The Rev. Paul J Cain
Matthew
14:13-21
Something to Eat
Proper [13] (A), 31 July 2011
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…farming and fishing and
finding treasure. There will be a judgment where those with faith in Christ
will be gathered to the Father. Those without Christ will face a fiery furnace.
A sorting will take place between sheep and goats. The sheep, the good fish,
prioritize the kingdom. And they enjoy a table of things to eat filled with
good things. That is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Life in this world is like this: “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a
boat to a desolate place by himself.” Heard what? The selections of what are
called pericopes from the text of Scripture are not always obvious breaks.
Something happened. What could cause Jesus to withdraw from public ministry and
pray in a desolate place in solitude?
We find the answer in the verses in Matthew 14 before verse
13:
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of
Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her
whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted
by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a
platter.” 9 And the
king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be
given. 10 He sent
and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and
his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to
her mother. 12 And
his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told
Jesus.
Life in this world is filled with sorrow, usually
unexpected. We mourn and grieve because of loved ones separated from us by
death and eternity, but we also grieve and mourn because of broken
relationships, unfulfilled promises, disappointments, or the lack of something,
like food on the table. “Something to eat” is an issue for many in such a
sluggish economy.
Jesus has just heard such hard news, the death of John. His
withdrawal from the crowds and even His disciples was to reflect and pray to
His Father in heaven. This time away has inspired days off from work,
vacations, retreats, and even the year-long Sabbatical. All have the Lord’s
Sabbath, His day of rest as the original inspired idea.
Life-and-death emergencies happen, even on a pastor’s day
off. We see Jesus’ compassionate response to the crowds by verse fourteen: 13 Now when Jesus heard
this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when
the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore
he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Then what? People got hungry. You’ve heard of this miracle
before. Five thousand adult males (in addition to women and children) are fed
their daily bread and fish by the Lord’s hand from five original loaves and two
original fish, with twelve baskets of leftovers after the impromptu feast. Yes,
your Lord gives you your daily bread. Let’s listen to the details and pause
before we get to the food.
15 Now
when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate
place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages
and buy food for themselves.” 16 But
Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
Verse seventeen to come could have presented a much
different outcome. Think again of the context. Jesus says, “You give them
something to eat” right after His hearing of His cousin’s death, an account
shared with Matthew’s readers after multiple parables about the Kingdom of
Heaven. Man shall not live by bread alone, we have heard from Jesus. He is
rejected at Nazareth, His own home town, right after those parables. And then
comes the news about John’s death.
The disciples could have retold Jesus’ parables. They could
have repeated Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They had been with Him for some time
already, perhaps as much as a year or two. They knew His teaching, had been following
their Rabbi throughout Galilee, Judea, and Samaria in-between. Can’t you
identify with the disciples? Disciples who said “This is a desolate place, and
the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food
for themselves,” and Jesus’ answer, “They need not go away; you give them
something to eat.”
What would you say? What do you say? We can and should care
for the daily bread and human care needs of people. We are to feed, clothe,
shelter, and educate our children, but isn’t there something important missing?
17 They
said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the
crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish,
he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave
them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and
were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left
over. 21 And those
who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
In our typical human response, do we tend to gravitate to
the wants and needs and pleasures of the body instead of the bread of life and
eternal things which shall never pass away?
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of God. Israel should have learned this lesson in forty
years in the wilderness, but did not. Jesus quotes it from Deuteronomy 8:3
during His forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil himself.
Today we feed at a meal that is a foretaste of the feast to
come, the marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which will have no end. We
are joined by sinners who are saints and saints who are sinners in addition to
those who sin no more, the whole company of saints in heaven along with angels
and archangels singing to the Lord. We feast on God’s Word as it is read, sung,
prayed, and preached. A new saint was washed in the blood of the Lamb. And we
feast on the visible Word, Jesus Himself, at His table where He is both Host
and Meal.
By all means, don’t forget the meal in your personal daily table
fellowship, but don’t forget God’s Word of teaching, either. You don’t have to
know the answer to every question or know how to handle every objection. You
don’t have to walk on water. Leave that to the Lord. We are given to hear,
believe, and share God’s Word. As Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give
them something to eat.” Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
