There are 37 miracles attributed to Jesus in the new testament. And those are just the stories that are recorded in the gospels! According to John in the 21st chapter:  “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

Remarkably, the miracle story in our gospel today is the only miracle story that appears in all four Gospels. At least according to the Gospel writers, this is one hugely important miracle.  Did I mention there are 37 miracle stories in the New Testament? And this is the ONLY one that was recorded by all 4 Gospel writers?

So just based on what we know, this is a story is really, really big.

Flash! Jesus Feeds 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 Fishes!

And that “Headline” is what we think the miracle is all about. It has been explored from every possible angle.  Sermons and commentary have been written about “The transformative quality of Jesus touch” , or “The impossible becomes possible”, or “If you think you’re wrong, then you’re right. “Little is much when God is in it.”

All of Christendom has rolled these ideas into a grand notion of how we, tiny little Trinity Lutheran Church are to be ignited and go out and multiply the loaves and fishes. That’s the miracle, now go feed the multitudes. And quite frankly this has been a huge part of Christian ministry for a couple thousand years.

Flash! Jesus Feeds 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 Fishes!

Before we move forward  let’s review the miracle basics

• Jesus withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.
• A large crowd followed him and he had compassion on them and healed their sick and taught them.
•  As evening approached the disciples went to Jesus and said “Hay there’s a lot of hungry people here. Jesus said: “OK, you feed them”
• Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups
• Jesus blessed 5 loaves and 2 fish, gave thanks and distributed to the crowd and all were satisfied.
• There were lots of leftovers (This part might very well have been added later by the Lutherans)

So I think we’re all in agreement, this miracle is… significant. Perhaps even the ultimate miracle of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

When I asked Pastor Dave if I could help pick up the slack while Erin recovers, he gave me this Gospel. And I really thought “Great! Dave’s throwin’ me a softball, a lob, I just have to wait for the pitch and swing for the fence.” Eeezy peeezy.

Then I started working on the sermon, rethinking what I thought I knew about this miracle. I realized that my understanding of the miracle was very definitely a Sunday School understanding. Not that this is bad. It’s a great place to start from. But my image of the miracle was kind of miracle by the numbers. It was a coloring page, felt figures, the simple songs that focused on the multiplying of the loaves and fishes.

After a bit of study and reflection, I started to discover that there was a whole lot more to the miracle, than multiplication.

To begin let’s ask the who, what, when, why and where questions

THE WHO

Who was in this crowd of 5-10 thousand people? Were they followers? Were they all there to hear Jesus? Nope. This was the time just before the Passover where huge numbers of Jewish peasants and day laborers were making their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast just as they did every year.  Remember, it isn’t like today where on every corner there’s a church, a gas station and a CVS. There wasn’t a temple on every corner. To practice their faith they had to make the journey to Jerusalem.

Many were there for the optics, to see something spectacular. If we want to see something amazing or spectacular today, all we have to do is turn on the news. Not so 2,000 years ago. Huge numbers of people had heard about Jesus and his miracles and they were there just to see if they could get a glimpse, witness a real miracle with their own eyes.

A healing, the blind made to see, the lame to walk, the leper healed, the demon cast out. They were there for the entertainment value.

And yes, there were followers as well. Folks who were genuinely interested in hearing this radical preacher who invited them to experience a God that loved them, cared about them. A kingdom of heaven that was here and now.

That’s the “Who”. Itinerant, illiterate, farmers, laborers, builders, craftsmen. Men, women and children. Some on their way to Jerusalem, Some, hoping to see something spectacular and some, followers of Jesus.

THE WHAT

Let’s get our arms around what a crowd of 10,000 feels like.

Imagine you show up at your doctor’s office one day for  a checkup and there’s a line.

We’re not talking about a line in the waiting room, that happens. But a line out the door – down the hall – out the building – around the block. You look across the street and the entire mall parking lot is teaming with people and they’re headed this way.  It’s freaky. Now, get a head count. Holy smoke! When you’re done there are 10,000 of them! (including women and children)

Assume for a second that you want to gather these 10,000 and feed them, how much space do you need? According to Banquet.com the space required to serve 10k people both seated and standing is 80,000 sq. ft. That’s about 16 acres. Using Google satellite view we can determine what that 16 acres looks like. It’s all the church property. It’s the parking lot. Then keep looking east, out on the grass and the baseball fields at Ventura College. All the way past the performing arts center, and all the way down to Telegraph Rd. Now imagine that every  inch of grass is covered with a crowd having a picnic. It’s like the 4th of July crowd as far as the eye can see.

At around dusk, at Jesus’ command, they gathered into small groups, they were all fed until they were satisfied. There were lots of leftovers. End of miracle.

But wait! I have a really important question here. Does it strike anyone as a little weird that nobody inside the miracle says: “Hay, did you see that? – No one in the telling of the story identifies the miracle?

10 Thousand people, all at once decided to sit down on the grass and have a picnic. They all ate their fill of bread and fish. They’re looking at baskets of leftovers, and their response, their amazement, their awe, their exuberance isn’t mentioned? I’m sorry, but if right here and now, 10,000 people gather, as far as the eye can see and get fed a spontaneous meal from 5 loaves and 2 fish – Somebody’s  gonna notice. It’s gonna be picked up on facebook, CNN, Fox and Morning Joe.

I think I have a notion of what is happening here. Jesus could have performed other miracles to satisfy the looky-loos. He could have preached his Gospel to the crowds that were there specifically to hear his teaching but he saw a chance to spread a larger net. He could redirect their attention away from the miracle they were part of.

Anyone who dined on that grassy plane would finish up and move on. It might have taken a few hours or even a few days, but he knew that eventually each and every one of them would say to themselves “Did what I think just happen… really happen?

The miracle was a simple invitation “Sit down and eat”.  This miracle wasn’t about Jesus’ magical ability to multiply the loaves and fishes, although this was a pretty good trick. This was a simple demonstration of God’s abundance.

He fed them so abundantly that there were enough leftovers to even satisfy the Lutherans. The miracle Jesus performed on that day was so simple, so pure, so divine. He fed the people. He  knew they would eventually realize what had happened. And I have to believe that as Jesus held the bread and fishes to the sky and blessed them, he smiled, he even laughed a little to himself. Because he knew that the miracle they were getting wasn’t one they were even going to notice.

Everyone there that day was expecting to see a miracle one way or another. But Jesus used his Jedi powers. “ These are not the droids you are looking for.” He took 10,000 people ( and remember what that feels like…) and placed them all squarely in the middle of a much bigger miracle they didn’t even notice.

Kinda makes you wonder doesn’t it, what other miracles might you be standing right in the middle of and not noticing?

Recently I have lost a little weight. For the past few months I have been undergoing cancer treatment. All during that time I journaled. And one of the themes that kept coming up was “What am I supposed to learn from this?” Now I know. I was standing inside a miracle. 

Since I was diagnosed a lot of you have been praying for me. And you’ve been praying really hard, I know. I felt it, I feel it. A week ago Wednesday was my last treatment and the radiology techs who had become my friends told me how amazed they were at my tolerance for the treatment. They couldn’t quite figure out how my voice seemed to have been saved from the effects of the radiation. Almost everyone who goes  through what exactly what I did, the same treatment protocol, develops vocal problems. Every week I was able to show up and sing at church. I shouldn’t have been able to. My oncology team said: “that never happens, that’s just weird.”

-Sometimes it takes months to recover. Sometimes, you never do.

It was like there were hands holding me above it.

Somebody stopped me after service last week and said: “You know you didn’t have to come to church and sing these last few months”. I responded: “That was the only thing keeping me alive”. You were the miracle I was standing inside. You kept my spirit alive on the inside while the doctors were working on the outside.

Here’s the takeaway.

At the end of each day be aware that you were very likely part of a miracle you didn’t even notice. It’s the law of simple Grace.

AMEN