing temporary supply disruptions for key soil nutrients. [And then] El Nino, which shifts rainfall and temperature patterns worldwide, is expected to be so strong that the World Bank warned recently it could cut rice output by 20% to 50% in affected regions.” It all adds up to a lot of hungry people.
Hunger is a daily reality in this country. According to an Associated Press article this week, “buying food to eat at home as gotten 33% more expensive in U.S. cities since the beginning of 2019, according to government figures. In the 7½ years before that, prices rose 6.4%.” We all can see how high grocery prices are. For some, it’s just something to complain about; for others, it’s more than an inconvenience. It’s a threat to survival.
And hunger is a daily reality in our community. Statistics from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts show that, just in the month of May, 28,742 Springfield residents received food assistance, and even in Wilbraham, 340 people needed food assistance in May. We read In the July issue of the Survival Center’s newsletter that “the need for assistance continues to grow. Recent changes to the SNAP program have made it harder for many families and older adults to access nutritious food.”
These are current quotes and statistics from reputable sources. We don’t really need a Bible story to teach us about the reality of hunger. But we do need the Bible story to teach us about the miracle of feeding the hungry. We learn, once again, that the power of God can work beyond what we can imagine or understand. We learn that God can turn our scarcity into abundance. We learn that God feels compassion for us, just as Jesus felt compassion for the crowd. We learn that God cares about our physical needs as well as our spiritual hunger. And, frankly, at its most basic, this teaches us that sharing is a good thing.
The disciples shared their food with the others in the crowd – that’s a miracle in itself. I’m sure that they were hungry and tired, and five loaves of bread and two fish wouldn’t have gone very far among 12 grown men plus Jesus. But Jesus asked them to share, and they did, and all ate and were filled. Some scholars have tried to downplay this miracle by writing about how people in those days would have carried food along with them when traveling outside their towns or villages. These scholars have suggested that, when the disciples shared their food, the people in the crowd were all shamed into sharing what they had brought, too – that’s why there was so much left over. Personally, I believe that if the Son of God wanted to multiply loaves and fishes, he could have done so. But if he didn’t – if the real story, the real explanation is that people shared with one another – is that really any less of a miracle? It’s not as spectacular or sensational, maybe, but enticing people to share with one another is a miracle, nonetheless.
We can make that miracle happen again and again by sharing what we have. The reality is that it’s not so easy to think about sharing when we’re feeling the pinch of rising prices in our own pocketbooks. Our own discretionary spending has diminished – there’s no doubt about it. But giving and sharing are not discretionary for the Christian. And we can trust that God has given us – and will continue to give us – all that we need. God has provided for us so that we might provide for others. When we share, just as Jesus commanded those first disciples to share what little they had, God will multiply our gifts. A little bit of sharing goes a long way where God is involved.
And when we are like the crowd, hungry for bread and for healing; when we are like the disciples, thinking that we’ve given all that we can spare; when we no longer have the strength or compassion to perform another miracle of sharing – that is when we are invited to the Lord’s table. It is here at this table where we experience God’s miracle of sharing – God gave us Jesus. It is here at this table where we rediscover how God can make a little bit go a long way: we eat only a small piece of bread and a little bit of wine, but God multiplies this skimpy meal into a banquet of grace and a feast of forgiveness. It is here at this table where we remember that God’s love for us is the greatest miracle of all.
So, come to the table, and be fed by the miracle of life. And then, let’s make some more miracles by feeding the world – by sharing.
______________________________________________________________________________
2. https://www.dw.com/en/how-two-wars-and-el-nino-could-fuel-world-hunger/a-78126433