Matthew 14:13-21
Give Thanks
Crowds of people were following Jesus and his disciples.
We are told there were 5,000 men, not counting the women and children.
So, rough estimate?
15,000 people?
That’s huge.
And they were all hungry.
What an overwhelming situation.
The disciples noticed this, and the solution they brought to Jesus made perfect sense: “This is a remote place, and it’s getting late.
Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
What’s wrong with that?
These people need to take care of themselves; there is nothing the disciples can do for them.
They are hungry, send them away.
But then Jesus replies, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
This is radical stuff, but the story is so familiar I think I sometimes miss just how radical it is.
I mean, it made such an impact on those who were there, that it is the only miracle story of Jesus that is recorded in all four Gospels!
It’s been said that this story goes straight to the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ—what it means to be a Christian.
***Put up Slide #1***
“You give them something to eat.”
***Take Down Slide #1***
One of the churches I served, East Ridge United Methodist Church, was situated in a poor section of town.
We were surrounded by extended stay hotels where hundreds upon hundreds of unhoused people lived along with their children.
We had a small food closet, that had boxed macaroni and cheese, some cans of tuna fish and so forth.
It was food that church members brought to church with them to give to folks living in emergency situations.
The problem was that it seemed like the entire population surrounding that church building was in an emergency situation and God was calling us to do something about it.
But being just a small church with meager resources, what could we do?
I spoke to our church about it and then sent out emails to the other churches in town and announced if anyone was interested in getting food pantry going in East Ridge we would be having a brainstorming meeting about it on such an such a date.
Between 40 and 50 people showed up.
We met, and agreed there was great need, but no one was stepping up to run with it.
A Pastor can’t do it him or herself, it needs to be led by the congregation if it’s going to work.
We met a few more times, until someone finally came up to me and said, “How many of these meetings are we going to have? We aren’t getting anywhere.”
With my tail between my legs, I decided I must have misheard God’s call.
One day I was sitting in my office when two members of the church, Tab Williams and Rick Bonner stopped in.
Tab said, “Ken, Rick and I have been talking about it, and we want to try and open that food pantry.”
We got connected with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, it’s run by feeding America, the same group that runs Second Harvest.
People donated a bunch of refrigerators and freezers, we scraped together what little money we had, and we went for it.
About a year later, Rick and I were walking through the food pantry area about thirty minutes before opening time and we looked around.
A group of women from the Korean Church down the street were preparing a table with fruit to hand out to the long line of people gathering outside our doors.
At another table people from a variety of other local churches, now all friends of ours, were arranging frozen meat.
At another table several folks, including a member of the local Jewish Synagogue, were getting vegetables ready to distribute.
The place was humming like a well-oiled machine; 30 or 40 volunteers were talking, laughing and working together.
Rick and I looked at each other and just started to laugh.
I said, “Who knew this could happen?
We have no idea what we are doing.
One year ago, this was just a dream.
We felt God calling us to do something to help feed the hungry masses outside these doors.
And now it’s happening.”
Working in that food pantry was like living within the miracle of the loaves and the fish…
…and I would tell people this all the time.
…it was amazing.
It was energizing.
It was the most fun I’ve ever had.
That food pantry has now been used by the Chattanooga Area Food Bank as a proto-type for how to organize and run area food pantries, which in the years since, have popped up all over the city.
And the East Ridge Community Food Pantry is now the largest local food pantry in the city.
I spoke with someone last week, who was there from the beginning, the ministry is still growing and growing and growing.
In our Gospel lesson for this morning the disciples saw a mass of hungry people.
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Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
“Bring them here to me,” Jesus said.
***Take Down Slide #2***
Who would have ever imagined?
The disciples did what Jesus called
them to do and every one of those people were fed and there were even leftovers!
We have a world that is teeming with hungry people.
Approximately 47 million Americans alone live in food insecure households.
This includes 13.8 million children who don’t know where their next meal will come from.
Low pay, losing a job, or having a disability can make it hard for even working families to afford enough food.
When the price of rent, health care, electricity, and childcare keeps going up families have less money to spend on food, the basic staple that everyone needs and deserves to live, to thrive, and to survive.
And then, just look at the number of people who are unhoused in this country.
It’s a crime!
We have billionaires and soon will have our first trillionaire.
These folks could solve the hunger problem in the entire world and still have billions to spare.
Put people aren’t stepping up.
The government is shutting off aid programs.
But I need to stop here.
It’s easy to blame other people for the problems.
It’s easy to say, so and so should take care of this.
“Send them somewhere else.
Let someone else feed them, cloth them, heal them.”
But you know what?
We are Jesus’ disciples living approximately 2,000 years after the miracle in our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
And Jesus is saying to us the same thing Jesus said to the first Twelve: “You give them something to eat…
…You give…
…You give.”
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Before every food pantry I would gather all the volunteers together and I would pray this prayer: “Lord you said, ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.’
We are feeding you today.
Help us to see you in every person we serve today.
Help us treat each person as if they were you.
Amen.’”
***Take Down Slide #3***
Jesus is in such solidarity with humans…
…you and me and everyone else living in this world, that when we do something for another person we are literally doing it for Jesus.
Isn’t that amazing?
Isn’t that beautiful?
Brothers and sisters, we have been given the great privilege to be part of a church that is reaching out to our community in tangible ways with the love of Jesus Christ.
Every Wednesday we give away 180 home-cooked meals to the unhoused and others who come all the way to this church because they don’t have enough to eat.
Every Friday we deliver a truckload of food to Morgan County in the Boxed Truck that you all paid for.
That food is distributed to the poor and hungry.
Every month we put together hundreds and hundreds of food bags for our local schools to give to their students so that they won’t go hungry on the weekends when they aren’t able to be fed by school breakfasts and lunches.
We give away thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of food, clothing, and toys through our Christmas and Summer Shoppes programs.
TORCH the Tennessee Out-Reach Center for the Homeless was born in this church.
It’s an amazing ministry that helps so many people right here in Oak Ridge.
First United Methodist Church has, through the years, had a hand in helping launch just about every helping, outreach and ministry that takes place in this town.
It may sometimes feel like the need is so much greater than what we can give, but we are to trust, that in the hands of Jesus, our meager offerings will result in miracles.
We are told in the beginning of our story that Jesus saw the multitudes and had compassion on them and then he invited them to eat.
And as followers, disciples, learners--those being transformed into the likeness of Christ our greatest attribute as Christians is to be like Jesus, to be compassionate.
And that compassion must lead us to action, if it is going to be worth anything.
In a world where so many have so little, we have been given much.
Are we thankful for this?
It’s easy to forget and get distracted in the rat race, fast paced world of work and things.
But you know what?
Jesus has called us to be his light shining on a hill.
In a world that can be so cold, God has so loved us, and God calls us to love others as we have been loved.
Most Bibles give a heading to today’s story that reads something like “Jesus Feeds the 5,000.”
Actually, Jesus gives food only to the disciples, who then feed others.
And while this is clearly a miracle of Jesus, we are given the privilege to partner with Jesus in this amazing mission.
Our call is to give of ourselves, our time and our treasure in active ministry that meets human needs.
Today is Commitment Sunday.
It’s time for us to prayerfully consider how we will partner with Jesus in this coming year and expand our giving to First United Methodist Church so that First Church can expand it’s ministries to a needy world.
How will you give thanks to God in 2026?
Will you take part in God’s miracles?
Please fill out an estimate of giving card and place it in either an offering basket or one of the baskets up front.
Will you pray with me?
Lord God, you call us to be in ministry with you to a lost, hungry and broken world.
You bring us to a church where we can pool our resources and make a bigger difference than we ever could on our own.
God, you love and care for every person on this earth.
The events that took place on that hillside in Galilee two thousand years ago were a miracle.
A deeper miracle is the miracle of your love for the six billion people in this world today and the miracle that we are called to be partners in with you for a world that you so love.
Lord, we want to be your partners.
We want to follow your call to give.
Enable us to do so.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
