The Greatest of all Miracles

Isaiah 55:1-5      Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21     Romans 9:1-8     Matthew 14:13-21

Is there such a thing as small miracles and big miracles. Like, if you’re going to defy the laws of physics or biology, I guess miracles are all pretty big. But some do feel bigger than others, don’t they? Raising someone from the dead or restoring sight to the blind feels like a bigger act than turning water into wine.  And today we have the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 men, plus women and children, with just five loaves and two fish. A miracle so significant that it is the only one mentioned in all 4 gospels. A miracle that is a precursor to our holy meal and one prophesied centuries before, in our reading from Isaiah:

You that have no money, come, buy and eat…without money and without price. Come to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food…Come to me…so you may live.

It’s a huge miracle. Five loaves, two fish, a huge crowd, everyone is fed and there are 12 baskets left over.  And yet, this week it struck me that there is an even bigger miracle that takes place in this story. Something so big that it didn’t just change things for the crowd on that hillside that day, but it changes everything, for all time, and it changes everything for us. That miracle is hidden away in a few words in verse 16, and it says this, ‘you give them something to eat’. You do it.

Jesus is presented with a crowd in need. A crowd who are hungry. They have nothing to eat. They are poor and outcast. Some are sick. They have heard if they just hang on this man’s words, or touch his cloak, everything will be better. They are desperate. They need food. They need life. And Jesus, full of compassion, says to his disciples, ‘don’t send them away’. You do it.

And the disciples don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to deal with the needs of the world, right before them. They don’t know how to deal with poverty and brokenness and injustice and sickness and the whole polycrisis gathered before them on that hillside. Their solution is to send them away – go and get what you need somewhere else – and Jesus’ solution is ‘don’t send them away’. You do it. Between us, and what we have, we have the solution, he says.

So, they gather everything they have and bring it to Jesus, and he blesses it and gives it back and there is enough to go around. Enough and some to share, of course, like always.

And, as I so often say, as it was with them, so it is with us.

We see need before us and around us all the time. If we don’t, we are asleep.

And the human reaction, the temptation, is to say, ‘go to the doctor, go to centrelink, go to work, ask your friends, talk to your family’ and Jesus says, ‘you give them something to eat’. ‘You do it’.

And that feels terrifying, when the world is this broken, when the needs are this great. But all that Jesus asks of us is all that we have and all that we are. All that is in our hands and hearts. All that is in our baskets and our packed lunch. And he says, ‘bring them to me’, and he takes us and all we have and all we are and looks to heaven and blesses and breaks us and sends us back to the crowds so that everyone might be filled and satisfied and then he gathers what is left over and we find there is more than we began with. We give everything we have and discover, lo and behold, that we gain more, and so do those around us.

This week, I went to an elderly care home for a holy communion service. In the group was a very old lady, strapped into a padded wheelchair. She is in the final stages of dementia and mostly sleeps. She was wheeled in, and she slept through us singing and the bible reading. I blessed and broke the bread, consecrated the wine, and wove through the chairs, distributing our holy meal among those there. I reached Jeannie’s wheelchair and rubbed her hand. She opened her eyes and I said ‘do you want to eat this, it’s Jesus’ and she opened her mouth and nodded and ate. I came back with the chalice and again, gently got her attention and offered her a drink.

She looked at me, looked at the chalice and I heard her speak for the first time. She said ‘look at that. It is beautiful. Look at all the colours coming from it. Do you think it is wonderful?’ and I said to her ‘it is Jesus. I think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world’ and she drank, and her carer cried and they were both filled and satisfied. She had taken a mere crumb, a tiny sip, and it was all I had to offer, and it was more than enough and there was so much left over in that moment. My heart was way fuller than it had been before I got there.

We give Jesus all we have, and he blesses it and gives it back to us to give out and, in doing so we bless others and we also get a blessing, because that is how outrageous grace works.

We follow Jesus at our peril really, don’t we?

It demands all we have and all we are, and it gives us work to do.

You do it, Jesus says.

But when we give and when we do the work, we find those around us are filled and satisfied. And there is not only enough for others, but there is also more than enough for us. Yes it demands our all, but it gives all and more in return.

So, may we be a people who see the need, and have compassion in our hearts for those in need. May we bring all we have and all we are to Jesus. May we place it all in his hands for him to bless and break and give. And may we gather up all that is left over, and in it find God’s richest blessings. Amen.