12 Pentecost, Year A

“FOUR LOAVES AND TWO FISH”
Proper 13 Nehemiah 9: 16 – 20: Psalm 78: 14 – 20, 23 – 25; Romans 8: 35 – 39; Matthew 14: 13 – 21
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

We come now this morning to the very familiar account of the miracle of Jesus’ feeding a large crowd with four loaves and two fish.

Apparently, this miracle, the mysterious feeding of this large multitude (Matthew tells us it was a group of about 5,000 men, not including the women and children who were also present – making it an even more outstanding miracle), made an enormous impact on the early Church, for all four Gospel accounts record this miracle.[1] In addition, both Matthew and Mark also record another miraculous feeding, that of a crowd of 4,000.[2]

So, let’s look more closely at this event, in which people were fed in a “deserted”[3] place with food that could only have come from God.

We should begin with a look at the context of today’s account….Jesus, having given seven parables about the kingdom of heaven (chapter 13),[4] now withdraws to this “lonely” place after having received word that King Herod had killed John the Baptist.[5] But the crowds who had heard Jesus’ teaching follow Him around the shores of the Sea of Galilee, so that when Jesus sets foot on the shore, they are there, waiting for Him.

Here, we draw our first conclusion from the setting: the obvious fact that the crowds have followed Jesus mean that they have first been taught by Him. Now, in the passage we hear today, they will be fed by Him.

(Hold that thought in your head: teaching and feeding. We’ll come back to that in a minute.)

Now, we notice that Jesus has compassion on the people. Matthew does not tell us why, as he did back in 9: 36, where we read that Jesus had compassion on the crowds, because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

But we might guess why Jesus had compassion in this instance: the crowds have obviously followed Jesus a good ways, from the western shore of the Sea of Galilee to the eastern shore (though Matthew doesn’t explicitly say it’s the eastern shore…it could have been the northeastern shore, or some other place).

We are probably safe in assuming that this large crowd had followed Jesus because they were looking for something. Perhaps it was a spiritual hunger that was not being met by the corrupt and self-serving leadership in Israel in Jesus’ day. (Matthew will flesh out Jesus’ comments about that leadership in chapter 23, verses 1 – 7.)

Next, we should pause for a moment to notice that, when the disciples come to Jesus to inform him of the sun’s gradual disappearance and the lack of resources for the people to make it through the night, Jesus’ response is to (essentially) bat the ball back into the disciples’ court: “You give them something to eat,” He says.

But notice the disciples’ response, “We have only four loaves and two fish,” they say. (The subtext here is: “We don’t have the means of feeding these people.”)

Now, let’s list the actions that Jesus undertakes with the disciples and the crowd, noting them by the verbs:

The sequence of verbs is: Take …. blessed …. broke …. gave …. ate.

It is significant (and the commentators uniformly point out this fact) that the verbs are nearly identical for this feeding of the 5,000, and the Last Supper (Matthew 26: 20 – 27). Notice the parallels:[6]

Feeding of the 5,000 Last Supper
14: 15: “when it was evening”
14: 19: “sit down”
14: 19: “taking the loaves”
14: 19: “and blessed”
14: 19: “broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples”
14: 20: “ate”
14: 20: “all”

Last Supper
26: 20: “when it was evening”
26: 20: “took His place (reclined)"[7]
26: 26: “took a loaf of bread”
26: 26: “and after blessing it”
26: 26: “broke it, and gave it to the disciples”
26: 26: “eat”
26: 27: “all”

The parallels are not accidental, apparently….Matthew wants us to “get” the fact that this feeding is a foretaste of the Last Supper. This incident does not exist in spiritual isolation, not by any means.

If so, then what is the meaning of the feeding of the 5,000 with these four loaves and two fish?

Now, I imagine you are wondering why I keep referring to “four loaves”, not five. (Perhaps you’ve been sitting here, listening to this sermon, or reading it, and maybe you’ve been scratching your head, asking yourself, “Father, what’s wrong with your math? The text plainly says that Jesus blessed and broke five loaves, not four!”)

OK, is there something wrong with my math? Can’t I count to five correctly (after all, that’d take only one hand, right?)?

Why the continued reference to four loaves?

Simply this….and I will admit to you that the idea is not at all original…

You see, at the traditional site[8] where the multiplication of the five loaves and fish occurred, there is a church erected over the site. (This is common throughout the Holy Land….holy sites nearly all have churches or chapels erected there.) And in this church, there is a goodly amount of beautiful mosaics, depicting the feeding of the flock.

But, in the mosaics on the floor in front of the altar, there are four loaves and two fish.

Where is the missing loaf?

Can you guess?

I’ll give you a hint: Look again at the parallels in the feeding of the 5,000 and the Last Supper.

Yes, the answer is that the continuing Eucharist, the Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, is the missing loaf. The bread, offered week by week at the altar, this bread that is offered, blessed, broken, given, and eaten by all, is the missing loaf! (Did you see the list of verbs? Notice how they track with the verbs in our Eucharistic prayers.)

You see, the Lord Jesus, who is present with us, “wherever two or three are gathered together in His name,” (Matthew 18: 20), and who is present with us “until the close of the age,” (Matthew 28: 20) is present with us in the breaking of the bread, as well.[9]

One final comment is in order: remember that we pointed out that Jesus had taught the crowd, the same crowd that followed Him around the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Remember that we pointed out that the sequence was: teaching and feeding?

That is the shape of our worship here this Sunday morning….

We gather to hear the Word of God, and are taught by hearing the word read, the word which is then broken and given to all in the sermon (or homily).

Then, we gather around the Lord’s table, where the bread is broken and the wine is poured out and shared by all.

Thus, we are fed by the teaching of the Lord, and then we are fed by the Eucharistic meal He instituted for us, and which He continues to provide to all believers, until the “close of the age.”

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.
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[1] The other accounts may be found in Mark 6: 32 – 44, Luke 9: 10b – 17 and John 6: 1 – 15.
[2] See Mark 8: 1 – 10 and Matthew 15: 32 – 39.
[3] The Revised Standard Version (RSV) translates the Greek word eremos (which means “deserted”) as “lonely”.
[4] Our Gospel readings for the last three Sundays have focused on these parables.
[5] Matthew 14: 1 - 12
[6] This analysis comes from M Eugene Boring’s commentary as it is found in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), p. 324.
[7] The Greek verb actually means “recline”, though it is not always translated that way. The same Greek word, anakeimal, is used in each passage.
[8] This place now carries the name Tabgha.
[9] To be sure, the Eucharistic connection is much stronger in John’s Gospel account, where – in connection with the feeding of the 5,000 we hear Jesus say, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” (John 6: 56) (NIV)