Feeding Five Thousand / Walking On Water
I’m sure I don’t even have to ask if you’ve ever had one of those days when you just don’t seem to get a chance to stop to catch your breath?
You know how it is, you’ve been on the go all day, you have to stop somewhere on the way home to pick up some milk, and you’re wondering when you’re going to get the chance to do your tax return. When you get home you just want to sit down for a moment with a cup of tea but you can’t because the cat has just been sick. Maybe you need to eat quickly before heading back out to a community group or other meeting, where on arrival you are greeted with a pincer attack on both sides by two people who urgently need to talk to you about things that are entirely unrelated to whatever it is you have arrived for, and could quite easily have been communicated by email.
Or is it just me?
We find ourselves at a point in Mark’s gospel where the disciples have been following Jesus and have had the opportunity to go out and do ministry for themselves. They had all been putting in a lot of time and effort, and Jesus draws them back, encouraging them to come away with him to pause and rest.
We regularly see in the gospels that Jesus was not a workaholic. He knew the value of withdrawing regularly to spend time alone, if not on his own with the Father then quietly with the disciples.
I recently saw a phrase that went something like this: A vicar told someone he didn’t take a day off, because the devil doesn’t. The person replied “With respect, I think you might want a better role model.”
Jesus calls us all to burn for him, not to burn out.
It’s probably fair to say that Jesus was at this point finding himself under a lot of pressure - pressure from those who appreciated his ministry and were putting a lot of demand his way, as well as pressure from those who were opposed to his teaching and his actions.
And let’s be honest, everyone faces opposition at some point no matter what they do. There will always be someone to oppose or simply misunderstand someone’s motives - the kindest person can be accused of self promotion disguised as altruism. Unfortunately for humans, suspicion and cynicism surrounds us.
Taking a break provides a way for us to get some perspective. Jesus was looking for a way to get some rest - not out of selfishness or because he had a lack of compassion, but because he knew how important fitting rest into his schedule was in terms of how effective he could continue to be. In his humanity, he shows us how to deal with all the pressures of life that come at us from all sides.
So we are presented here with two events - the feeding of the five thousand, and walking on water. How, if at all, might they be connected? It seems that Mark wants to suggest that they are, as he tells us later that the disciples were amazed on the lake because they hadn’t understood about the loaves of bread earlier.
We are invited to look a little deeper, to investigate the relationship between the things Jesus does and says, and why they are happening.
Firstly, Jesus feeds the hungry crowds despite them having very little food. The disciples had previously gone out, doing ministry in the name of Jesus but more or less on their own terms. They were the ones going to the people to offer help and healing. Now we see that people are coming directly to them. It’s not on their terms any more, and so the first response is to tell the crowds to go away and find their own food.
It’s easy to feed someone, isn’t it, when we are offering something as part of a programme that we are in control of. A soup run or a neighbourhood meal, perhaps. But what about when someone approaches us on the street, or walks into this room right now, someone who hasn’t eaten anything for several days. What if that interrupts what I am saying to you right now? Is that going to be a problem?
There’s a balance to be found between reaching out to others and being available, while also recognising that we can’t do everything for everyone all of the time. It’s where discernment becomes a gift we would all do well to ask for.
Faced with the problem of how to feed all these people who had gathered to hear Jesus teach, the disciples come up with two possible solutions - send them away, or try to raise the money.
It’s certainly true that a lot of the time you can solve a problem either by getting enough people or spending enough money. It’s why the old image of a peeling thermometer on the wall showing how much has been raised for the church building fund becomes so sad. With a bit of balance, and some realistic goals, more can be achieved at a steady pace.
But the disciples must have looked at the situation and seen it as hopeless. Unsolvable. They were stuck at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Or were they?
In 2012, the independent video games company Double Fine launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise money so they could create a point and click adventure game - a genre that had up until that point become less popular within the mainstream industry. With the goal of raising $400,000 the campaign was launched, inviting individuals to pledge their money towards the project.
It was the perfect storm - fans of the company and the genre jumped right on to the opportunity to be involved, and within 9 hours the goal had already been reached. But it didn’t stop there. By 24 hours the project had raised more than a million dollars. By the end of the campaign, $3.45 million had been raised from more than 87,000 backers.
And this was for a game.
So often we limit our expectations, basing them on what we think is ‘realistic’, but we have absolutely no idea what might happen if we are willing to push the boundaries of our expectations.
The disciples on this occasion, despite the things they have seen while spending time with Jesus, keep their expectations realistic. They behave somewhat like a committee, both impotent as individuals while collectively defeatist.
Jesus, however, acts as an effective leader, seeing potential in a problem and willing to act in faith.
If we judge our ability to act by measuring the resources available to us, we will always be held back. If we continually say “we don’t have enough money” or “we don’t have enough willing volunteers”, then we don’t allow ourselves to take a look around the corner to find out what might just be possible.
However, if we do God’s will, and trust him to provide, then we step into a much greater reality that consciously recognises his kingdom values. This is not about success, but this is all about obedience.
When Jesus feeds the five thousand, he first asks the disciples to find out what they already have, which turns out to be five loaves and two fish. He takes this and uses it to feed every single person there.
This miracle is a revelation of Jesus himself - the one who takes the little that we have and uses it in great ways far beyond our own imaginations.
Although he certainly solved the problem of feeding hungry people, this miracle also gives us a sign that he is ultimately able to see to it that we will never be spiritually hungry again. He takes what we have and increases it.
If he was to ask you today “what do you have?”, what might you say? Do we dare to imagine what it might look like if we hand the little we have to him, for him to bless it in the same way he blessed those loaves and fish? Scary stuff!
After the crowds have been fed, Jesus and the disciples try once more to get away for some respite. He heads off to the mountain to pray, while the disciples are sent off in a boat across the lake, where they start to experience some strong winds.
After the glorious high of the miraculous feeding with the loaves and fish, all to quickly do they find themselves struggling against the elements. It’s a visceral image of the harsh nature of reality that we all have to face up to.
How often do we receive on Sunday, perhaps touched by a powerful word or prayer or experience of the Holy Spirit, only for the reality of Monday to bring things crashing down around our ears?
The only thing is that in this particular instance, it wasn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for the disciples. Jesus had previously been with them in a storm, again soon after a time of miraculous ministry. Could it be that Jesus is trying to teach them and us something important?
The tough reality is that the life and growth of the disciple has the potential to be hard, but rewarding, and it is not without a steep learning curve.
Last year I was in Switzerland visiting family, and a few of us went for a walk up a hill where there were vineyards. We were warned it was quite steep but it was worth it for the view at the top.
It really was very steep!
Without wanting to sound too dramatic, there were times when I felt as though if I didn’t keep going I could literally fall backwards. It was such an incline that it was actually quite an effort even to stop for a moment to rest, and the more tired I got the more worried I was that I might end up just rolling all the way back down to the bottom.
There can be times as we move ahead as followers of Christ when it feels like we haven’t got what it takes, that the road is getting too steep, and we might not be sure if we have got the capacity to continue. But as we continue, and grow, and get stronger, we become able to face greater tests and challenges.
As the disciples faced their own tests and challenges, it wasn’t always easy for them to keep a level head - they panicked about money when it came to feeding the masses, and they were terrified that they had seen a ghost when Jesus walked beside them on the lake.
In case you are wondering why we hear no mention of Peter stepping out of the boat to join Jesus on the water, a detail that appears in Matthew’s gospel, tradition would suggest that this is actually Peter’s account written up by Mark.
It is possible that Peter chose to leave out this detail for reasons of his own.
We might sometimes be critical of Peter for sinking into the water so soon after stepping out, but the question comes back to us: have we even stepped out yet?
Jesus has shown us so much of what is possible, what we can achieve in his name, but are we doing it? Today, we are his healing hands right here. We are his voice of comfort and peace to the hurt, broken, and lost.
We might be asking him to do things, imploring him to make a change in this broken world, but are we ready for his response?
Just as the disciples looked to him and asked how they were going to feed those five thousand people, his words to them then might well be the same words to us now: you feed them.
Jesus has shown us how to do it. He has proclaimed that the kingdom of God is at hand.
When we or others ask ‘Why does God allow such suffering in the world’ and we cry out ‘Lord, stop the suffering’, perhaps his response might be: You do it. I’ve given you everything you need.
Really the answer to why does God allow suffering is another question: Why do we allow suffering? Because if we look around, we’re pretty good at allowing it, so where do we get off blaming it on God?
So why have these two miracles been placed together like this? It’s a sign of God’s provision and protection. He will provide for our needs, and he will protect us by coming close to our sides.
Jesus has show us how to do it, and now we are called to do what he did - feeding the hungry and bringing peace to the needy.
On a physical level, this is all very practical, but on a spiritual level, we might be tempted to hold back, thinking that we aren’t good enough to step up to the plate.
But really this is quite simple. Think to yourself, who do you know who you can offer spiritual food to, and who can you give spiritual peace and comfort to.
There is a relationship between these two things, and he will guide us as we follow him. Food and faith go hand in hand.
So today let us remember that it is never enough for us to simply observe those in need from a distance, asking God to help with our well meaning prayers, but that he is the one who says “You give them something to eat.”
May we also recognise the importance of finding the time to withdraw and rest, even when it seems the demands we are facing are too great. It is Jesus who encourages us to find the time to spend with the Father.
And may we know the way he draws near to us when we find ourselves in the middle of the storm, when it feels as though things are too much for us to bear.
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