Seventh Sunday after Trinity,
2012
Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
July 22nd, 2012
Mark 8:1
Today’s Gospel relates one of the archetypal stories in
Christendom: the feeding of the four thousand.
It is the second time that Christ fed the people, the first being the mass
of “about five thousand men, as well as women and children.” It is the lesser
known of the feeding miracles, being related only in Matthew and Mark, whereas
the feeding of the five thousand is related in all four gospel accounts.
Yet, the significance of this is not limited to the number
of times it is mentioned in Holy Scripture.
In fact, the thought occurred to this priest that Christ may have fed
several crowds at several different occasions, but for some reason, it was not
mentioned in the gospel accounts. It
could be. No doubt some more liberal scholars might take this as merely a
retelling of the feeding of the five thousand, or as a symbolic sharing that
took place among the crowd, but that is not how we view the Word of God. We simply take it for the truth.
The real significance of these events is manifold, even if
one doesn’t “merely” dwell on the miraculous nature of the feedings themselves.
Of course, not to marvel at the wonderful physical multiplication of the loaves
and fishes is to do God a grave disservice. The very fact that Our Lord took
the bread and the fish, blessed it, broke it and distributed it to his
disciples is wonderful beyond words. The word “miracle doesn’t even do it
justice. It had not been done before, and we doubt if it will ever be done
again. It was truly a marvelous happening.
Yet, we actually must go beyond the physical marvel into the
“how” and “why” beyond the act to begin to truly appreciate the significance of
it. Without sounding too pompous, we
must enter into the metaphysical realm to see why it is significant to us
today.
We believe that the true significance of this act goes
beyond Christ’s wonderful compassion shown on the multitude. Of course, on the
first level of meaning, this is truly marvelous and blessed to behold. Christ had “compassion” on the crowd, because
they had been with him three days with nothing to eat. Unless they had brought something with them,
they were in a fasting condition. This
shows what great power Christ’s words had, as well as the power of his
preaching. The crowd was so spiritually hungry that they neglected their bodily
needs in order to hear His words of truth.
Can you imagine? No mere earthly
preacher has this wisdom or this eloquence.
Christ did, however, and captured their attention for three days. Yet,
even so, Christ cared about their physical welfare, as well as their spiritual
welfare. He was concerned that since
they had been fasting for three days, if He sent them away empty, many would
faint on their way home. Thus, Christ
“begged the question” as his disciples made the doubtful query, “Where can one
find bread in the wilderness, and especially enough to feed so many?”
No doubt Our Lord wanted them to ask the question, so that
they could be still and behold the works of God. They needed to see Christ at
work, because at this point, there were some among them that still doubted
whether or not He was the Christ.
Now, we come to the metaphysical part. This is the area which transcends the mere
physical and takes us up in to the mind of God, as much as we are able. Note first that Christ asked how many loaves
the disciples had on hand... Whether
this came from the crowd, or from the disciples themselves, we not know,
because Scripture is silent.
The disciples answer, “Seven.” We also learn that there were
a few small fish available as well. This
number, in and of itself, is an important fact.
It is, of course, a mystical number, and one that occurs again and again
in Scripture. For example, the word
“seven” occurs 54 times in the Books of Revelations alone….
Lest we caught up in numerology, however, let us pursue the
truth at hand. Our Lord then set the pattern for the four-fold action of the
Holy Eucharist, when he took, blessed, broke, and gave to His disciples. Incidentally, if one doesn’t believe in the
ordained ministry, here is a precursor for it.
Note that Christ did not give to the multitude directly, but rather he
gave to his disciples, who then gave to the people.
As we mentioned earlier, there is a lot of significance in
this passage of Holy Writ.
Now, to the crux of the matter….. Please note that Christ
did not, shaman-like, create an illusion of abundance. That is, it didn’t just
look as if the bread and fishes were multiplied. They actually were increased beyond belief. Also, and just as important, is the fact that
Christ didn’t do magic. He did not wave
his hand and the fish and bread appeared. As a friend of mine at St. Thomas of
Canterbury once remarked, magic is a manipulation of nature, making it
(supposedly) do something that is against its own essence. For example, things do not just appear out of
nowhere. Something from nothing is not
natural. The only time something was
created ex nihilo, out of nothing,
was the Creation itself. It is this
priest’s opinion that God created the atoms, the chemical compounds, and the
other building blocks of matter, which he in turn, fashioned into our
Earth. In this respect, Science and
Religion do not have to be at odds. After all, we know that God is the ultimate
Scientist, just as He is the ultimate expression of all that is good.
Instead of something out of nothing, our Lord did something
else: He multiplied. He magnified, He amplified. Taking the things already at hand, Jesus
multiplied them. Thus, seven loaves became enough to feed thousands. A “few small fish” became a veritable torrent
of food to feed the hungry. If you’ve
ever the movie, “Jesus of Nazareth”, then you’ll remember that was done very
effectively by showing a literal shower of bread loaves falling out of baskets
held up by the Disciples. It was very
well done, indeed.
What lesson can we at St. Barnabas take from this, both
individually and corporately?
Simply this: God takes what we have and grows it. He multiplies anything that is truly given to
Him. One simple example is our “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving”, about
which we spoke last Sunday, where we each individually offer every Sabbath day
during our worship. This priest knows
that he always gains something from each experience of holy worship. After all, how can we not, seeing how we seek
to draw near to the Holy One when we approach His Altar with “boldness” , to
cite Heb. 10:19. Thus, when we approach God with our gifts, even though they be
meager (as in this priest’s case), God takes and multiplies them. Yes, He takes us and sometimes He must first break
us, before He can bless and magnify us.
We at St. Barnabas are the loaves and the fishes. We are that worthy material God will use to
spread His Glory to the community and to this area all around, as His Will
dictates. The fact is, as we continue to
give ourselves to Almighty God in faith, and in hope, and in love, God will
multiply us.
Therefore,
let us not be as the incredulous and unbelieving disciples, who asked, “From whence
can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?”[1] Rather, let us be like the waiting multitude,
which was fasting, yet expectant; hungry, yet hopeful.
God will multiply this church. Believe it. Have faith in
it. Pray for it every day. If for some reason, you are not praying
specifically for it, this priest bids you start, today, with fervor.
Beloved, we are the loaves and fishes. We are the
faithful remnant. As we remain faithful, we will be magnified.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, AMEN
