Food for the impossible task – Sunday 28th July – Pastor Adrian Kitson

Feeding the five thousand, Food for the impossible task, john 6:1-21, pastor adrian kitson

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ² and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing those who were ill. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’

⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’

¹⁰ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹²When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

I can identify with Phillip and Andrew in this well-known feeding of those five thousand people. Most Christians probably can. Especially those who are involved in being a mission focussed, outward looking local church trying to feed those around them with Jesus- the Bread of Life. It is an impossible task!

So Phillip and Andrew are there as the huge crowd gathers late in the day. We hear that in the moment of realisation of the impossibility of what was before them, Jesus’ questions them. It is a test.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?

Answer? Ahh, nowhere!

⁷Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’

Phillip is aware of the impossibility of the task.

⁶ He [Jesus] asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Phillip seems to fail this little test. He just concedes to the impossibility of it all.

‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’

Andrew responds to this impossible call differently. He is also aware of what is lacking. But he does something; he reaches for what he does have at hand.

⁹ ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish …

But then, he too returns to the reality that this is nowhere near enough for this call of Jesus.

Answer: Not far.

So here they are, the boy, the brother, Phillip and the Rabbi facing an overwhelming impossible task.

Here we are. A pastor who has not got enough and a people who have not got enough and yet we are here and so is the risen Jesus in a community dying for lack of life and hope.

Here you are, with all the demands on you, the needs before you, the responsibilities upon you as a disciple of Jesus – with a life-mission to share the love and hope of his grace with them all….somehow…

What do you do when you know it is impossible; beyond you; beyond anyone to meet all those needs, do all those things, keep all those expectations, bear good news witness in all the stress, the conflict, the pain of others, the rejection of Jesus that is everywhere?

We could do a Phillip and state the obvious. We cannot buy our way out of trouble. We could resign our discipleship call to feed the world the grace of God in Jesus.

I know why. We all know that the LCANZ is in steep decline and about to rip it itself apart and make it worse, it seems, at least from our point of view.

Many would say it is just matter of time; soon we will completely morph into either some stand-alone educational facility or welfare agency or small group of isolated Christians gathering quietly underground.

Yes. Let’s hunker down, stick together and wait it out until the Lord takes us home or he returns – when the resurrection comes, and all is wonderful and free.

But, the crowd are still there and they are hungry for this bread….

On the other hand, we could do an “Andrew’. We could at least do something to achieve this impossible mission to feed all the lonely people.

This is more our style. We have been taught to work hard, make things happen, be resourceful, do what we can, keep trying, find solutions, get better tech, develop belter systems, take control of the situation and have a go….

Whether we are rich in technology, property, money, resources or poor in those; whether we are still trying to meet this impossible calling or have given up on it, we may have failed this little test, so far.

John does not say so explicitly, but it seems reasonable to conclude that these responses to our impossible task are not the ones Jesus is urging us toward.

Jesus now takes charge, but Andrew and Phillip still have a part to play in how to live in this impossible call. Jesus enlists them in the work.

Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.

So Phillip, the one who is poor when it comes to doing anything except resigning to a defeated state, and Andrew the one who is rich in keeping at it as best as he can under his own steam are called into Jesus’ impossible mission, have apparently failed the test.

But just because you resign at times or over-rely on your own smarts or stuff as a person or a church, it seems all is not lost. They still are called into the impossible task by the Master.

Luther comments in a sermon on this text:

“We see that Philip is not deficient in arithmetic. …..such calculations are entirely useless; if, indeed, we are Christians and have Christ with us.

Nothing in the world hinders faith as much as riches on the one side and poverty on the other. Against these two things which hinder on both sides, Christ speaks here, and teaches the middle state; namely, to be neither too rich nor too poor, but learn to trust God, that he will sustain us, and be content with what God daily gives us”.

Where are you? In resignation or in self-reliance? Where are we as a local church? Resigned to our deathly future or working harder and harder under our own steam to keep it all looking like it has in the past?

Friends, the Bread of Life is calling us again to this ‘middle state’; the state of trust in his provision in this impossible task we face, and in impossibly difficult times.

For us who have never got what it takes but are still called by Jesus to be involved in his feeding of the world with himself- the Bread of Life, Luther sees four things the Apostle wants to impress upon us so we live in this ‘middle road’.

Faith… The Apostle John wants Pastor John and St John’s to hear that;

“… we should not be overanxious about our daily bread and our temporal existence, [Jesus] stirs us up by means of a miracle; as though to say by his act what he says by his words in Matthew 6,33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Love? In two ways …

“First, in that he [Jesus] lets not only the pious, who followed him because of the signs and the Word, enjoy the food; but also the slaves of appetite, who:

only eat and drink, and seek in him temporal honour;…

Secondly, in that he bears with the rudeness and weak faith of his disciples in such a friendly manner. …… all is done to bring to light the imperfections of the disciples, and on the contrary to set forth his love and dealings with them in a more beautiful and loving light, to encourage us to believe in him, and to give us an example to do likewise”.

That no need is outside Jesus’

“That he [Jesus] now takes the five loaves and gives thanks, teaches that nothing is too small and insignificant for him to do for his followers, and he can indeed so bless their pittance that they have an abundance, whereas even the rich have not enough with all their riches, as Psalm 34:11 says: “They that seek The Lord shall not want any good thing…”

That we are called to be full of care in the use of all that the Bread of Life gives;

“… he [Jesus] tells them so faithfully to gather up the fragments, teaches us to be frugal and to preserve and use his gifts, in order that we may not tempt God. … Whatever he gives, we should receive and use, and what he does not give, we should believe and expect he will bestow.

Friends, no one here has any more than a couple of fish and bit of bread in the huge need to feed everyone, but surely John wants me and you to trust that this Saviour has the Bread enough for living enough in faith, hope and love.

Yes, our default heart is always to give up in our poverty of faith or misplace our faith in the riches we can find within, more than eating this Bread of life, but the Bread of Life allows Phillip and Andrew and us to:

“… disgrace ourselves and labour with human doctrines [reason], that we may see and understand how necessary and precious God’s Word is and how doctrines do not help the least without God’s Word”.

Hear the Bread of Life making more of you and us today. He invites pastor and people to sit and receive that life today and into his preferred future for us all.

The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.

16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. (Psalm 145:14-16)

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

In this impossible calling you share in Jesus, Jesus bless your pittance so that you have an abundance as we all understand and trust just how necessary and precious is God’s word in this task.

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