John 6:1-15
New Revised Standard Version
Feeding the Five Thousand
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. 3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 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?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10 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. 11 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. 12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14 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.”
15 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.
So, this is a miracle story. When we were visiting Christ Church College, Oxford—John and Charles Wesley’s alma mater—years ago, the docent who was giving us a tour had a wonderful story to share with our group. As we were standing before a huge fireplace with whimsical andirons in the great dining hall (picture the one in “Hogwarts” from Harry Potter, as it was filmed in this one at Oxford), the story was told about a young Oxford Don who would gather the children of the school faculty around the big fireplace after dinner and regale them with fanciful stories he would literally make up “on the fly.” One night, a professor suggested to the underclassman that his stories were quite good, and that maybe he should write them up to share beyond the hearth. The student—Lewis Carroll—did just that, committing his latest yarn called “Through the Looking Glass” to paper. As they say, the rest is history.
In Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novel, Through the Looking-Glass, Alice protests to the White Queen that she can’t believe impossible things.
The Queen replies, saying Alice just hasn’t had much practice at that. She goes on to say, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
As one commentator puts it, “Such is the attitude of some to miracles. In truth, they are far more complex than simply impossible things for the credulous to believe in.”
With the Olympics on most everybody’s mind this week, I googled one of the great moments—some say it WAS the greatest—from the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. I watched the final moments of the semi-final round of the hockey tournament between the Soviet Union’s juggernaut team and the mostly amateur team of misfits from the U.S.A., just to hear Al Michael’s heartfelt cry in the last five minutes of that match, as he screamed: “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!” The U.S.A. had won, and would go on to win the gold medal over Finland in the final.
So, DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? I, for one, do. And I don’t feel the need to find a scientific reason as to what actually happened. If we believe Jesus was the Divine Presence incarnate, how hard is it to believe he performed a few miracles? Why, the very definition of a miracle is the “suspension of natural laws.” And sure, we can explain the miracle in today’s text—the “Feeding of the 5,000”—by saying that Jesus’ challenge to the disciples to feed the crowd “shamed” people into bringing forth the lunches they had packed, and sharing them with others around them, but why? I have no problem believing that Jesus “multiplied” the young lad’s snack of five small barley cakes and two small fish to produce enough to feed the large crowd AND have “twelve baskets full” of leftovers. After all, if the Divine Presence was able to call the cosmos into being with a word, ginning up bread and fish to feed a crowd should be small potatoes. Sometimes even a little “miracle” goes a long way toward reminding us of the Divine Presence. Besides, the REAL miracle here is that a giant “covered-dish” dinner was shared by a flock of Christians and they weren’t even METHODISTS!
So, where does SIN enter the picture here? Two things: After hearing the teachings of Jesus, witnessing a couple of healings, and then enjoying a banquet for 5,000-plus from a kids meal, their response was to WANT TO MAKE HIM KING! Why would they want to do that? One explanation: SELFISHNESS. If Jesus were king, he could wipe out all of the other “royal” powers who oppressed them, spend his day doing miracles FOR them, and offer them all tickets to eternity. Apparently, “the crowd” hadn’t been listening to what Jesus was telling them. They just got caught up in “the big ‘I’,” the Zambelli display of healings, and the grand parlor trick of feeding them all on his dime. Their response could have been words or acts of gratitude. God appreciates those who appreciate. I suppose they could have thought that making him king was kind of compliment, but since they didn’t really LIKE the leaders they had, putting Jesus in their place would be to THEIR benefit, more than that of Jesus. What do you do with the goose that lays the golden eggs? Capture it and make it do your bidding.
It is worth noting that the related passage from the Hebrew Bible to this story in John from the Common Lectionary is from II Samuel 11—the story of David and Bathsheba. In THAT story, David uses his position as anointed king to cross a bunch of boundaries and snare Bathsheba, the object of his lust. While I won’t profess to knowing the wisdom of the editors of the lectionary in pairing these texts, it DOES seem to indicate that there is something about that “king” thing, as well as the selfishness involved in both stories.
What IS sin, anyway? Some will say “anything that separates you from God,” or that sin is when we break the “laws” of God, but I think it needs a better definition. As I study the Bible, what I see in the things labeled “sin” are those things that: break relationships, or make them near impossible to sustain; things that focus on the “I” rather than the “we”; and things that either make community more difficult, harm it, or even outright destroy it. Things, thoughts, or actions are sinful NOT just because “God says so,” but because they produce highly negative “cause and effect” relationships.
Let’s take a quick look at the “Top Ten.” Using this latter definition, it’s easy to see how NOT honoring your father and mother is bad, as well as murdering, coveting a neighbor’s stuff, or stealing it. But what about the “Thou shalt nots” concerning God, such as “no other gods,” “don’t take the name of God in vain,” and “no idols or graven images”? God knew that it was their faith in Yahweh that kept God’s people Israel together—the fulcrum of their community. Other gods and/or their images and veneration of them would at least dilute the power of legitimate faith to hold them together, and at worst, would separate them into disagreeing, even waring, camps. Rather than explain the theology behind it, God gave the “Top Ten” to Moses, and the rest is history. However, “Because God said so” is not an adequate “mature” understanding of why sin is sin.
At the individual level, sin is that which separates us from our supportive community, and/or that which causes harm to others and myself. Using this more biblical definition of sin, there are things we quickly brand as “sin” which are really not, and many things we DON’T call sin that really are. Racism—whether individual or institutional--for example, is a sin because it breaks down community with all of God’s people, or makes it impossible to achieve, equitably. An intimate relationship between two committed adults is not, as long as they are both equally committed, and that neither is using a position of power to “influence” the other, such as what King David was doing with Bathsheba.
To those who say “sin separates us from God,” I would want to argue that instead, sin separates us from God’s people, and THAT separates us from God. Sin such as personal abuses against our own body, mind or spirit ALSO separate us from God because God wants us whole, joyful, and connected.
As mature Christians, it is important for us to ask the theological question, “What makes something sinful?” Children are told “NO” to touching a hot stove, and they learn that “NO” means “NO.” But as they grow and mature, they acquire more information that indicates that touching a hot stove results in harm to themselves, and they no longer have to be told “NO.” This principle is just as important for the maturing believer—we should be learning WHY God said “NO” to immature “children,” and to move away from sinful engagement on our own. The resulting “sound mind” and losing the “spirit of fear,” in the words of Paul, builds a firmer foundation in our relationships with God and others.
“Conviction” is an important word maturing Christians should know. I may be “convicted” that some things are wrong for me—at least at this point in my life—but should not be broadly labeled “sinful” for all. Many years ago, the evangelist Billy Graham was a guest on Phil Donahue’s talk show. Donahue asked Graham if drinking was a sin, to which Graham answered, “No.” After the audience swooned with a collective sigh of unbelief, Graham said, “But it’s a sin TO ME,” explaining that God has convicted him that he should personally not imbibe, so as not to be a stumbling block to weaker souls he wishes to engage and with whom he seeks to share his faith message. Donahue asked several more “Is this a sin?” questions, and in most cases, Graham used the personal conviction explanation.
Committing adultery is a sin, pure and simple. Multiple parties are negatively affected, such as what happened with David and Bathsheba. Of course with these two who “tangoed,” things got much worse, especially for poor Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband who wound up at the wrong end of a shooting gallery to cover David’s little “faux pas.” Sin digs holes; grace digs us OUT.
Here’s another angle to consider for why Jesus went AWOL on the plan to make him king: not all solutions are political, and not all political solutions are adequate. However, let’s not make the mistake of saying that people of faith should never be political. Some changes must happen at the societal level, and must move beyond the personal human heart. As a pastor, I could almost make book on the fact that when I preached about injustice, whether the topic was racism, sexism, or economic inequity, I would receive some amount of negative feedback. There would always be some whose political viewpoints were not so “affirmed” by the biblical and theological message, and that stings. If the message is biblical and truthful, it may, from time to time, call into question our personal or political positions or assumptions. That’s a fact.
My wife recently shared something from a survey article she had read that said that the LEAST quoted section of the New Testament was the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. Why? Because he is redefining “sin” in a way that causes us ALL to question our personal assumptions, and he defines “blessedness” in a way that may render our self-centeredness QUITE uncomfortable!
As maturing Christians, we will be better served by using the biblical texts and teachings of Jesus to understand what we can do to bring about the true, just, and loving “Kingdom of God,” and to understand what actions, behaviors, or thoughts are counterproductive to this aim. For me, I’ll go with the self-correction, as much as possible, as when things get to the point where GOD has to do the correcting, it’s usually not pretty. However, remember that God even FORGAVE David for his sinful behavior and used him as an important leader for God’s people. Unfortunately, though, David paid a personal price for his sin.
But for now, we have a hungry crowd, and only five barley cakes and two small fish. Let’s get to work!
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