The Feeding of the 5000 - All Age Sermon

Matthew 14.13-21 The Feeding of a Large Crowd

READY STEADY COOK

• Who has seen this British TV programme?

• I need some children to demonstrate how it works (…)

• What a challenge - to make a great meal in a short time from a few cheap ingredients. Today’s Bible story is about an even bigger challenge!

I WANT TO BE ALONE

• Who said those words? (Greta Garbo)

• Different reasons for wanting to be alone (some good, some selfish … examples?)

• Jesus had a good reason to want solitude. Does anyone know what it was? (see Mat 14.1-12). But as he and the disciples sailed to a quiet place, a big crowd (attracted by Jesus’s teaching and healings) followed on foot.

• This makes what happened next all the more remarkable. How would YOU react if you really needed some time on your own and suddenly a great crowd of people arrive - needy people who you could help?

• Jesus responded with compassion (a very strong emotion). In Mark’s version of the story (and earlier in Matthew 9.36) it says he had compassion because he could see that the crowd were like sheep without a shepherd.

• So he healed the illnesses of all the sick people in the crowd.

IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?

• This took a long time and the disciples (v15) urged Jesus to send the crowd away to buy themselves some food in the villages (maybe the disciples were worried about having to share their food, maybe they wanted some time alone with Jesus, maybe they were looking out for him – he must be exhausted and needed to rest and grieve).

• Jesus replied “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” The disciples reply “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish” (John’s gospel says they got this food from a boy in the crowd).

• And Jesus said “IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?!?”

• Actually he didn’t – I just read that on somebody’s teeshirt the other day (its a quote from the famous boxer, Muhammad Ali).

• Jesus in fact went on to teach the disciples an important lesson, at the same time making sure nobody went home hungry.

JESUS SEES THINGS DIFFERENTLY

I’m going to ask the children to hand out some cards with Bible verses written on them. These verses will help understand what happens next.

• When Jesus looks at the tiny amount of food and the big, hungry crowd, he sees things differently from the disciples – Why do you think this is ..?

• He’s God (see John 1.1, Colossians 1.15, Hebrews 1.3) !

• He’s got history. What Old Testament story can you remember where hungry people are fed by God in the desert? That’s right, Exodus 16, Moses, manna etc. A story you might not know, in 2 Kings 4.42-44 is also very interesting – let’s hear that now…

• He knows how the story will end – not just this little story, but the whole big story of the history of everybody and everything. Let’s look at a few Bible verses about that now …

DISCIPLES NEED TO LEARN

• … to see things Jesus’ way.

• … not just by understanding and believing something, but by doing something!



LET’S ACT OUT THE REST OF THE STORY

1. Jesus asks the disciples to give him all the food they have got (this doesn’t take long!)

2. Jesus tells the people to sit down on the grass, ready to be fed (the disciples are thinking he’s going to look really bad when there isn’t enough food).

3. Jesus looks up to heaven, gives thanks to God, breaks the bread (do you think he broke the fish as well? Mark’s gospel says he did. Matthew left that bit out – maybe it got a bit messy!) What do these actions remind you of..?

4. Jesus gives the broken food back to the disciples to feed everybody with (do you think they are nervous?)

5. The disciples feed the crowd until everybody is full.

6. Then comes the biggest surprise for the disciples, when they collect the leftovers and find … they have more than they had to begin with – in fact 12 baskets full (one for each disciple or representing an infinite supply).


CONCLUSIONS

• Let’s try to pull together what this story means for us as followers of Jesus today. Let me start with a question. What do you think when you look at the physical needs (eg…) and the spiritual needs (eg…) of all the people in the world around you – and consider your own resources?

• Do you have just enough for you and your family, or too much or too little? Does it seem that there is just not enough to go round – whether we’re talking about food, water and medicines, or about peace, safety, hope and love? Maybe there isn’t enough and it is only possible for some people to be happy and secure and healthy, well fed and hopeful…

• JESUS DISAGREES. He challenges us to see things differently, to believe differently and to behave differently – putting our faith in him into action.

• Jesus challenges us, not necessarily to sell all we have and give it to the poor, but to give him control of all we have.

• Jesus calls us to follow him by stepping out in faith and meeting all the physical and spiritual needs we can see. And if you’ve got TV or Internet, that’s a LOT of needs.

• So how far can it go? How many people can receive the food and drink they need, the healing, the forgiveness, peace and safety they crave, the salvation from sin and death and evil they need?

• Think back to the crowd in our Bible story. Who can remember how many people were fed (don’t forget the women and children … so maybe 10-15,000?) That was a vast crowd from a huge area, at a time when the population was much smaller than now. For instance Nazareth had about 500 people then.

• NOBODY left that day without being healed and nourished physically and spiritually. And what about the leftovers. What do they tell us?

• Think back also to those Bible verses about how the story is going to end.

• One lesson from the story is that a little can go a long way (a little food, kindness, compassion)… especially when we hand it over to Jesus. And surely there will be enough for everyone.