Eternal God: send us your Holy Spirit so that we may receive your preached Word and believe it. Glorify your Word in our hearts and comfort us by it to eternal life — for the sake of Jesus, your Son. Amen.
Introduction
I remember some years ago I was travelling around Greece and visited the island of Mykonos with my wife Jenny and her parents. We walked into a restaurant down by the beach and were seated at one of the best tables in the place overlooking the Aegean Sea. Picture the white-washed buildings, blue sky, bluer sea, warm sun. I ordered the “Fishermen’s platter” and then got lost looking out over the waters. Before I knew it this massive plate appeared, adorned with a variety of locally caught seafood: grilled sardines, prawns, calamari, the works. This might not be your cup-of-tea, but this amazing food experience has stuck with me all these years.
Have you ever had an amazing food experience? Perhaps you shared a meal with loved ones in a favourite restaurant. Or had a spectacular birthday cake. Or received a warm, nourishing bowl of chicken noodle soup when you were sick.
Take some time to think about your most amazing food experience. What made it special? The people? The atmosphere? The quality or abundance of food?
An amazing food experience
In our gospel reading, a large crowd gathers around Jesus and has an amazing food experience. Let me tell you the story again.
Jesus is seeking some solitude. He jumps into a boat and sails along the shore to a remote part of the lake. But the people recognise him. “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the one we’ve heard about. Come on, let’s go!” The people race ahead of the boat and manage to get there before him.
The boat comes to shore and Jesus disembarks. Now if it was me, I’d be thinking, “Argh! I just want some peace and quiet! Can’t you people leave me alone even for a minute?!” But (thankful) Jesus isn’t like this at all.
Instead Jesus has compassion on the people. He looks out at them and has a gut wrenching feeling. That’s exactly what the word “compassion” means — his “inward parts” go out in sympathy for these people. They’re like sheep without a shepherd — lost and hungry. So as their shepherd he teaches them, he guides and nurtures them with the Word of God. Can you imagine sitting their with Jesus on the shore of the lake? Listening to him teach for hours and hours? Unfolding and revealing the mysteries of the universe, the brokenness of humankind, and the love and mercy of God?!
Jesus eventually finishes teaching. I think it would have been a bit like coming out of a movie theatre. You know that feeling when you’ve been engrossed for hours and then come out into the light of day, dazed and blinking as you adjust to reality. This crowd, engrossed in Jesus’ teaching for hours, come back to reality. And they soon realise that it’s late in the day, and they’re tired and hungry.
The disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away. It’s a remote place, far from the towns, there’s no kiosks or pop-up food vendors. “Send the people away to forage for their own food,” they say. Sounds like a reasonable request to me.
But Jesus responds mysteriously, “You give them something to eat.” And the disciples just don’t get it. They’ve witnessed miracle after miracle, yet they still miss the point. Rather than relying on Jesus for what they need, they try to do it themselves. They try to satisfy their needs, and the needs of those around them, out of their own strength. Sound familiar? And of course they can’t do it. Their pockets are turned out empty. They have no money in their belts. Our limited human resources quickly run dry and are depleted. “Are we to spend more than half a year’s wages to buy bread for these people?” they complain.
In contrast Jesus draws upon divine abundance, a deep well of living water. He sets about meeting their needs out of his divine strength. He has the crowd group into hundreds and fifties. They sit down on green grass, green pastures reminiscent of the compassionate shepherd in Psalm 23. Though Jesus doesn’t instruct them just to sit, but rather “recline” — as you would at a dinner party. It’s as if the crowd is invited to a huge garden party, full of laughter, contentment, stimulating conversation, and restoring fellowship.
The disciples manage to scrounge together five loaves of bread and two fish. Just like us and our feeble efforts, Jesus can turn this scarcity into abundance. He takes, thanks, breaks, and gives the bread and fish to the disciples to distribute (these same four words will be repeated later in the Upper Room during the Last Supper, and we actually repeat them each time we celebrate Holy Communion).
It’s interesting to think that the crowd probably didn’t even realise that a miracle had taken place in their midst. Jesus isn’t concerned with showing off, or making sure everyone notices how amazing he is. Rather, in an understated way, it’s only the disciples who see the divine provision as they go around afterwards picking up basket after basket after basket of broken pieces. The miracle is in the leftovers! Jesus has come to feed everyone with divine bounty. They came hungry and lost, but leave satisfied and renewed.
Why?
What an amazing food story! It’s so amazing that all four gospel writers have retold it (Mark 6:32–45; Matthew 14:13–21; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:5–13).
But why exactly? What makes this particular event in Jesus’ ministry so amazing? And, perhaps to be a bit brazen, so what? Two thousand years ago a crowd of people had some bread and fish. Who cares? What does this miracle mean for me, today?
This miracle is so important because it clearly shows us who Jesus is. Remember, until Mark gets to the Mount of Transfiguration (chapter 9), this first half of the gospel is circling around the question “Who is this man?”
This miracle tells and shows us who this man is.
Jesus is the new Moses
This miracle shows us that Jesus is “the prophet like Moses.” Let me explain. See this miracle looks both backward and forward.
Looking backwards to the past, the miracle reminds the people of Moses.
| Moses | Jesus (the new Moses) |
| A shepherd, tending sheep, when God spoke to him from the burning bush (Exodus 3) | “Like sheep without a shepherd.” “Jesus directed them to … sit down … on the green grass.” (Psalm 23)[1] |
| Moses taught the people in the wilderness | Jesus teaches the people in the wilderness |
| Moses divided the people in groups of “hundreds, fifties and tens” (Exodus 18:21) | Jesus divided the people in groups of “hundreds and fifties” (Mark 6:40) |
| Through Moses, God provides bread (manna) from heaven | Through Jesus, God provides bread from heaven |
For the Jewish people Moses is their hero. He led them through the exodus from slavery in Egypt, he provided manna in the desolate wilderness, he led them to the promised land flowing with milk and honey.
Yet when Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land, God promised to send another prophet, like Moses:
The LORD said to [Moses]: “I will raise up for [the people] a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.” (Deuteronomy 18:17–18)
So not only are the people looking back to Moses, but they’re looking forward to a new Moses. A new Moses, a prophet like Moses, is coming. And this prophet will lead the people on a new exodus from their slavery, he will provide new manna in the desolate wilderness, he will led them to a new promised land.
Moses — the events of the exodus, the manna, the promised land — all of these things define who the people of Israel are. This history and promise gives them their identity, their purpose, and their hope. They are God’s people whom He rescued out of Egypt. Their purpose is to praise God for His marvellous deeds and miraculous provision. Their hope is that God will restore them and bring them to a new heavenly home.
So this amazing food story screams out to the people: “Look, this man is the new Moses; this is the prophet like Moses; this is your Messiah! This is the one who will give you a new identity, new purpose, and new hope.”
And this is true for us also. We too look backward to our baptism, where we are rescued from slavery. In our baptism we are given a new identity: we are adopted into God’s family, made His chosen people, rescued from sin, death, and the power of the devil. We look forward to reclining on green pastures as we enjoy an eternal heavenly banquet. And right now we can turn to Jesus, our compassionate shepherd, who cares for us. He satisfies our hunger as we feed on his Word, the very bread of heaven.
What are you hungry for at the moment? What needs can God satisfy out of His divine bounty? Are you trying to please God or satisfy these needs out of your own strength?
Blessing
Jesus of Nazareth is the foretold prophet like Moses. He looks compassionately upon you here today and he stretches out his arms wide on the cross to satisfy your every need. Through his death and resurrection Jesus leads you in a new exodus from slavery to sin; his very Word is new manna from heaven that satisfies all who hear it; and he is with you even now, leading you to a heavenly banquet on green pastures — the largest garden party of all time, stretching into eternity. Through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, may you know and live this miracle every day, as you remember your past and hope for your coming future glory. Amen.
[1] ‘The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.’
