Sermon Index
August 3, 2008 Joint service
Matthew 14:13-21 [Feeding of the five thousand.]
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate 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 on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, gThis is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.h But Jesus said, gThey need not go away; you give them something to eat.h They said to him, gWe have only five loaves here and two fish.h And he said, gBring them here to me.h Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
A Childrenfs sermon
Do you like to go on picnics? I do, too. Two things are necessary for a good picnic. 1. Going someplace where we can do something interesting. 2. Food.
What is fun to do on a picnic? Swimming at the beach, hiking in the woods, fishing, playing around in the park, listening to music or even to a concert, or just relaxing.
Do you think that in the Bible Jesus went on picnics? Oftentimes, Jesus would go to the beach or to the mountains or out into the countryside. And usually people would follow him. Then Jesus would talk to the people. He would heal the sick people, too. Sometimes thousands of people would gather around Jesus. They loved to hear Jesus talk because he talked about the love of God. He gave people hope and happiness. He gave people the Gospel, the good news message of salvation. People found it exciting to listen to Jesus.
There are a couple of special stories in the Bible where many people came to hear Jesus. After hearing Jesus talk, it was time to have something to eat before going home, but the people did not have anything to eat. In todayfs story, there was a crowd of over 5000 people. There were families with children there, too. Everyone was hungry, but people had left their homes in such a hurry to follow Jesus, that they had not brought their picnic lunches.
Now they were out in the country, out in the wilderness, far away from any stores or restaurants. Where could they find anything to eat? Answer: nowhere. There was not enough food for such a huge crowd in the little villages nearby. Jesus was worried about the people. Your mother or father would be worried, too, if there was nothing to eat. If you are too hungry and tired, you get so weak that it is hard to walk home. So Jesus wanted to give the people something to eat.
After looking around, all the disciples found were five loaves of bread and two fish. (Show a picnic lunch of 5 bread rolls and 2 dried fish.) When Jesus said gBring them to me,h I wonder how the disciples felt. Maybe they thought Jesus was going to give away their bread to someone and then they would go hungry. But they trusted Jesus.
Everyone sat down on the grass and then Jesus did something very special. First, he said a prayer to God. We say a prayer before eating, and so did Jesus. He asked God to bless the food. And God did bless that food in a very special way. Jesus started breaking the bread and giving it to his disciples who gave the bread to all the people in the crowd. And he did the same with the fish. Everyone ate and had enough. Then, the disciples took baskets and collected the leftovers. They started with one basket lunch, the ended up with 12 baskets of leftovers! You go and do the math! Even after 5000 men plus women and children at until they were full, there were still more leftovers than what they started with! So you see, when Jesus does a miracle, he does it good! The blessings of Jesus are good, very good!
Some people do not believe in miracles, or the supernatural, or the power of God. Some people read todayfs story and then they explain it this way: when someone shared their lunch, other people saw that and then shared their food with the other people around them. In this way, the whole crowd was able to eat something. In a way that would be a miracle too, because people are usually very stingy with what they have. People hate to share with others. So, if on that day, people did share with others, it would be a miracle of love. It is a good thing. We should do that, we should share with others who do not have enough. If a friend forgets to bring his or her lunch to the picnic, it is a very good and kind thing to share your food. Maybe we should give to charity to help feed the hungry around the world, too. But, in todayfs Gospel story, that is not what happened that day. If it was the case, it would be written that way, and it would be a good story of love. But the story is a miracle story. It is
Jesus doing a miracle to feed 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish.
Personally, I have no problem with miracles. I believe in miracles. You see, if Jesus is God, then he can do miracles. If God is almighty, God can do anything. And it is important to believe that Jesus is God. You see, if Jesus is Almighty God, then he can die on the cross and rise again on the third day. If he is God, then he can take the sin of the whole world upon himself and forgive it. If Jesus is Eternal God, then he take the sins of the past and even the future upon himself and forgive them. And since Jesus is God, he can rise on the third day, and he can return to this earth on the Last Day and raise the dead and give us eternal life in heaven.
Often times in the Bible, Heaven is like a big feast. There is a lot of food. It is a happy time. The picture in the Bible is that Heaven is like a marriage feast, but maybe is like a big picnic too. It is a time of happiness and joy.
Today after church we are having a potluck. We will sing happy birthday. We will eat good food. And in our prayer before the meal we will thank God for the good food, for our good friends, and for sending Jesus to be our Savior.
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church
An Adult Sermon
We talked about the picnic at the seaside at length. I want to make a few brief comments about another dinner, the Last Supper. Here, too, Jesus took the bread and gave thanks and then broke it and gave it to his disciples. The benefit of this bread was not just for 5000 people on one evening, but for uncountable millions who have received the Body and Blood of Christ with the bread and wine down through the ages. It is a meal that sustains our faith. In faith we believe that the Body of Christ died on the cross, and that his blood was shed for us to forgive our sins. When we receive the Holy Communion, it is an action that confesses our faith. Therefore we give the Lordfs Supper only to those who have already publicly confessed their faith in Baptism and Confirmation or First Communion. The Lordfs Supper is not a picnic. It is very serious. At the same time, it is a celebration of faith. It is the joy of salvation.
Amen.