There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people? 

(John 6:9)

As you may know I am currently Moderator of Presbytery for the South West of Scotland. As such I’ve been conducting some services recently - two services of union and a service of thanksgiving and at all these services food is laid on for afterwards. And you know what it’s like when churches lay on food: the decision is made to lay on a few sandwiches and you get tables heaving with food. Sandwiches, cake, sausages, biscuits, tray bakes. Let me tell you, this is doing nothing for my waistline. But I do appreciate it. There’s something brilliant about the generosity of people who spend hours in their kitchens and a shedload of money buying all this food; something which, in its way, represents the generosity of God.

The feeding of the 5000, as you probably know, is the only miracle that appears in all four gospels. Here we have the version that appears in John’s Gospel. As in all four versions someone supplies a couple of fish and a few loaves, the disciples go around handing food out, everyone gets enough to eat and there’s an abundance of leftovers. Let all be fed for there is an abundance of food. And that’s still true today. Through the generosity of God and through the gifts of science and agriculture  this world provides enough for everyone to be fed with plenty left over?

So why do people go hungry? Why do people have to queue up at food banks? Now don’t get me wrong here: I’m not criticising food banks. I think that the people who give up their time to run them, the people who donate to them, are brilliant. They are doing what the disciples did in our passage this morning: making sure all are fed. I do have to wonder though why, in one of the richest  countries in the world, food banks are necessary. And I do have to wonder why we haven’t adopted the rule they have in France that supermarkets can’t just throw food away: unsold food has to go to food banks. I’m reminded that once all had been fed Jesus made sure all the scraps were gathered up so that none should go to waste. If there is food to throw away then there is food enough that all should be fed.

That said it is entirely in keeping with the history of the Church that churches are so often linked to providing food for those who need it. That’s something the Church has done since the very beginning. You’ll find it in the Book of Acts. You’ll find it in the history of this country where people who were hungry would come to the church door to get bread. It’s what Christ’s disciples have done since this moment beside the Sea of Galilee: making sure all are fed.

Of course I’ve just been talking about ordinary food so far: the stuff you eat. This is John’s gospel and John uses symbolism very heavily. So what else is going on in this passage? John uses food and water not just as sustenance for the body but as sustenance for the soul; for the spirit. For John Christ is the bread of Heaven; he is the water that, once drunk, will mean that we will never go thirsty again. Through him we are connected to the limitless grace of God: a grace that means that however far we may fall short of what we, as human beings, are meant to be as children of God, he will not let us go. Through Christ we have communion with God who loves us more than we can say.

So who’s ‘us’? Another thing about John’s Gospel is you have to pay attention to the details he throws in. He tells us that this took place close to the Passover: the shared meal of Jews that celebrates the saving power of God and which takes place behind closed doors in people’s homes. This shared meal takes place in the open air. John tells us that it took place by the Sea of Galilee but then tells us it was also called the Sea of Tiberias - a Roman name. Best guess is that it took place near Bethsaida: a town of both Jews and Gentiles which also had a Greek name.

The salvation God offered the Jews God also offers to everyone. The spiritual food God offers is for everyone. The hope for eternal life offered in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is not meant for those who sign up to a catechism or can recite a Creed  It’s not meant to be contained within building like this but carried into the world out there as the disciples carried food to those gathered beside the Galilee. It’s meant to be shared with those we meet as it was shared among the 5000. Like the fish and the loaves it doesn’t need to be rationed. There is plenty enough to be shared with everyone with plenty to spare.

We live in a generation that has forgotten that we are human beings. We are more than bodies that need fed with fish, bread, whatever. We live in a generation that is enslaved to its machines and has to come to think that they are nothing more than machines. Here in our place and our time we are called to remind folk - through the values we stand by; by the way that we live; by our commitment to truth and justice whatever the cost - that there is more to being human than having a thousand things we really don’t need: that we are meant to shine bright in the world and make it beautiful. That we are meant to be brothers and sisters to one another. We are meant to feed our neighbours with the food folk have forgotten they need: the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Father you feed our bodies. Remind us to feed our neighbours. Lord you feed our souls. Remind us to feed our neighbours

Preached at Baxter Hall Eastriggs and at Annan Old

Complete Service