Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The Holy Gospel is written in the 6th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 30 – 44:
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
Think about an important event in your life. Your wedding day, your graduation. The day your children were baptised or confirmed. Did you celebrate that occasion with food and drink? The most important events in one’s life are typically celebrated with food. Birthdays have cake; newlyweds join their guests at the reception for food and the ritually prescribed cutting of the cake. Even on occasions of sadness, such as illness or funerals, food is shared as a means of expressing love. Food and feasting are appropriate when celebrating the many milestones of human life.
We are introduced to an unexpected feast in today’s Gospel. With simple bread and fish, Jesus feeds five thousand men (and their families) in the desert. In its outward appearance, this banquet fare cannot compare to the delicacies of Herod’s birthday feast in last week’s text (Mark 6:14–29). You may recall that John the Baptist lost his life because of that sordid celebration. Tragic in a human sense, but the divinely appointed forerunner to the Lord Jesus remained faithful unto death and so will participate in a glorious resurrection on the Last Day.
By contrast, the Lord’s desert feast does not result in anyone’s death. It’s a true celebration rather than that empty misrepresentation of one as hosted by Herod. The desert feast was truly a foretaste of the feast to come in God’s kingdom. Even the twelve apostles didn’t quite understand everything that took place on that grand occasion.
They had just returned from the Galilean towns and countryside after preaching the kingdom of God and casting out demons. According to Verse 30, they give Jesus a report of their many activities. Upon hearing their report, the Lord sees the need to get them away for a little ‘rest and relaxation’. (Verse 31) “Come away by yourself,” said Jesus, “to a desolate place and rest a while”. So they get into a boat to sail to a quiet, restful place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
But the crowds will have none of that. They somehow determine where Jesus and his disciples are heading and run there on foot ahead of them. Before the boat even gets to shore, the crowd is there waiting for Jesus. This is where Mark records all the glorious details.
(Verse 34) “When [Jesus] went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things”. Compassion! … Today’s Gospel is a sparkling example of divine compassion in action. Amidst increasing opposition to his ministry and against the backdrop of John’s death, Jesus feels compassion for the crowd. That in itself is a glorious message of God’s grace and love found in the Lord. Jesus is never too busy, never too distracted by other things, to take care of us. The Lord feels compassion for us down to the depths of his soul.
But this is no passive “I feel your pain” type of situation. The one who will die for these sheep already now takes steps to relieve their distress. Jesus’ compassion is sympathy moved to action in order to relieve the person from their distress or suffering.
And what compassion does Jesus give? Shepherding, for one. King Herod certainly wasn’t shepherding God’s people. We saw what he did to God’s prophet, having him beheaded in order to preserve his pathetic reputation. The Scribes, Pharisees, lawyers, and Sadducees weren’t shepherding God’s people. Those so-called “shepherds of Israel” left the flock to the predators of sin and despair and false hope. They provided no teaching in holy truths to secure their hearts and minds, no participation in the divine things to strengthen their most holy faith. The crowd was a flock of wandering sheep, easy prey for the devil, the world, and even their own sinful flesh. No wonder Jesus felt compassion to the depths of his soul.
(Verse 34) Jesus “began to teach them many things”. Through the sound of Jesus’ human words and ordinary vocabulary, God was speaking peace and deliverance into people’s lives. Only through the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ do we have access to God. We often fall into the trap of thinking of Jesus as being somewhere out there ruling the cosmos with uncontested might. And that’s true enough. But to find God in his grace and mercy, you must go through Christ’s humanity given to us through his appointed, tangible means: Word, Baptism, Absolution, and Supper. God in Christ is present with us through common, ordinary things, covering us with his compassion.
The disciples think the Lord’s compassionate teaching is all well and good, but there’s a problem. It’s getting late; people are hungry. (Verses 35-36) “His disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’ ” Very practical. Their humanistic rationality basically says, “Scatter the flock and let them fend for themselves!”
Just think about it. Jesus and his twelve disciples are light-years apart from one another. Mark describes the difference with remarkable subtlety. The disciples instruct Jesus to send the crowds away so that the crowds can take care of “themselves”. That was the word they used, “themselves.” …. Not us, Jesus. It’s not our concern. Let them do it……. Jesus issues a different command: “You take care of it!” The disciples bluntly say, (Verse 37) “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”. That’s about what a day labourer would earn in six or seven months. “Really, Jesus, do you think six and a half months’ worth of bread will take care of it?”
Jesus responds calmly, (Verse 38) “How many loaves do you have? Go and see”. After some search, the disciples scraped up five loaves and two fish. The desert cupboard isn’t bursting full with abundance! … But, with those simple gifts, Jesus’ compassion finds its way to the crowd yet again. All five thousand men (and their families – probably 20 thousand in all), are fed to the full. The loaves and fish never ran out. The room in people’s stomachs filled up way before Jesus stopped giving. It was a desert feast.
The most basic of all human necessities is food. And Jesus, the eternal Son of God, takes the time and effort to satisfy that most basic need. Jesus, the divine Son of God in human flesh, who will die on the cross to relieve sin’s impact on everyday human existence—disease, hunger, thirst, fear—as well as sin’s eternal effects, knows us personally and cares for our most basic needs.
We Christians are all too content thinking Jesus takes care only of our spiritual problems. He forgives sins; he comforts our afflicted conscience. But Jesus is concerned for the whole person, soul as well as body. Today’s Gospel reminds us that the Lord’s compassion extends over our physical and spiritual needs. We should not separate the two. Jesus is the compassionate Lord over body and soul. See how Jesus takes care of both soul and body in feeding the five thousand: After arranging them on “green grass” in orderly groups of hundreds and fifties, Jesus takes the bread and fish, looks up to heaven, says a blessing, breaks the bread, and gives it to the disciples to distribute to the crowd.
Does this sound a bit familiar? It should. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: ‘Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you.’ In the same way also he took the cup after supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying: ‘Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ ” When Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives bread and fish to the crowds, he’s foreshadowing what is to occur in the giving of the Lord’s Supper.
Receiving the body and blood of Jesus isn’t merely a nice remembrance meal. It’s the compassion of Christ’s cross being felt on your tongue, in your mouth, straight to your soul. It’s a divine feast of Jesus’ precious body and blood given for your body and soul in the present, the future, and into eternity. The Divine forgiveness of sins; and as scripture constantly reminds us: “where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”
Jesus promises to sustain our bodies this side of eternity with earthly gifts through Godly vocations such as father, mother, workers, and government. But Jesus also promises to raise our bodies in the resurrection on the Last Day so we can live with him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness in both body and soul. The Supper is a pledge and promise of earthly strength and divine forgiveness here and now, as well as assurance of a glorious, bodily resurrection on the Last Day.
The feast we receive regularly and often in our desert wanderings on this side of the new creation is a foretaste of the eternal feast in Christ’s kingdom. Isaiah 25 describes heaven as a feast of the richest foods and best wines. In Revelation 19, John describes a marriage feast at the wedding of Christ and his Bride, the Church. The Lord Jesus supports us in both body and soul now. He will certainly do so on the Last Day. What a glorious message to our ears!
What we do regularly in church is really a dress rehearsal for the full and complete feast on the Last Day. Mark 6 becomes the pattern for life in Christ’s Church. To this very day, our Parish Priest, our under shepherd, gathers Christ’s sheep around his Table to receive his love and compassion through simple words and bread and wine: Word and Sacrament ministry.
And don’t worry about there being enough compassion, grace, love. After the crowd ate its fill, the disciples picked up twelve full baskets of broken pieces. There’s always enough and more to spare. It’s a feast after all!
Our needs—ordinary, common, and mundane though they be—are often provided for by Christ through the most unlikely of means. Five loaves and two fish feed some twenty thousand people. What’s most amazing is not the miracle—the crowd doesn’t seem to know about the miracle—but the compassion that fuels the miracle. “Just bring what’s here, and I’ll use it,” says our Lord.
It’s tempting to think we’re too small to make a difference here in our community, much less the world. But Jesus’ compassion overrules our logical-sounding reasons as to why we’re too small, too Insignificant, to matter to God.
Jesus smiles and says, “Bring what you have here to me.” He’ll take us, bless us, break us for his purpose, and then give us to the world for the benefit and salvation of many in both body and soul. What matters most is Jesus’ compassion. Come, then, dear people of God. Come to Jesus’ feast and receive his compassion in body and soul. With him there’s always enough to go around—enough compassion, enough forgiveness, enough of Jesus for every hungry mouth and heart. It’s a feast after all! Amen.
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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