Pentecost 8 Year B

John 6:1-21

Someone once said, well, probably many someones, that you can find anything in the Bible. Well, this morning we have one such example. Here, in today’s gospel reading, we have an example of one of the first church potlucks. Yes! Potlucks are Biblical!

Now, some of you may think that I am being a bit sacrilegious here. Why would I describe the feeding of the 5000 as something as mundane as a potluck? This is supposed to be one of Jesus’ big miracles! Over 5000 people fed with only five loaves and two fish! For Jesus to have made this happen is incredible!

And truthfully, on that last point, you would be correct. For Jesus to have fed 5000 with just five loaves and two fish would be incredible. In fact, I had a comment from a colleague who asked how to teach about the gospel reading without making Jesus seem like a magician. If we get caught up in the whole “miracle” thing, all we get is Jesus as a magician. But if we can expand our understanding, we can move beyond Jesus just being a magician and meet the Jesus who is the man who can change our lives and the world.

Looking at a humble potluck can really help us to see what a miracle the feeding of the 5000 really was. Making food appear is a magic trick, or maybe something from Santa Clause. Feeding five thousand people really incredible.

Potlucks bring out the best in us. We bring what we can. We make the best that we know. Each person brings what they can, and takes what they need. OH NO! Potlucks are communistic! But really, isn’t that what a potluck is? Those who may have a bit more bring a bit more. Those who do not have as much bring less. But in the end, everyone leaves the potluck full. It does not matter that some may have contributed more to the feast than others, what is important is that each contributed what they could and that all people shared.

Using the image of the potluck may not seem appropriate for the gospel reading, though. In the gospel reading, all we have is one person giving up his lunch. We are only told that boy gave up his food, not that everyone shared. This sounds more like a banquet than a potluck. In a banquet, one person provides the food and everyone else eats. If the boy is the only one providing the food, then it is a banquet. And since we know that five loaves and tow fish cannot possibly feed that many people, to have a banquet, we would have to make Jesus into a magician. But if we really think about the Biblical times, what happened is probably closer to a potluck.

During Biblical times, there weren’t a bunch of restaurants and stores around. Now, that may seem obvious, but we need to think of how that would change life. People who were traveling would not just be able to stop of at McDonalds or Speedway to get something to eat. If someone was traveling and got hungry, that person would either need to find something, kill something, or have brought something along. Getting caught out in the wilderness without food could be a deadly mistake. So I think we could be fairly safe in assuming that the boy with the fish was not the only one without food. Probably there were many people who had brought food with them.

But also, we need to think about this situation from the point of view of a person in the crowd. If I have some food and I look around and see thousands of hungry people, I am not going to be very likely to get out my food. If I pull out a sandwich or something, I may get mobbed by people trying to grab if from me. So, in fear of losing what little I have, I am going to keep the food that I have hidden way.

So this is the problem that is before Jesus: Lots of hungry people, and a lot of food being kept hidden away. But no one wants to share for fear of getting stampeded by the crowd. How is a Savior supposed to get the people to share?

Jesus gets the people to sit down! (I know you were all saying, “Well of course!”) Actually, this is a very good idea on many levels. Sitting helps to keep peoples’ anxieties in check and also, when people are sitting, they can’t stampede! But also, if people are sitting in groups, they are probably sitting in small circles and can see each other. It is so much harder to deny someone when that person is sitting there right next to you. It is difficult to eat something when there is someone starving looking on. It is also easier to share when you have an example to follow. And it is easier to share when you feel that what you are sharing will have some effect. Giving even a large amount of food to over 5000 people will not make much of a difference, but giving some of my food to the person sitting next to me will help that person.

When we look at the situation in this way, the gospel reading is much more about a potluck than a banquet. The people brought what they could and they shared it with the people around them. No one there was expected to feed all of the people. Each person was just asked to do what they could. And when those who could help, did, in fact help, suddenly all the people were fed with so much left over.

The gathering of the scraps at the end of the story may seem like a bit of showboating, but it is very important. What this shows to all of us is the incredible blessedness that we have been given as a people. Separately, we may not feel like we have much of anything, but when we are brought together and we give of what we have, and we trust and follow the lead of our Savior, we find that we have more than we could imagine! When we are willing to share, we can do so much more than we could ever do alone. The potluck is such a wonderful lesson for us. No matter what, there always seems to be something for everyone.

As a child, I went to a very large church, so the church potluck was not something that I really experienced until I was in college. And I still remember my reaction to all of the food. I was a camp counselor and there was a church having a potluck at the camp. The church invited the whole camp staff to their picnic and to share their food. We didn’t have anything to bring, but we were welcomed anyway. What amazed me is that we all ate and there was still enough food for a small third-world nation. Just having everyone bring a bit made a feast possible!

I think this is something that we need to remember, the miracle was not that Jesus did something magical and made all the food multiply; the miracle was that the people came to realize that they were if fact highly blessed and chose to share that blessing with those who were around them. The miracle was that the people followed Christ’s example of generosity and generously shared what they had with the people they encountered.

How are we being called to share? How has Christ gifted us? How is Christ calling us to share these gifts with others? We are not being called to change the world, but we are being called to change our little corner of the world. We have been called and we have been blessed. Now we are to go out and be a blessing to those whom we may encounter.