Now you’re probably wondering why I would call the feeding of the five thousand a disaster.
Well I suppose on the surface,
this feeding miracle seems to have been successful
after all every one was fed,
that in itself must give the miracle some level of success.
But the point of this miracle was not to set a world record for the biggest open air picnic, was it.
Jesus was also not trying to perform a cheap party trick. Nor did Jesus just want to give them a nice fish supper to send them on there way.
So what was the purpose of this miracle?
What was it that Jesus was trying to communicate with these fish sandwiches? .
It seems that Jesus probably hoped that the crowd would do what he always hoped the crowd would do,
- give glory to God for what they had seen and tasted.
Jesus probably hoped that by demonstrating the miracle working power of God,
people’s lives would be changed, for good.
Maybe this miraculous feeding did change lives,
maybe, just maybe it made people stop and think about what direction their lives were taking,
maybe many of the crowd made a decision to live their lives to the glory of God,
and Maybe many of them also decided that they wanted to follow Jesus as disciples too.
All of these are possible
but it certainly doesn’t seem like that is what happened,
it doesn’t seem like the crowd decided to follow Jesus Because immediately after the meal Jesus dismisses the crowd,
he sends them away each to their own home.
These people were like sheep without a shepherd,
yet the parting words of Jesus were not take up your cross and follow me.
The crowd had failed to understand who Jesus is,
as they munched away they failed to grasp who Jesus is. The feeding was a failure and so Jesus’ parting words were go home you stomachs are full.
It seems that the contentment on the faces of the crowd, was not due to them having witnessed God at work in their lives
but because there stomachs were full.
Jesus probably also hoped that the disciples would finally recognize that this man who stood before them was more than just a prophet,
that he was more than just God’s envoy declaring the news of the coming kingdom,
and that he was more than just a great teacher,
but that this man,
Jesus,
was God made flesh,
the promised messiah.
For the disciples it seems that old Murphy was at work in their lives again,
and that Murphies law was once again ruling over them. because once again the disciples got it wrong,
once again they ended up with their feet firmly wedged in their mouths
as once again they missed the point of the miracle.
They should have seen the hand of God at work through Jesus,
God made flesh,
instead it seems that all they saw was a delicious fish supper.
Neither the crowd or the disciple caught on to what Jesus wanted to achieve.
A good meal had been had by all
but apart from that nothing else had been achieved,
the crowd definitely went home with full stomachs
but there souls were probably still hungry.
A disaster of Kingdom size proportions had occurred and so Jesus saw no other option but to send every one on their own separate ways,
The disciples he sent to the other side of the lake,
the crowd he sent to their homes,
and Jesus sought out the solitude of a mountain and the comforting of his heavenly father.
And so the discipels were alone.
As they set sail on the lake that night
you can’t help feeling that as they rubbed their swollen, full bellies,
and thought about the events of the day
that there was a sense of complacency in their minds.
They probably felt quite pleased with themselves as they rowed towards the opposite shore of the lake.
And pleased with them selves they should be,
after all the disciples were going about doing the work of God’s kingdom weren’t they
storing up brownie points in heaven.
And weren’t they as disciples following God’s envoy, Jesus,
that must put them in a good light with God,
they probably thought it gave them a certain amount of diplomatic immunity as well.
And all they had to was follow Jesus,
listen to his every word and observe his every action.
The disciples probably felt life was getting really quite cruzzy.
They may not have had two pennies to rub together,
or a place to lay their heads
but as long as they were following a man like Jesus they would never starve,
after all hadn’t they just witnessed this man feed over five thousand people with just a few stale fish sandwiches.
Not only was this man God’s envoy
but he was also a sure fire meal ticket when times got hard.
As you can see the disciples had probably grown quite complacent after seeing Jesus produce food for over 5000.
and maybe we do the same some times too.
Maybe we as 20th century disciples start to think like the first disciples.
And as we set sail for the other side of the lake
maybe we lie back like the disciples and rub our swollen, full bellies
and think to our selves
well we’ve really got it made
nothing but nothing can go wrong.
When you think about it,
knowing the sort of people the disciples are
and knowing how they always seem to misunderstand everything that Jesus says and does,
then its quite ironic that when they do something right then something should go wrong for them on the crossing.
It is strange to think that for once they didn’t argue with Jesus
over what Jesus told them to do.
For once they didn’t misunderstand Jesus,
Jesus said cross the lake and that’s exactly what they aimed to do.
And For once they don’t even question what Jesus has told them to do,
Jesus tells them to go,
they didn’t question him one little bit.
Now if it was me in the boat I probably would have said but Jesus how are you going to cross the lake.
But for some strange reason the disciples didn’t question Jesus,
argue with him
or even misunderstand him,
for probably the first time in their lives they did exactly what Jesus said,
they got in the boat and set sail for the other shore.
It is rather ironic that the one time that the disciples got something right that it should lead them right smack bang into the middle of a storm.
But isn’t that exactly how life is sometimes.
Sometimes we can stand right in the center of God’s will, know God’s blessing
and it can feel like your right in the center of a tornado.
Other times we can do something that we know God wants us to do and it goes terribly wrong.
Or we can go to place that we know is the right place to be and then all of a sudden it turns into a disaster area.
We, like the disciples before us may be following God’s envoy, Jesus,
but it doesn’t give us any more diplomatic immunity then the first disciples received against tragedies, disasters and things going wrong.
Just like things go wrong for us,
that night things went wrong for the disciples too.
A few hours earlier they had witnessed Jesus turn Five loaves and two fish into a meal for well over five thousand people,
and now they were on their own,
battling a strong, hard, head wind,
and getting absolutely nowhere.
What should have been a routine lake crossing for the disciples,
was turning in to a nightmare.
They had gone from what probably seemed like a triumph in their lives to a disaster,
a potential fatal disaster.
But for the disciples the storm that they were facing was the least of there worries.
At least 3 of them were hardened ex fishermen,
who had sailed these waters for a living,
they knew how quickly storms came and went
and so they knew that eventually this storm would pass also.
All they had to do was keep battling it.
That’s often how it is for us too,
when we face a crisis in our lives,
we know that if we keep battling then it will eventually pass.
For us as people of faith it’s rarely the storms of life that cause us the real difficulty,
but what comes with them.
For us and the disciples also
the real difficulties come not from the storms
but the debris that comes with the strom.
Debris that can batter our faith.
Debris that comes in the form of question.
Why did Jesus desert us and leave us to face this storm, this crisis alone.
The feeling of being deserted probably hurt the disciples more than the ache in their tired arms
and the fear they felt for their lives.
The storm was a threat,
but nowhere near as big a threat as the feeling of being alone.
Because they thought they really were alone in the storm,
Jesus was nowhere to be seen.
For the disciples it was not there own stubborn self will that brought them to the heart of this storm either,
but a direct command from Jesus himself.
That debris too must have hurt the disciples too.
Knowing that they were doing exactly the right thing,
and following the will of God.
Nor was it there complacency that brought them into this storm,
though they may well have been more prepared.
That night on the boat the disciples took a real physical hammering from the wind and the rain.
They probably reached the stage where there arms felt like they were going to drop off,
and that they couldn’t row another stroke.
But the physical battering of lifes storm is less of a worry than the hammering their faith received.
The questions they had,
the feeling of being alone,
and the knowledge that they were in the right place, would have all battered there faith that night.
For the disciples relief did eventually come,
as a shadowy figure approached them.
That same shadowy figure will bring us relief too from the storms we face
Just as our last ounce of strength is leaving us,
and just as our last drop of faith is draining from us,
a shadowy figure moves towards us.
On the horizon at first,
but drawing closer.
the shadowy figure is becoming clearer as it draws closer.
This shadowy figure walks upon the storms of life,
and doesn’t feel the strong wind or the debris from the storm.
Because the shadowy figure is Jesus.
