Who's Hungry?

Luke 9 tells the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Verse 10 begins to set the scene. "When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."

The disciples want the people to go back to their homes so that they can eat and have a place to sleep. There are thousands of people yearning to be around Jesus, but apparently there was no food or lodging where they were, but the people didn't seem to care, they wanted to Jesus. The text says Jesus "welcomed the people and spoke to them about the kingdom of God..." The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that Jesus was ushering in with his presence. The Kingdom of God that was going to push back all the darkness in the world, begin to fight against injustice and heal people with the power of the gospel. These people yearned for this good news, this Kingdom because they were full of sin, full of painful pasts, full of worry, full of pain, full of broken relationships, full of shame, full of all the things that weigh all people down. They were no different from all broken people, they were yearning to hear something different, to hear something hopeful, to hear the good news of the Kingdom.

But the disciples have decided it is time for the people to go...Jesus has done enough and he needs his rest so it is time for the people to go away now. Jesus, however, flips the disciples' demand for the people to GO GET stuff for themselves by challenging the disciples. In responding to the disciples telling the people to GO AWAY and get something to eat Jesus says to the disciples in verse 13 "You give them something to eat." Oh no Jesus didn't?! Us? What can we do? What are we supposed to do? Feed them? Isn't that your job Jesus? Perhaps these questions came to the disciples mind when Jesus fired at them the command to feed the people themselves.

This is quite an exchange between Jesus and his disciples. In fact, the feeding of the five thousand is the only event (outside of the crucifixion and resurrection) that is mentioned in ALL four gospels. In this interaction between Jesus and his disciples you see the Kingdom of God beginning, a Kingdom where God's people are commanded by God to do His work. Jesus, of course, is the one who ultimately accomplishes all things, but he has commanded us to join in him in his feeding of all peoples.

The disciples immediately object to Jesus' challenge (as we often do to Jesus' challenges) by giving him a math lesson. The text continues by stating "They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." 14(About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." 15The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. 16Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. 17They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over."

Jesus still does all the heavy lifting here, but Jesus still asks the disciples to perform certain tasks to help the distribution of the food to all the people. Jesus challenges his followers to DO, to feed others, to get in the fight and quit being so passive about things going on. It's time to WAKE UP! How can we feed people? What is God calling us to do?

First, we need to be feed by God, by His word and by His spirit. Radical service to Jesus is an overflow from love for Jesus, and to have a love for Jesus we have to know Jesus. God is ultimate source here, and all mission for God begins with an intimacy with God. However, we cannot simply grow spiritually fat by consuming and consuming, we must give and sacrifice for the Kingdom. We must feed others, we must give to others and we must be for others. As Matt Klingler said, "Consumption does not create community." Community is born from radical giving and outward living, living to FEED others and lose everything for Jesus to get Jesus!

We yearn for the day when heaven and earth look exactly alike, when the Kingdom is fully realized, but until then there is work to do. That is why Jesus tell us to pray for the Kingdom to continue to be seen by all so that the earth might become more like heaven. Jesus is always calling us to feed others, to live for others, to give everything for others, to be FOR others.

So look at those you see today with compassion and feed them with the things that actually matter, the great news of the Gospel, the glorious news that the Kingdom is both here and still to come, the great news that Jesus calls all of us to be heralds of. And "do not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9). Love is a verb. You got to do something, and you have to KEEP doing that good thing for the glory of God, trusting that God will restore, heal, transform, redeem, and save lives according to His good pleasure.

So who's hungry?

Feed 'em,
RD