The Sunday next before Advent
The Collect.
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TIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Gospel
John 6:5-14
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HEN Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
The setting for our text today is significant. Jesus has just healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day, and the Jews seek Jesus to kill Him for both violating the Sabbath day (in doing good) and claiming to be the Son of God. So, Jesus crosses over Galilee and went up into a mountain and sat with His disciples. But His rest was interrupted by the coming of a great multitude. He seldom had even an hour’s time of rest in a day.
A great multitude, who had witnessed His miracles followed and approached Him on the mountainside.
I have preached every year for many years about the miracle of the Bread and its miraculous increase; however, today, I would like to point out two salient points revealed on this occasion of the feeding of the 5,000, plus women and children.
First
What was the reason for the multitude’s following Christ?
Second
How did Jesus include His disciples in the miracle which He would perform?
The multitudes were apparently comprised of common folk of the surrounding villages. They were not sophisticated people, but common laborers of the day. They had witnessed the miracles of Christ and their curiosities were evoked to a level of higher curiosity. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. (John 6:2-4) They were curious to see the miracles, not learn more of the heart of our Lord. The motive may have been less than complimentary; however, God uses many human emotions in bringing souls to His Throne of Grace. Though they may not have been aware of the fact, these many people had a great hunger in their hearts – more than a hunger for food and drink for they had not even made provision for those necessities.
All who come to Christ for whatever reason have a great hunger in their hearts – a void that cannot be filled with physical bread and water. I have often been very hungry for some food that my nature of the food escapes my ability to name. I just know that I am hungry for something and only know what will NOT satisfy that hunger. IT is true of the spirit as well. The lost hunger and wander in the wilderness seeking whatever will satisfy that hunger, but cannot find it in mundane places. It is a hunger of the spirit. At bottom line, I believe it was this hunger that drew the multitudes to follow Christ in addition to the miracles.
BECAUSE THEY SAW His MIRACLES. “Signs”; signs of spiritual truths, of His goodness and love.
The way to draw crowds to the gospel is to have something which men need, in a form that appeals to their hungering souls. There is little use in ringing the bell, be it never so loud, to call men to empty tables. It is the gold that draws men to the wilderness mines. We, the believers, are the disciples of Christ, and we bear a heavy responsibility to lead the faceless multitudes to Fountains of Living Waters and the Bread of Heaven.
Now see how Jesus conducts His service on the mountain slope. He poses a question first to Philip: “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat.” The text informs us that He did so to test the faith of Philip even though Christ knew what He would do. Philip responded that an enormous sum of money would be required to purchase a sufficient quantity of food to feed such a large crowd. But Andrew, the first disciple to follow Christ, hinted of a possibility beyond his own understanding of its result. “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” The question expresses a shade of hope since Andrew remembered the many miracles Christ had already performed. The heart of a child is far more willing to share and love than the hardened hearts of the adults gathered there.
Jesus simply commands that the disciples have the people sit down for the feeding that would soon transpire. All gatherings for the purpose of worshipping our Lord must be done in good order. How far we have ventured from that truth today! Our services are not for entertainment or to boast of any singer or preacher, but to praise and glorify the Lord – and to be fed with His miraculous Word that changes lives.
Now observe how Jesus grants his disciples the privileges of participating in the miraculous feeding. HE DISTRIBUTED TO His DISCIPLES, AND His DISCIPLES TO THEM THAT WERE SET DOWN. Jesus conferred great honor on the disciples in making them the instruments of conferring his bounty. So let teachers, pastors, parents, not do all things themselves, but use scholars and children, whenever it is possible, in the works of mercy. In the Reformed worship of Anglicanism, all present participate actively in the services of prayer, song, and of reading the Word. Anglican worship, and Godly worship, is participatory. We cannot learn to drive a car by simply watching someone else. We must, at some point, get behind the wheel ourselves. The same is true of worship service.
Our duties and our privileges are not measured by what we can do of ourselves, but by what God is willing to do through us. We cannot turn the machinery of the factory, but we can let the water on to the wheel.
We cannot push the steamship across the ocean, but we can let on the steam for the engine to do it. Our Lord allows us, His disciples, to share the Bread of Heaven to those who hunger for it. Are we doing that?
Jesus did not repulse any because they came to Him from the lower motives; but He sent them awaywith better ones. The motives that lead men to goodness are not necessarily the motives of those that live goodness. They are steps to the house, not the rooms of the house. They are roads to the city, not the city itself.
THE DISCIPLES Co-WORKING WITH JESUS. Jesus could have rained down manna, so that each person could have picked up enough just before him to supply all his needs. But He chose to work in such a way that there must be cooperation on the part of his disciples before the multitude could be fed. In using human instrumentalities to supply human need, the Master most beautifully exemplified the way of propagating His truth.
Please consider the means by which our Lord multiplied the blessings of Bread. He gave thanks for the blessing, and He then broke the bread and handed it to the disciples. The bread was not suddenly increased to a large quantity. It was increased by the sharing of the resource to the people. It was in the giving that the multiplying of the quantity was manifested. Allow me to cite an Old Testament example of this principle. I am sure we all remember the widow of Zidon noted in 1 Kings 17:9-16 who had only a handful of meal and small amount of oil in a cruse. Elijah was hungry and he asked the woman for a drink and a morsel of bread. The widow only had enough meal and oil left for such a morsel for Elijah and none for herself and her son. But as she emptied the little wheat from her basket and oil from her cruse, there was always continually more remaining.
The fountain that gives what it receives is fresh and clear and beautiful. The swampy bog that receives and does not give is malarious, foul, reptile-haunted. This miracle was a symbol of that love which exhausts not itself by loving, but after all its outgivings upon others, abides itself far richer than it would have done but for the multiplying which there ever is in a true dispensing. The Dead Sea is dead because it keeps every drop of water it receives while the Sea of Galilee, fed by the same Jordan River, is full of life because it gives up all that it receives.
Are we sharing the Bread of Heaven the Lord has handed us, as His disciples, with those who hunger and thirst for that of which they may not presently be aware? GAIN BY GIVING. “Christ s provision is more than enough for a hungry world, and they who share it out among their fellows have their own possession of it increased. There is no surer way to receive the full sweetness and blessing of the Gospel than to carry it to others. “Go and do thou Likewise!”
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