The Kingdom Comes

Proper 13A-26

Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago

Jesus said, “you give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16). The disciples were willing to disrupt their families and uproot their lives to follow Jesus—but you can almost see their jaws drop when he told them it was their turn to make dinner.

My study bible calls this ‘The Feeding of the 5,000.” It could also be called “The Feeding of Many More Than 5000” if you include the women and children. Other authorities call this the “Multiplying of the Loaves.” Yet, I think these names point us toward the wrong miracle. I’d call this story the “Miracle of Opening Hearts Held Captive by Scarcity to the Reality of Abundance.”

Jesus’ impromptu repast on the grass in the hills beside the sea shows us how to become human again. Jesus showed them how to pass beyond the hidden gates of the kingdom of God that is always in, with, under every time and place.  People who were cogs in the machine, mere consumers and human resources for their overlords, alienated from themselves and each other, divided into warring camps and manipulated by fear—miraculously found themselves inside the mutual indwelling presence of God on a grassy hill beside the sea of Galilee.

All four gospels tell this story, but only Matthew places it immediately following the death of John the Baptist. If you read Matthew straight through — and not skip around as the lectionary does, you immediately notice that Jesus has just received news that John the Baptist—his forerunner, his baptizer, and likely also his teacher—was brutally beheaded by Herod Antipas. That’s when Jesus decides to hop in a boat intending to sail to a deserted area alone (14:1–12). “Jesus wasn’t only tired or overworked. He was grieving, most likely in shock, and certainly conflicted about what might happen next to both him and his followers.” (Diana Butler Bass, “Compassion is the Miracle,” Sunday Musings, 8/01/26)

Matthew draws a sobering contrast between the picnic meal hosted by Jesus in the wilderness, and the extravagant party King Herod threw himself for his birthday and the 1-percenters of Palestine in his fancy castle.  Whereas Herod was afraid of his own guests (v. 5) and of what they might think of him (v.9), Jesus has compassion and cares for the crowd (v. 14), despite his desire to be alone (13a).  Herod is tricked into putting John to death (v. 10).  Whereas Jesus provides life by curing the sick (v. 14) and feeding the hungry (v. 19). Wealthy King Herod took a life. Jesus restored lives. The compassion of the one meal stands in sharp contrast to the mean-spiritedness of the other (Walter Bruggeman).

The siren song of worldly power would make us crave the opulence and exclusivity offered by Herod, while Jesus invites us to take our seat at the table as children of God. One host creates anxiety; the other offers tranquility.  One operates upon the logic of fear; the other is animated by grace. One creates winners and losers; the other creates a humble community of joy as like those who receive a great gift.

The first Christians plainly linked this story with their experience of the Eucharist.  The “Miracle of Opening Hearts Held Captive by Scarcity to the Reality of Abundance” is a story about the kind of community God intends for us. The kingdom comes when diverse people from all walks of life become part of a single family and are fed at the same table. Here is a foretaste of the feast to come when people of every nation are united in faith and love toward God.  Here is the bread of life, in Christ Jesus, like manna from heaven. Here is the forever promise of God to bring abundance out of scarcity. Here is the blessing and invitation to offer to others what we have been given –our compassion, our energy, our vision—as well as our food and material resources. Jesus’ presence brings into stark relief the clash between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdoms of the earth.

Jesus set out by boat to be alone, but his plan fails. The crowds pursue him. Some even gather at his destination before he can come ashore. No doubt, they have heard about the execution, too. They knew that John was dead; they surely understood that Jesus was distraught. Perhaps, they weren’t simply miracle groupies or Palestinian paparazzi chasing a new spiritual celebrity. Might the crowds be responding to Jesus’ loss with sympathy and empathy?

This sheds new light on the miracle. What is the miracle here? This is a miracle of human compassion. The crowds responded to Jesus’ loss with sympathy and empathy. And what did a mournful, worried, exhausted Jesus do?  Jesus had compassion. Compassion” means to “suffer with.” The Greek verb in 14:14 is splagchnizomai. We’ve heard this word once already seven weeks ago on June 14th, when we read Matthew 9:36: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” splagchnizomai is an onomatopoeia. It sounds like what it means. Compassion seizes his guts. Jesus commissions the Twelve to make dinner. “In other words, whenever Jesus feels compassion for those who are disadvantaged and in harm’s way, he calls the church into action.” (Matt Skinner, “Commentary on Matthew 14:13-21, Working Preacher, 8/2/26)

Even today, no one goes on a hike into the wilderness without food and water. How then could people who lived in the region fail to know this? Isn’t it improbable that the multitude following Jesus into a “desert place” would not have food? And wouldn’t both Jesus and the disciples have had a pretty good idea that there was food out there in satchels and purses? (Skinner)

So why does the narrative initially proceed under the assumption that food is not available? Scholars offer two reasons. The first is the religious idea of keeping kosher not only applied to food, separating clean from unclean, but more importantly to who you eat the food with. Eating with unclean people makes you unclean. So, one didn’t typically eat with strangers in proximity. The second reason is the prevalence of scarcity-thinking that has plagued humanity ever since the serpent convinced Eve and Adam that God was holding out on them. They keep their own food stashed away to avoid conflict with people over not having enough. (Skinner)

Jesus has a different idea. He knows a thing or two about God’s delight in providing sustenance—food given “without price,” as Isaiah 55:1 puts it. He also knows about enlisting others in the toil and joy of offering food to people who are hungry. The meal upon the hillside wasn’t going to descend from the heavens; it was going to be passed around by human hands. The hearts of the folks there that day miraculously opened to abundance and solidarity. God’s kingdom came. It descended upon them that day as God’s will was done on earth as in heaven.

This is the miracle. This is the miracle that is always within our grasp. It is the “…miracle of being human together, of taking the journey from hopelessness, brokenness, and suffering to kindness, restoration, and liberation.” (Diana Butler Bass, “Compassion is the Miracle,” Sunday Musings, 8/01/26) Miracles need not be rare. Miracles do not require magic or the suspension of the laws of science. But there will always be miracles when we extend our hearts and hands with God to help make them happen. Because true compassion is a miracle.

Compassion is motivated by God’s love which is never merely about “the poor” or “injustice,” or about “society” but is always about the people standing right in front of us. The American poet Christian Wiman has said, “If nature abhors a vacuum, Christ abhors a vagueness. If God is love, Christ is love for this one person, this one place, this one time-bound and time ravaged self.”  Reluctant, disbelieving and under protest, the disciples offered the crowd the not-enough that was theirs, and it was enough, in fact, it was more than enough.

Jesus’ messianic powers include and involve our poor efforts.  God’s work is done through our hands. “You give them something to eat.” It is the disciple’s own food that Jesus uses to do a miracle. Out of scarcity God produces an abundance. Out of fear, life in Christ makes for peace.  As the Prophet Isaiah foretold, on that day we shall dwell together in the shelter of the Lord, we “…shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12). See! Jesus prepares a great banquet for us today.  Come, eat, be filled, and live.