“Favorite Story” is a sermon interpretation of John 6:1-21.  We all have those old favorite stories that we share with our old favorite family and friends.  When you get together with certain family members or friends, the conversation will get around to an old favorite story which begins with,  “Do you remember that time when….”  and people will start to groan or chuckle with delight.

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For example, when I get together with old college friends, we inevitably get around to the “tooth story.”  I was dating this girl in college, later to become my wife.  One night, outside the house in which she and her friends lived, the two of us were swinging around the clothes line pole, she swinging one direction and me another.  I went for a kiss and broke her front tooth, ouch, and then had to take her home to face her father and explain the situation.  That story gets told over and over again, and like most old favorites, that story captures the essence of the people involved…which I won’t explain.

Well, the gospel story for today is an old favorite story about Jesus and his disciples that was told over and over again.  There are some old favorite stories which are told only one time in the gospels…. but the story for today, about the five loaves and two fish, is not told merely once, not twice, not three times, but four times in its variations.  It is the only Gospel miracle which is told in its fullness in all four Gospels.

Now, why is this story told over and over again?  I believe it is because this story captures the truth, the essence of all the people involved; the essential truth about Jesus and the essential truth about the disciples and the essential truth about God.

It got to be later, long into the day, and one of the disciples said:  “Lord, the hour is late and the people don’t have any food and we are a long way from any villages.  Maybe you should send them home now.”  And Jesus said to Philip, according to John’s version of the story, “How are we going to buy bread, so that people can eat?”  Jesus said this in order to test Philip.  Philip replied, “It would take more than two hundred denari, more than two hundred days of wages, and even that wouldn’t be enough bread to feed all these people.”  Jesus said, “Look around the crowd and see what you can find.”  Andrew found a young boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, and brought the boy, fish and bread to Jesus.  Jesus invited everyone to be seated on the green grass.  Jesus took the bread…looked up into heaven…gave thanks…broke it…gave it to his disciples…who gave it to the crowds.  And they all ate and were all satisfied …and… there were twelve baskets of bread left over.  The number who ate were five thousand men, plus women and children.

That story was told over and over again in the gospels, but it continues.  A few days later, Jesus was again out in the wilderness, again with a large crowd of four thousand men plus women and children, and the same story happens again.  This time, seven loaves and a few fish were found.  And once again, Jesus took the bread…looked up into heaven…gave thanks…broke it…give it to his disciples…who shared it with everyone. And everyone ate and everyone was satisfied,  … and… there were seven baskets of bread left over after the feeding of the four thousand plus. 

And then comes the final twist to the story, the final intrigue to this saga.  Jesus and his disciples got into a boat and sailed back again across Lake Galilee.  And as they arrived in the boat, the disciples began discussing quietly among themselves, out of earshot of Jesus, “Who brought the bread?  Did anyone bring any bread for lunch?”  And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, asked them:  “Don’t you men get it?  Don’t you understand?  Are you so hard headed?  Are you so hard hearted? You just saw the feeding of the five thousand and twelve baskets of bread which were left over.  You just saw the feeding of the four thousand and seven baskets of bread which were left over.  Don’t you get it about who I am?  Don’t you get it about the abundance generosity of God?  Don’t you get it that God will take care of you in your needs?  Don’t you get it, even after you have personally seen these miracles? 

And that story, about the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish, that story seems to capture the essence of all the people involved.  That’s why it was told over and over again.  This story captures the very essence of Jesus as the wondrous Son of God.  It captures the very essence of God, in God’s abundant and extravagant generosity and grace, twelve and seven baskets full of bread left over.  And it captures the very essence of us his disciples, who don’t get it, even after we have seen first hand, God’s miraculous work in our lives.

Jesus can work miracles with five loaves and two fish.  That is at the heart of the story, that the little boy brought his meager gifts to Jesus, his five loaves and two fish, and look what mighty miracles God did with them.  And God wants to do the same with us;  that we surrender and bring our meager gifts to God, our five loaves and two fish, our meager and ordinary talents and gifts, we bring the simplicity of who we are to God, and look what mighty miracles God can do in and through our little lives. 

Sermon by Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot