Leftovers
The Path of the Disciple: Searching for the Face of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today we get to dig into one of the most well-known miracles of Jesus. So well-known in fact that it is the only miracle recorded in all four of the synoptic Gospels.
It is a miracle of over-the-top abundance. While we often refer to it as the feeding of the five thousand or the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the count excluded women and children so we are likely talking about upwards of 10-20,000 people.
So when did this miracle happen? What is the setting? Right before this, John the Baptist had just died, was actually beheaded. Jesus’s cousin and beloved friend had been killed and the disciples had gone to bury him. After this, Jesus goes away and retreats for awhile in a boat. But then the large crowd heard where he was and began to gather at the shore and wait. Jesus returned to the shore and there they were. So, so many of them. Many of them sick and in need of healing. It says Jesus had compassion on them and began to heal them. Jesus is always moving out of compassion. Mark says he looked upon the crowd as a sheep without a shepherd and began to teach them many things.
And so Jesus is there with this massive crowd of people, worn from a long day of healing. It was getting dark and the crowd was still there. Perhaps they were getting hungry, but they wouldn’t leave Jesus. The disciples knew that the closest food was a long way off and it was already evening so they suggested to Jesus that he call it a day. “Send them away so they can go get some food.”
But Jesus looked at them and said “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” I’m sorry.........what!
Um, rabbi, don’t you see how many people are here? What on earth could we possibly give them? In Mark’s gospel they say “are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” In John’s gospel, we see Philip saying that “six months wages wouldn’t be enough to give each person even a little.”
There isn’t enough. Not enough to share. Not enough to go around. Notice how the disciples say this before checking to see what is available, before asking if anyone was willing to share.
But Jesus tells them to “bring me what you have.” What do they come up with? Five loaves and two fishes. That would be like sitting in a stadium arena and asking the hot dog stand man to feed everyone with two hot dogs and five jumbo pretzels. It’s just not gonna happen.
Their ability to meet such a large need felt overwhelming and impossible and Jesus says “bring me what you have.”
It reminds me of the story of Stone Soup, an old folk tale about a young boy who cleverly convinces an old woman to share ingredients to end up making a giant pot of delicious soup. At first she says “I have nothing to give you. I have nothing in the house. Nothing in the garden.” But the little boy says well I really only need a stone. The old woman becomes intrigued and begins going to find what she has and offering it to make the stone soup. Each time she says to herself “Soup from a stone. Fancy that.”
How many times are we faced with a need and say Lord I don’t have the resources or the right skills or the time and meanwhile Jesus is saying “bring me what you have and let me bless it.” Bring me what you have and let me multiply it. If we only ever judge what we are capable of by what we lack, we will never be able to see what God can do with what we have.
So they bring their 5 and 2 before Jesus and he looks up to heaven, breaks it, blesses it, and multiplies it. And it is more than enough. Can you sense it? Can you hear the people being fed? Can you smell the fish and the barley? Soup from a stone. A feast of loaves and fishes.
More than enough. Enough to fill twelve baskets of leftovers. I wonder how big these baskets were. Leonard Sweet estimates depending on the kind of basket it was, that we were looking at anywhere between 24-48 gallons of leftovers. Gallons of leftovers. All these pieces of fish and bread. It begs the question: what did the disciples do with all the leftovers?
Did they pack them up for the crowd to take home? Did they load the baskets into the boat and carry them with them to the next village? We don’t know, but today I want us all to consider- what do you do with the leftovers?
Because dear friends, in Christ, there are always leftovers. At the end of the day in a desolate place, there were leftovers. Jesus doesn’t send away. Jesus blesses and sets the table.
Jesus told the disciples “you give them something to eat.” And Jesus charges us with the feeding , by extending the gift to others. In most of the gospel translations of this text, it is the disciples who feed the crowd. Jesus blesses and multiplies what they have, and the disciples go forth to share. At the end of John’s gospel, Jesus says “if you love me, feed my sheep.”
What do we do with the leftovers? I once knew a lady who was concerned with all the waste after church potlucks and luncheons and Wednesday night dinners. So much food was always leftover, wasted. And so she took it upon herself to box up the leftovers each time we gathered and distribute them across town. Sometimes she would drive to an apartment complex. Sometimes she would drive to shut-ins. She didn’t have a particular route or plan, she just believed in extending the leftovers.
Wesley UMC in Tupelo started a ministry a few years ago called Mobile Manna in which they travel out into the town and serve food at different places. There is always a delicious menu of 4-5 items and it is always free to the community. The impetus for getting it all started: a member came up to the pastor and had a dream of simply feeding the community home-cooked meals, taking it to where they are. And they always stay until all are fed, until there are no leftovers.
What do you do with the leftovers?
Last year, my youngest daughter loved to run into the sanctuary after the service on Communion Sunday and grab the bread. She would take it and eat it. Sometimes she might share it. She then started running to the altar each week wondering where the bread is. She wanted the leftovers.
May we all run to the table of the Lord this morning with an eagerness and an excitement to receive grace and mercy that abounds. We remember Jesus who broke the bread,and we remember Jesus who multiplied the bread. We remember the baskets of leftovers. May we carry the leftovers forward today, our share of grace and mercy into the world....for there is more than enough to go around.