Feeding 5,000 Grocery Store Shopping | August 11, 2024

For this week’s worship service, I got to put into practice an idea I’d come across and saved from six years ago when John’s account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 came up in a previous lectionary: We went to the grocery store to shop for the food pantry as part of an abbreviated worship service, then celebrated communion together outside Piggly Wiggly!

In Jesus’ feeding of the multitude, we see that whatever little we have to offer is enough for Jesus to use. As part of worship today, we put our faith into action by traveling as a church down the road to Piggly Wiggly and purchasing food for the food pantry. Is it enough to solve hunger in our community? No, but we trust God can multiply what we offer, and we are grateful to be part of the work God is doing in bringing about the heavenly realm where no one goes hungry.

Today’s Scripture readings are 2 Kings 4:42-44 and John 6:1-14, and portions of this sermon are a repeat of my 2018 sermon on these texts. Here’s the livestream of the abbreviated worship service, as well as the podcast sermon audio from Living Hope.

Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Back in July, we spent four weeks talking about how God calls us Together. Every person is made in God’s image, and as followers of Jesus, we are called together by God to do justice and love our neighbors in Jesus’ name.

In baptism, we are called to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Every time I hear those words, I get a little bit overwhelmed by how huge that task is. All people is a lot of people, and there is a lot of injustice in this world!

What difference can I make in a world where some 738 million people are hungry? I can’t stop wars, or rescue hostages. I can’t fix anyone’s addiction, or find homes for all the kids who need foster care.

Even right here in our county, one of the wealthiest in the state, four percent of people are considered food insecure. That’s a small percentage, but it’s over 3,500 hundred people. By a different measure, 32% of households in Port Washington and 40% of households in Saukville have income below a household survival budget. It’s easy for it to be overwhelming.

I think that’s the same kind of problem the disciples have in our Gospel story. Jesus has been teaching and doing miracles, and out here in a remote place, on a mountainside, a large crowd of people have gathered to listen to him. Thousands of people. Some five thousand men, plus women and children.

It’s getting to be about dinner time, so Jesus turns to Philip and asks, “What’s the plan? Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat? Did you remember to call the caterers?”

Imagine Philip’s reaction: “Um, Lord, you’re kidding, right? Do you see all these people? It’d take more than six month’s wages to get everyone a little snack!”

I can picture Philip sort of looking around at the other disciples for help. How do you explain to Jesus that what he’s asking is impossible? We just don’t have enough. Of course we’d like to help, but there’s only a few of us, and there are so many people in need.

Andrew tries to help. “Well, I did see one kid who brought five loaves and two fish. But one kid’s lunch is not going to go very far.”

But that one kid’s lunch turns out to be enough for Jesus. All the gospels mention the five loaves and two fish, but only John mentions the boy who brought them, and other than Jesus, this boy is the most important person in the story: He’s willing to offer what he has for Jesus to use.

Imagine what this story would be like if he hadn’t been willing to share. If I was in a large crowd around lunch time and I have some food with me and I can see most people don’t have anything, I’d be awfully tempted to turn around and eat what I have before someone else notices and takes it from me.

By sharing, he risks not getting any for himself. There’s also speculation that since five loaves and two fish are a lot of food for one person, he may have brought it to sell, in which case he’s giving up his income, maybe his family’s income for the day to Jesus. But he’s willing to take the risk.

Maybe he knows the stories, that God has done this before through the prophet Elijah, who fed 100 people with twenty loaves and a few ears of grain. And because this kid is willing to give what he has to Jesus, the whole crowd gets fed.

I wonder how often you and I are like that boy, willing to let God use what we have to accomplish miracles? Do we have that kind of trust?

Or, are we more like the disciples, who look around at the size of the crowd, at the immensity of the problem, and say, “There’s nothing we can do. We don’t have enough to work with. We’d need more money for that to work. We’d need more time. We’d need people with different talents. We don’t have enough people who can climb ladders, or enough kids and youth, or enough space, or enough experience, or enough time, or enough whatever it is.”

It’s so easy for us to fall into that trap of comparing the little we have to the size of the problems around us and giving up, or assuming that whatever we do might be good, but it’s not enough.

The world’s message is that there’s not enough, right? Everything becomes a competition. Budgets shrink. There’s not enough people being born, there’s not enough land, there’s not enough parking.

Not enough workers to do jobs, and somehow at the same time fear of our jobs being taken away. Maybe you don’t have the physical abilities you used to, or you don’t have the faith you think you should. There’s never enough. That’s the world’s message.

But that’s not God’s message. God’s message is that Jesus can do a miracle with whatever we are willing to trust to him and it will be enough. It’s true: five loaves and two fish is really not significant in a huge crowd of hungry people. But it’s also true that God does miracles.

Yes, if you won a million dollars in the lottery, you could serve God in some great ways. If we had every seat in here filled, or a new building, or a more interesting pastor, or any of a whole list of things we could come up with, we could do more ministry.

But God does not need more than you have. God is building the Kingdom with whatever we have to offer. And this story is evidence that Jesus cares not only about getting us to heaven, but about our physical needs and the needs of our neighbors here in this world. In God’s Kingdom, no one goes hungry. We get to be part of that work.

And not only do five loaves and two fish turn out to be enough; the story doesn’t end there. After everyone’s eaten and satisfied, the disciples fill twelve baskets with the leftovers.

Where the world saw scarcity, God provided abundance. Jesus multiplies one kid’s generosity far beyond anything he could have possibly imagined. In God’s hands, the simple offering of whatever gift God’s trusted to you is enough.

This morning, we’re going to put that into practice. We’re going to sing our closing song—thinking about our call to do something, putting our talents into practices, using the gifts we have—and we’re going to go on a field trip—sort of a mini-mission trip—up the road to Piggly Wiggly, and we’re going to shop for the food pantry.

I’ll give you a $10 bill on your way out, and of course, feel free to add to it if you want, but I want you to know this didn’t come from the church budget; this was given specifically for this project.

And obviously, $10 won’t feed someone for very long. $300 can do a bit more. Stronger together, right? But even that’s just a drop in the bucket.

And so are five loaves and two fish. There’s a lot of need in our community, and we can’t fix all of it this morning. But we can offer what we have to Jesus, and let God do God’s work with it. In God’s hands, it’s enough.

Let’s pray.
God, there are limits to what we can offer. But you can do miracles with even small things, with few people, and little money. Help us to live in your abundance, rather than the world’s scarcity. Bless the gifts we give, and multiply them to feed our neighbors in need, not just today, but every day, in Jesus’ name. Amen

So, we’ll sing our sending song, and go to Piggly Wiggly. Once we get there, you have about 10-15 minutes to shop, so be decisive, and get things that are non-perishable, because they probably won’t get delivered immediately.

Then once you’ve checked out, we’ll gather outside in front of the store and we’ll celebrate communion together to wrap up the service.

A few pictures from the morning: