Loaves and Fishes, Fishes and Loaves
A Sermon by the Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams on the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Year B), July 25, 2021.
John 6:1-21
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people ?” John 6: 1-21.
There is only one miracle story told in all four Gospels, and that is our story today. And two of the Gospels tell it not just once, but twice. That’s a major tip-off that it was very important to the early Christians. They would tell it and retell it when people gathered in Jesus’ name to break bread and remember all that he said and all that he did and that he was still with them.
There is a beautiful Byzantine Church on the site where this event was believed to have taken place. It is called the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, but most people refer to it simply as the Church of the Multiplication. It was originally built on a major road, an important ancient trade route linking Egypt to Syria, along the coastline of the Mediterranean, a road called the Via Maris, the Way of the Sea. The Church of the Multiplication was built in the 4th and 5th centuries, and destroyed in the 7th century, but then in the 19th century, the foundation was rediscovered during an archeological dig and a temporary structure was built on the site. And finally, in 1982, the current church was built in the original Byzantine style on that same 4th century foundation. If you go home and google it, you’ll notice that the Chancel, the area where the Altar is, has a very similar look and feel to ours. It’s very open and accessible. (old and yet surprisingly new) The Altar in the Church of the Multiplication sits over what tradition holds is the rock that Jesus laid the fish and loaves on in today’s Gospel. The Altar being placed over the rock makes an explicit connection between the Eucharist and the story of the multiplication. And right in front of the Altar, there is a mosaic in the floor that shows two fish on either side of a basket of bread. It is the oldest known Christian mosaic in the Holy Land. How cool is that? I totally want to go there one day. It would be an incredible experience to attend a Eucharist there, to in the very same spot where all those hungry people in today’s Gospel gathered on the grass when Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread and shared it with them.
So why did the early Christians tell this story over and over and over again and why did later Christians build churches and create beautiful artwork depicting it? I believe that it is because they knew that it contains the essence of the Good News of Jesus, the very heart of Christian faith. And that heart is abundance. It is all about abundance. Jesus said, “I came to give you life and give it abundantly.” Everything he said and everything he did was meant to teach us to look for God’s work everywhere, to see that there is always more going on than meets the eye. Jesus came to fill us to the brim with the life that only he can give. He came to help us see the possibilities that every day offers to find everlasting life in the here and now. Endless possibilities for being in this world and yet realizing that our imaginations are not limited by this world. There is always more if we have eyes to see.
As our story opens today, Jesus has just finished having one of his infamous dust-ups with the religious authorities, prompted this time, by his healing of a man on the Sabbath. He travels to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, to regroup after the confrontation, but people follow him. People were always following him. Regular, everyday people loved Jesus and they didn’t really worry about whether he was following the religious rules or not. They just saw that he was helping people and giving them a new understanding of God all at the same time. When they listened to Jesus teach, they knew that something opened up inside of them. They were more connected to God and to other people, and they were more in touch with themselves.
People follow him because they want more of what he has to offer them. They are hungry and he feeds them in more ways than one. Philip looks at the huge crowd and says there is absolutely no way to feed all these people. No way. Andrew sees a little boy with his lunch but knows it’s not enough to go around. An impossible situation. But Jesus takes those meager resources and does more with them than they could ever have imagined and transforms their understanding of how God works in the process. He takes this little boy’s lunch of dried fish and barley loaves, the ordinary brown bag lunch of poor people, the PB &J of Jesus’ time. He takes it, gives thanks, and shares it. And everyone there has as much as they want. They are satisfied, both physically and spiritually. There was even more than they needed. The disciples gathered up the fragments so that nothing was lost. This is a lesson that we have to learn and relearn every day as we follow Jesus. Jesus gathers everything up, our triumphs, our failures and heartbreaks, everything. And nothing is ever lost. Nothing. Why? So that we may be filled to overflowing with the fullness of God, rather than the fullness of ourselves. Abundance, abundance, abundance.
Think about that as we pour the water in the font in a few minutes. Look at the water flowing down and think on these things. We are baptized into abundance. We are no longer limited by confines of this world. We are baptized into generosity, into a new way of being. When we baptize one baby at the 8:00 service and two at the 10:30 service, we will welcome them into the abundant life that we share with Christ and with each other. A life of joy and wonder in all God’s works. A life where God gathers up the fragments. Where nothing is lost. Where God takes what little we have and does so much more with them than we could have ever have dreamed of.
And we have to be reminded over and over and over again. That is why the early Church told this story so often. That is why we need to come to church every Sunday. That is why Byzantine Christians created mosaics of fishes and loaves. The mosaic in front of the Altar at the Church of the Multiplication served as a reminder, every time people came to receive communion, that it’s all above the fishes and the loaves. A good mantra for the week ahead, when we are tempted to think that we are not enough, or other people are not enough, or what we have is not enough is “loaves and fishes, loaves and fishes”.
God is in the business of multiplication, not division. When Jesus takes our lives and blesses them, the blessings grow and grow and grow. Our lives become more than they were, God’s abundance lives in us so that we can share that abundance with others. Our life becomes one of those barley loaves that feeds others. Our life becomes the bread that is shared. As we seek peace, as we work for justice, as we practice compassion, as we love people who are difficult to love.
We need that reminder, just as every generation has needed it. We especially need it during times of uncertainty and anxiety, and we are certainly living in such a time. It is so tempting to go inside of ourselves when things get stressful, or to get really angry, to focus on what we don’t have rather than what we do. What we do have is life in all its fullness, and we have that life no matter what. What a blessing to be able to baptize these children into that way of being today. Their baptisms remind us that we are all children of abundance. God takes our lives and blesses them. We are the people of the fishes and loaves, loaves and fishes, the people of the eternal more.
“Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted” John 6:11.