The story of the feeding of the five thousand is no doubt one of the best-known
and best-loved episodes from the life of Jesus. Certainly in John's Gospel,
this pericope is pivotal in John's emerging revelation of Jesus as one sent
from heaven. One of the most significant statements of Jesus comes in this
chapter when He says, "I am the bread of life" (vv. 35, 48).
The particular story of feeding the multitude is a rich cache of spiritual
treasure that can be mined many times without yielding all its wealth. One
of the fascinating aspects of this moment is found in the reality, given almost
in passing, that Jesus uses the little boy's entire lunch to accomplish this
miracle. If Jesus could feed more than 5,000 people with five loaves of bread
and two scrawny fish, why couldn't He also do it with, say, three loaves of
bread and just one of the fish? Why did Jesus have to take the little boy's
whole lunch?
This reality strikes me because often in my life with Christ I am asking,
"How much will this cost me?" Perhaps many Christians find themselves
in constant negotiation with Jesus about how much discipleship will cost when
He is asking for the whole lunch!
The penetrating question that this particular focus on the story boils to
the top is simply, "How much does it cost to follow Jesus?" If I
really get serious about following Christ, how much will it cost me? I don't
like that question because I've always had this safely figured out. I've got
my percentages down that enable me to ease my materialistic conscience. I've
got this figured out so that I can be considered generous and successful at
the same time. "So don't mess with my formula, Jesus. You start asking
for the whole lunch, and it messes everything up!"
The real point of this story is not even "How much does Jesus want?"
but that Jesus is able to provide more than enough for life in His kingdom.
Jesus is the Bread of Life. It's not our measly provision that we so carefully
and stingily dole out every day. It's about Him and His ability to provide
if only we will let go of our mind-set of lack and embrace the mind-set of
abundance. The point is not how much of the boy's lunch Jesus wanted. The
point is that with the lunch in the hands of Jesus, nobody went hungry, not
even the little boy who gave up his lunch.
The question that must be faced here is, "How much of my total life and
total resource is really under the control of Jesus?" Do I bargain with
Jesus over how many loaves and fishes He gets and how many I have left to
do with what I want? What would happen if we stopped bargaining with God over
our measly little lunch and just handed it over? Perhaps we, too, would find
ourselves left, not with five loaves and two fish, but with 12 baskets overflowing
with the abundant blessing of God.
(For a full manuscript of this sermon, go to www.preachersmagazine.org.)
There are many places in life where we ask the question, "How much will
this cost me?" In nearly everything that happens in our lives, the cost
is a major consideration, and it's not always about money. We have learned
how carefully to measure out our emotional and even spiritual resources. The
sermon can begin by inviting the congregation to think with you about how
natural the question of "How much?" is to us.
The next move is to set the question in the context of the biblical story
that we are considering. One might say something like, "It seems to me
that this is one of the major questions going on in the story we've heard
together this morning." The question of "How much?" comes to
us on the lips of Jesus' disciples. They are incredulous that Jesus would
suggest they feed this massive crowd. Philip does the math and quickly figures
that it would require no less than eight months' wages!
Here is where the unexpected is introduced, when a little boy provides the
material for a miracle. Here's where the preacher can twist the plot just
a bit by asking the question, "Why did Jesus need the little boy's entire
lunch? Couldn't he do the miracle with just part of it?" It raises a
spiritual question of importance for all of us. Just how much does Jesus really
want from me?
The call of this sermon is for our hearers to surrender everything to Jesus.
In truth, this will not result in a lack of resource but in an abundance of
everything that we need to follow Jesus completely.
