Matthew 15:29-39
Stocktaking
If you have been in business of any kind, I am sure you will have had to be involved in stock taking. I am told that even with modern bar-coding sometimes a manual stock take is required. You sometimes need to know just what you have got. I can venture a fairly safe guess that one of our church members is very experienced in stock taking wool. Now I must say that I’ve been rather lucky in this regard. My stocktaking is always been rather more interesting than simply counting boxes. I have had to count cattle. I have measured stacks of timber. Very early on in my career, I had to measure the stock of gravel at a gravel pit. I had to scratch around in my memory to work out how to do it. And some of you deal with a different sort of stock taking with money.
And of course, stock taking is nothing new. Because even Jesus knew about stocktaking. It’s there right in the middle of our reading from Matthew’s gospel today. Jesus asked his disciples ‘How many loaves have you?’. Jesus asked his disciples to do some stocktaking.
The Reason
Now in many circumstances, stock taking can be thoroughly boring. But you see stock taking is necessary for all sorts of very good reasons. When I was measuring the heaps of gravel at the pit, it was necessary to measure the stocks of gravel to ensure that my client, the landowner, obtained the right royalties every year. In other cases, stock taking is necessary to ensure that you have enough of the right resources for a project, or a development, or a new initiative. So you need to know what it is you’ve got for a reason.
So what was the reason that Jesus asked his disciples to do some stock taking? Well, let’s look at what has been going on. Jesus has been out of the country. Perhaps a sort of sabbatical. Because we see in verse 21 that Jesus had gone out of the country into the area of Tyre and Sidon. And it may be that he had tried to go off into a quiet place in the country for some peace. But everywhere he went, people came to him. V30. ‘Great crowds came to him’. And on this occasion, a huge crowd of four thousand men, as well as women and children, had come to hear him speak, had come to be healed, and had come to bring people for healing. It was such a great event that people had been there for three days.
The people had been with the Jesus for three days. And having been there the three days, the picnics that they had brought with them had been well and truly exhausted. They were hungry. Indeed, they were so hungry that Jesus was concerned that people would faint if they travelled away without being fed. So there was a practical need, very clearly identified by Jesus, for food.
Although the Roman Empire ran on excellent bureaucracy, I don’t think they’d invented the health and safety executive. So Jesus identification of the need the food was not born out of a concern to avoid litigation, or to ensure that no accidents happened on his watch. It wasn’t even just because he felt that he ought to. Jesus identification of the need arose out of his compassion. This is very clearly stated in verse 32. GNB says ’I feel sorry for these people’. This is a bit weak. The Greek word here is one of my favourites - splanchnizomai - it means gut wrenching compassion. Have you ever experienced that sense of being so disturbed by something that it really hurts you just here? That’s the sense I get of the feeling the Jesus had for the people and their needs. Jesus identification of the need arose out of his compassion for the people.
The reaction
So faced with the need that Jesus had identified, what was the reaction of the people around him? What was the reaction of his disciples, his followers? Well, I think there are three reactions. Firstly, there is a sense in which they are perplexed by the statement Jesus has just made. It is almost as if they don’t really understand. There is a lack of understanding. As my daughter would say to me ‘get real’. The disciples are saying to Jesus ’it’s a nice idea, but you cannot really be serious.’
Secondly, there is the reaction that is one of disbelief. Just remember what’s been happening. Over the last three days people have been healed, the dumb were speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walked and the blind were able to see. And yet, the disciple’s reaction to Jesus identification of a need for food is one of disbelief. There is a lack of belief. It’s almost as if they have seen all these miracles and yet it hasn’t got through to them that God can deal with the practical needs of food just as well. Maybe they think that food is too ordinary for God to be concerned about.
Thirdly there is within this another reaction. And this reaction is the acknowledgement of the total inadequacy of their resources. There are no shops in the desert. The supermarket closed from lack of passing trade. So even acknowledging the need, the disciples acknowledge their total inadequacy to respond to it. There is a lack of resources. The disciples acknowledge they are total inadequate to respond to the needs.
The resources
So faced with a clearly identified need, and disciples who were either inadequate in themselves or had inadequate resources, Jesus asked a simple question. ’How many loaves have you?’
Jesus asked them to take stock. ’What have you got?’. This is a positive question, not a negative one. Jesus is not saying ‘how little have you got?’. He is simply asking what resources are already available.
Sometimes, when faced with an overwhelming need, it is easy to be overwhelmed. But there is a need to be positive. There is a need to be positive about what you do have.
The second question of Jesus is implicit. Because once you have established what you have got, once you have taken stock, the next question is ‘what are you going to do with your stock, with your resources?’. Is the stock available for use? And the implicit question of Jesus here is ’Will you give it to me?’. Will the disciples let Jesus have the resources? We don’t even know who the loaves belonged to. In the similar story where Jesus fed five thousand people, we are told that the food belonged to a little boy. I wonder how he might have felt? I’m sure the natural tendency in that situation would have been to hang on to the little food you had. But Jesus needed the food to be given to him.
The result
Because once the resources had been released to Jesus, he could use them. The result of releasing the resources to Jesus was that he was able to use them miraculously to respond to the needs of the people there. As we know, the people were fed. The bread and the fish were miraculously shared around for all to have a meal. The result of releasing the resources to Jesus was that, not only were the people just fed, but also they were ’satisfied’. v37 RSV. This is a sense of being so much more complete than simply having had enough. Yes, there was enough. In fact there was plenty left over. But it was more than that. The people were satisfied.
And to me this ties in with the earlier part of the passage. Because in the earlier part of that three-day event, Jesus had been healing people in all sorts of ways. I’m sure that he had been teaching them and speaking to them. And we learn that they were amazed by the healing that Jesus was able to bring to people. And we also learn that they glorified God, they praised the God of Israel. V 31. But Jesus didn’t only deal with their spiritual needs, he didn’t just heal them and leave them be, but he also dealt with their practical needs. He fed them. Jesus response to the needs of the people was complete. And the people were satisfied.
Application
So that’s another miracle. It is highly likely that you’ve heard that bible passage before. The question is, what difference does it make? What is the application of this piece of Scripture to me? What is the application of this piece of Scripture to you? Or to this church?
I’m fairly certain that there are many ways in which this small incident in Jesus’ ministry can speak to us. And it will not speak to all of us in the same way.
The Reason
Let us start at the beginning. Jesus was asking his disciples a question about their resources because there was a good reason for it. There was a need that Jesus had identified, and it was driven by his compassion and his care and love for the people.
I wonder what are the reasons that Jesus might be asking us about our resources today? There are needs all around us, but what are the needs today that God is presenting to us, as individuals or as a church? What are the reasons today that God might be asking us about our resources?
We have certainly been thinking recently about the need to deal with issues of world poverty. And it may be that, like the disciples that seems overwhelming to us. And on Sunday evenings recently we’ve been thinking about the situation of Hosea, and the corruption of his nation and the corruption of our nation. We’ve been thinking about the desperate needs of our nation, and the compassion of God to a corrupt society.
Or else the needs may be much more local. It may be the needs of our community, or our neighbours. They may be spiritual needs, or practical needs. But what are the needs that God is presenting to us today.
The reaction
But when God asks us about our resources to respond to the needs around us I wonder what our reaction is? Do we struggle to understand? Are we overwhelmed, and perhaps suffer from lack of belief that God can deal with these needs?
It is certainly sometimes does take time to understand. It is certainly difficult to immediately grasp God’s perspective, to immediately grasp God’s big picture of the situation. It’s not always easy to get to grips with God’s vision for a situation. But we do need to be prepared to open our hearts in our minds to it. We do need to be prepared to try to understand God’s plans for a situation. I don’t know what situations of need God is drawing to your attention today. But I can encourage you to take the time to try to understand. Take the time to seek his direction and his vision for that situation whatever it may be.
Because it is only when we do that, it is only when we begin to understand God’s vision for a situation, that we can see our place within it. And this is really very important because it is only when we see our place in God’s plan that we can truly at knowledge our own inability to deal with it on our own. It was necessary for the disciples to acknowledge their own inadequacy when faced with the needs that Jesus presented to them. And so it is for us. Because unless we acknowledge our own inadequacy to deal with the situation is that God presents to us, we try to do things on our own. And this is very much a problem for us I think. In many ways both as individuals and as a church we are well resourced. We have a healthy bank balance. We are able. We are well connected. We are confident. And so it is very easy for us to respond to needs that we see in our own strength, in our own resources.
The resources
But that is not what Jesus asks of us. He doesn’t ask us to respond to things on our own. So although he asks us to examine our resources, the question is not just to do a stock taking. The question is not only ’how many loaves have you?’. The question is not only ‘What have you got?’. For in this situation we would have to say well I have got quite a lot thank you very much. But the question is also ‘Will you give it to me?’.
So the real question about our resources is not only what stock we have, what we have got, but whether or not we are prepared to surrender our stock, our resources to God. That is much more difficult. We live in a society where people derive their value from what they have. We live in a society where people derive their security from their possessions. And by and large, Christians are the same. We have taken on these values. We want to on to our possessions and our resources. So the real question about our resources is really whether or not we are prepared to surrender them to God. Whatever our wealth, or sometimes our lack of it, are we prepared to surrender our resources to God?
I get the feeling that the seven loaves and the few fish were all that somebody had got. But they were completely given to Jesus to use.
I wonder what are the stocks, the resources of ours that God has need of now? It may be our time? For many of us that is very precious and we guard it jealously. Perhaps we guard it too jealously. It may be that God is calling us to use our homes. But sometimes, for an Englishman, his home is his castle, and not many get through the door. Perhaps God is asking us to give up that resource, to lower the drawbridge and filling the moment and let people in. Perhaps God is asking us to surrender that resource to him. What are the resources that God has need of from you now? And are you prepared to surrender them completely and unconditionally to God?
The result
These are difficult questions, but I want to encourage you to think about them. And I want you to encourage you to think about them because when we respond rightly to the questions that Jesus asks, there is a tremendous result.
Just think about those seven loaves and few fish that were given to Jesus. The chances were that the loaves were stale and the fish was a bit off after all they had been sitting in the sun for three days. They were such as small and feeble response to Jesus question. They were such a limited resource arising from Jesus question. But because of the total response, the result was tremendous. Over four thousand people were fed. Just think about that please. Now you are familiar to some degree with this story. So much so that you’re not really thinking about it. So, think how many Warburton’s bakery lorries would be needed to deliver enough bread for four thousand people. Perhaps now you can begin to put it into perspective and see just how amazing the result was. Although the resource surrendered to Jesus was, on the face of it, completely inadequate yet Jesus was able to use it miraculously and gloriously.
These were such small resources, but totally surrendered to Jesus. Our limited resources, totally surrendered to Jesus, have unlimited potential.
We’ve talked about the enormous needs of our society, of our world, of our neighbours, of our community. And yet, in God’s amazing Grace, our limited resources, when totally surrendered to him, have unlimited potential to respond to those needs.
Just remember how the people felt when Jesus had fed them. We read that the people were satisfied. It was a complete satisfaction, a wholeness.
God’s desire, in his love and compassion, is that people will be whole. God’s desire is that people will be complete, spiritually, socially, physically. God’s desire is that people will be satisfied. Gods desire is that people can be made whole.
I trust that, as God’s people, this is our desire too. Let us resolve to completely surrender our resources to God so that he can release their unlimited potential to bring wholeness, healing and glory to God.
