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ertainty at a crossroads peter was caught between an exercise of faith where he honestly believed that he could do anything that jesus commanded and the reality of the fact that what he was actually doing was flat out impossible he was walking on the water for goodness sake and not only that but don t forget that the storm was still raging and peter may have been contending with waves that were twice his size the break in his concentration was fully understandable but was also the reason for his sinking osborne says in the feeding miracle jesus wanted to involve the disciples in his authoritative act and this continues here when peter asked to walk on the water that was the response that jesus was looking for as long as peter focused on jesus he was able to take step after step on the water however when he turned to consider the earthly situation he failed and began to sink into the depths the entire new testament builds on this as victory over sin and temptation is completely related to the degree to which we are centered entirely on christ peter is the model disciple even in his failure he is an all too human figure struggling with his growing awareness of christ as do we all 3 as jesus led peter back to the boat and they both got in the storm subsided as quickly as it had begun and our story tells us that the disciples in the boat worshiped jesus saying truly you are the son of god we don t discover who jesus is in a day or a month or a year jesus revelation to us of who he is requires a lifetime of abiding in him but bit by bit experience by experience and miracle by miracle jesus reveals himself to us as the divine son of god and as we begin to understand who jesus is jesus will begin to use us he will begin to work through us he will begin to incorporate us into god s plan and the miracles that will result from that the miracles of changed lives the miracles of healed souls and bodies the miracles of compassion and kindness and generosity and justice will happen through us saunders asks us if we can sustain the imagination of god s new world 4 are we able to imagine what it is that god is capable of doing through us and if we can are we willing to let god use us as a part of his quest to reconcile the world to himself twice in the last two weeks we have read about things that were done that should have been impossible to do and yet they were done and the truly amazing thing is that they were done through the disciples jesus started with five loaves and two fish and then he empowered the disciples to hand out the bread and the fish and to keep handing out the bread and the fish until 10 000 or more people had eaten all that they could eat peter stepped out of a boat and walked on water in spite of gale force winds and waves that were breaking far over his head paul wrote to the church at philippi i can accomplish all things through christ who strengthens me all things the holy spirit is waiting waiting for us to ask god to incorporate us into his will waiting for us to believe that god can accomplish miraculous things through us waiting for us to imagine ourselves as a part of god s new world with god s power working through us to bring his love his peace his hope and his justice to the world let us make ourselves available to god let us echo the words of isaiah who said here i am lord send me 1 grant r osborne exegetical commentary on the new testament matthew pg 575 2 brueggemann cousar gaventa and newsome a lectionary commentary based on the nrsv year a pg 441 3 brueggemann cousar gaventa and newsome a lectionary commentary based on the nrsv year a pg 578 4 stanley p saunders preaching the gospel of matthew proclaiming god s presence pg 147 148 tags bible christianity faith god jesus posted in uncategorized leave a comment you give them something to eat august 2 2026 matthew 14 13 21 august 2 2026 there is something unique about the miracle in this week s story something you may or may not ever have noticed before and if you haven t noticed don t feel bad it s something that i just discovered this week myself so let me set the stage immediately prior to our reading today we read that jesus cousin john the baptist had been imprisoned by herod antipas who was the tetrarch of judea essentially the king it seems that herod fell in love with his half brother philip s wife herodias and convinced her to divorce her husband so she could marry him according to jewish law this qualified as incest and was strictly forbidden but herod did it anyway as mel brooks once said it s good to be king but john the baptist took loud and persistent exception to this enraging both herod and herodias and so john was arrested herodias wanted herod to execute him but herod was afraid to do that because the people believed john to be a prophet nevertheless through some well known trickery herodias forced herod to execute john and just prior to the start of today s reading jesus had been notified of his cousin john s death our story opens with jesus climbing into a boat to try to escape the crowds so he could have a little solitude almost certainly due to his grief over losing his cousin but the crowds of people seeing where jesus was sailing went on foot and arrived at jesus destination before he did when jesus arrived our story tells us that he saw the crowds and had compassion on them actually the word that matthew uses is σπλαγχνίζομαι splock néws o my which means to be moved in one s bowels remembering that first century thought regarded the bowels as being the seat of the emotions in other words jesus was experiencing genuine anguish over the suffering confusion despair and spiritual lostness of those around him 1 and so instead of reacting with annoyance at the intrusion of the crowds upon his desire for solitude jesus responded with love healing all who were in need as it grew late in the evening the disciples were concerned about the crowds the time for the evening meal had come and gone and the people hadn t eaten the disciples had very little food among themselves and they knew that even if they could find a place to buy food feeding a crowd this size would probably cost a year s wages or more and so they approached jesus and advised him to send the people away so the people could go somewhere to find something to eat jesus answer to them was they don t have to go anywhere you give them something to eat and here is where the part of this miracle that is unique in all of the gospels begins to take shape at every point in this miracle it is not jesus who is doing the actual work it is the disciples it s the disciples who come up with the idea that the people need to eat it s the disciples who jesus commands to feed the people it s the disciples who come up with the five barley loaves and the two fishes it s the disciples who distribute the food which jesus has blessed and it s the disciples who gather up twelve baskets of leftovers after everyone has eaten all they could eat and so from start to finish the disciples played a critical role in this miracle jesus immersed the disciples in this miracle because he knew that the disciples had a valuable lesson that they would be able learn from their experience and this is a lesson that can speak to us today as well the lesson that the disciples learned is that it wasn t they who fed the multitudes it was they who had been empowered to feed the multitudes on their own 5 loaves and 2 fishes wouldn t even have fed the disciples themselves much less the 10 000 or more people who were there once you counted the women and children and yet with jesus blessing they got to see how a little became way more than enough how many times have we faced problems in our lives when we thought that there was just no possible solution to the problem how many times have we seen something that has moved us in spirit causing us to wish that we could do something anything to help and yet we feel paralyzed because the issues just seem to be insurmountable far too much for one person to be able to do anything of consequence to help it happens right it s just like trying to feed 10 000 and some people with five loaves and two fishes some things in this world poverty hunger homelessness illness loneliness are problems that are so pervasive that more often than not all that we may feel able to do is to despair over the fact that we lack the resources to do anything that really will make a difference or do we because maybe just maybe the solution to those kinds of problems can be found in 5 barley loaves and two fishes jo anne taylor writes the disciples had focused on their scarcity we have nothing but a little bread and some fish it s not enough to feed this crowd we have nothing but our own limitations our own small view of what god can do we have nothing but ourselves and that ain t much jesus and what does jesus say bring it to me 2 i think that sometimes we may need to be reminded that we serve a god who created the universe out of nothing simply by willing it into existence answer me truthfully what do we think it is that god is incapable of doing jesus incorporated the disciples in every step of this miracle because he wanted the disciples to understand that there are no limits to what god can do and the even more important lesson for the disciples here is in their learning that there are no limits to what god can do through them or through us when our actions are anchored in the will of god and our focus is set on glorifying god god has ways of making even the smallest contributions the smallest efforts more than enough to accomplish his purposes remember that last week we learned that a tiny pinch of yeast will raise enough bread to feed a hundred people or more it s not what we have to give that matters it s who we have to give it to n t wright commented on the disciple s involvement in this miracle when he said this is how it works whenever someone is close enough to jesus to catch a glimpse of what he is doing and how they could help we blunder in with our ideas we offer uncomprehending what little we have jesus takes ideas loaves and fishes money a sense of humor time energy talents love artistic gifts skill with words quickness of eye or fingers whatever we have to offer he holds them before his father with prayer and blessing then breaking them so they are ready for use he gives them back to us to give to those who need them 3 i ve said it often that god doesn t expect the impossible from us he knows our limitations but he also knows what he is able to accomplish through the gifts talents and faithfulness that he has so generously given us and once we have made the choice to serve him use us he will he will use us to make a difference he will use us to touch the lives of others he will use us to show his love to the world through the compassion and grace and kindness that the spirit of god has created in the hearts of his disciples that his disciples will then in turn show to the world and when i say his disciples i mean us whatever it is that we have to offer no matter how small we may think it is god can and will use it to accomplish wonderful things when we give it to him we may or may not ever see the results of our efforts but the bible tells us that god s word never comes home void every time one of his beloved children offers a service in his name that effort will be honored by god and god will see to it that the result of our efforts will produce a harvest of righteousness and now there is one more thing about today s lesson that i would like to talk about and it is something that we can all discover if we listen closely as the disciples came to jesus with their tiny offering of 5 loaves and two fishes what did jesus do jesus took the bread blessed it broke it and gave it to his disciples does any of this sound familiar we are actually going to be hearing these words in just a few minutes because in the feeding of the 5 000 jesus is foreshadowing the eucharist when we celebrate the lord s supper we are remembering not only the last supper and christ s sacrifice but we are also looking forward to the great banquet in heaven and here jesus is giving the disciples and us a glimpse of what his banquet in heaven is going to look like in the first century barley was the least expensive grain the loaves were not loaves of bread as we think of them today they would have been more about the size of a hard roll and five loaves and two fish would have been an adequate meal for about two people and because barley was inexpensive barley loaves and fish were the common diet of the poor this was not a banquet of the wealthy and powerful certainly not like the banquet for herod s birthday about which we spoke earlier but it was a banquet that was offered to all who would receive it regardless of their status it was a banquet that was given to the people that came from a place of love and compassion it was a banquet that jesus created out of next to nothing and it was a banquet that was intended from the very beginning not only to fill the needs of a great multitude of people but also to teach the disciples about the sovereignty of god s reign in christ and so important was this lesson to the disciples that this is the only miracle aside from the resurrection that is reported in all four gospels osborne says the entire new testament attests to the deity of christ and his oneness with the father as a member of the godhead jesus created this world and he both sustains and controls it therefore he asks the disciples here to realize this reality and to depend entirely on him he is the alpha and omega meaning he is lord of history and god s people must entrust themselves to his omnipotent and omnipresent presence in their lives the disciples needed to experience not only the power and provision of jesus in their lives but also how they can participate in that power and see it flow through them 4 as we look at the lesson this week what we find is an invitation just as jesus asked the disciples to participate in every step of this miracle so it is that jesus is inviting us to participate in miracles do we have friends or neighbors or acquaintances who need to hear the good news of the gospel do we know people who are sick and in need of healing do we see suffering in our neighborhoods do we see hunger or homelessness or poverty or those in need of work do we see systemic injustice affecting those around us do we see people being marginalized or exploited and if we do are we willing to take whatever little thing we have whether it be barley loaves or lame ideas or some small gift with which we believe god has blessed us and offer that little bit of whatever to god because when we do that god will bless it and break it and give it back to us so that we can use it to make a difference in the lives of others do we think for one minute that the disciples believed that their five loaves and their two fishes were g...
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