Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Stories of Jesus feeding a multitude occur six times in the Gospels. Not counting narratives of the crucifixion and the resurrection, very few miracles that Jesus’ performed are recorded in all four Gospels. The feeding of the 5,000 is in all four and an additional multitude feeding (the feeding of 4,000) is found in both Mark and Matthew. It was important to the writers of the Gospels to recount stories of Jesus feeding several thousand people with an amount of food that would normally feed no more than 20 people had Jesus not multiplied the quantity through his grace.

I think that the reason why these stories were so important to the early church is because they helped to explain the then new Christian sacrament of communion. There are strong parallels between the feeding of the 5,000 and communion.

To start with, there is the matter of hunger. The hunger that the 5,000 felt was both physical and spiritual at the same time. I think that the initial reason the 5,000 gathered was due to spiritual hunger. Had they came looking for simply a free meal, I think that the disciples would have known that this was their expectation and wouldn’t have suggested to Jesus that he send them away to fend for themselves. So I think that the primary theme of the story is spiritual hunger. It was the same with me. What brought me back to St. Timothy’s 11 years ago was spiritual hunger.

Next, there is the matter of who should be doing the feeding. Instead of allowing the disciples to send the people elsewhere to be fed, Jesus says, "You feed them." The disciples balk. But Jesus is patient and leads them through it step-by-step.

First he says, "Bring." In my mind I picture the oblation bearers during the offertory hymn. They are bringing forward the bread and the wine to be placed on Jesus’ altar. The cruet and the ciborium that holds the wafers are small. What they contain couldn’t possibly satisfy the entire congregation’s physical hunger. But that isn’t the point. The bread the wine being carried forward represent the small contribution that we offer to Jesus, trusting that he will use it to spiritually feed all of us.

Next Jesus takes the fish and the loaves, blesses them, and breaks them. That sounds like the Eucharistic Prayer. The sub-deacon takes the wine and bread. I bless them, asking Christ to fill them with his presence. And then I break the bread so that it can be distributed to the people.

Jesus gives the sanctified food to the disciples who, in turn, give the food to the people. In my mind’s eye, I see myself giving the wine to the chalice bearers and them giving the wine to the people. People feeding people, both physically and spiritually this is the way Christ intended. "And all ate and were filled." With plenty left over. All ate and were filled, both those that were passing out the food and those that were receiving.

When Jesus blesses something and multiples it there is always plenty left over. It is like the cup that runneth over in Psalm 23. "You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me," (some of us trouble each other, that’s life) "you have anointed my head with oil," (we use oil in our healing prayers) "and my cup is running over." At the end of the Eucharist, we put the leftovers in the tabernacle. The tabernacle represents the overflowing grace of Christ as he makes himself present in our church.

Then Jesus sends the crowd on their way. Certainly he intends that they will go out and tend to the spiritual needs of others. And isn’t that what we are called to do as well? Once we are fed the Eucharistic meal that fills our spiritual hunger because we have encountered Christ through the simple act of one person feeding another, aren’t we supposed to then take our meager gifts which are infinitely magnified by Christ when we offer them to his purpose and use those gifts to nurture and spiritually feed those we come across during the week? Isn’t that a long, run-on sentence that really sums up the meaning of communion?

What we do as a sacrament this morning, we are intended to do literally during the week to come. We are to give ourselves to Christ’s use. He will take us, bless us, break us, and give us back in a state that is 2,000 times more effective than had we not offered ourselves to Christ for his purpose. Then we offer ourselves to others. This process continues indefinitely until God’s kingdom is built here on earth. And the whole thing starts with us offering ourselves at the Altar rail.

==AMEN==