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You give them something to Eat

Luke 9:10-17

Key Verse: Key Verse: 9:13a “He replied, ‘You give them something to eat.’”

In previous week, Jesus sent out his Twelve disciples to preach the message of the kingdom of God and to heal with his power and authority. They obeyed Jesus absolutely, and now became the true apostles who preached the good news as their mission. Have you started preaching and sharing the good news of Jesus and the Kingdom of God? Let us pray that we also get ready to share the amazing grace and love that we have received. When the Twelve returned, each of them shared his testimony and mission report. After the testimony meeting, Jesus wanted to give his disciples some rest. So, they headed for a solitary place to have some serious rest after a hard work. However, when they sailed in a boat for a while, and finally arrived at the place, Jesus and disciples were welcomed by a large crowd, crowd of five thousand and more. Although the disciples felt disappointed, annoyed, and bothered, Jesus took this chance, and welcomed and fed the thousands of crowds by his mercy and grace.

And today, Jesus challenges us with a somewhat shocking command, asking, “You give them something to eat”. Through this command Jesus wants us to trust and obey him fully. He wants us to take responsibility for the needy people, and bring our five loaves of bread and two fish. The five loaves and two fish is whatever we have. Jesus does not ask us to make something we don’t have. So, we must pray that we can bring what we have, all we have, to Jesus. Let us pray that we could participate in Jesus’ holy mission by offering him what we have. Then Jesus will bless and preciously use each one of us for the glory of God. Amen!

I. Jesus welcomed them all (9:10-11)

After a hard work, the disciples were truly hungry and tired even though they experienced such a growth in their faith and spirit. Jesus wanted to reward them by giving them a break. Do you know when you guys make the biggest smile during the Orchestra practice? The answer is when I say, “Take five”. And one more: when I say, “We will finish here.” We all love breaks. And we need them, too. So, as verse 10b says, “[Jesus] took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida. The disciples were pumped up for a vacation. They couldn’t wait till have some quiet time with lots of food and wine. But when the disciples were busy, imagining how this vacation will be, what was happening? Look at verse 11a. It says, "...but the crowds learned about it and followed him (Jesus).” Then what did Jesus do? “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. (11b)" The crowds were so shameless. But at the same time, they were so enthusiastic to follow Jesus whenever and wherever he went.

So again, what did Jesus do? He welcomed them. He welcomed them sincerely instead of saying, “Go away.” Or “Sorry, come back tomorrow.” No, the Bible says, "Jesus welcomed them..." Jesus' heart was broad, like the ocean, ready to embrace not just one or two needy people, but a crowd of 5000 unexpected and uninvited guests. What do we learn from Jesus here? We learn that Jesus welcomes. Jesus welcomes us when we come to him through worship and prayer. He never turns his back on us. He never says, “Not today” or “I am busy”. He welcomes us with his generous arms fully stretched, always ready to embrace us as we are. And for this, we must thank Jesus. And to follow his example, we must also be ready to welcome others and even approach to the people in needs. The needs of people around us have to be our needs, and that is called real love and real shepherding. Let us look around our lives. We can easily see the people in needs, and I am not only talking about the people who need money. I am talking about the people who need friends, who need Jesus, who need relationship, and who need love and care. We can welcome and embrace them because we know how Jesus welcomed and embraced us with his everything.

So what did Jesus do after welcoming the crowd? Look at verse 11b. The Bible says, “[He] spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” Most importantly, Jesus spoke to them about the kingdom of God. Whenever he preached and whenever he opened his mouth, he spoke and talked about the kingdom of God. He emphasized the kingdom of God because he wanted the people to know that the things of the world will soon perish, and that they should not miss what is everlasting. Most people try their best and invest their lives to earn outstanding grades, build career, have nice family with beautiful wife and handsome husband, have good cars and houses, and enjoy all the entertainment and pleasure that the world offers them. We also have these hopes. But these hopes are dead hopes. Life with these hopes is dead life. We shouldn’t put our hopes in the things that will perish and fade away. Why would you invest all your life and soul, your youth, and passion to the things that will perish tomorrow? Instead we should have hope in the kingdom of God. I should recognize the spiritual world and spiritual struggles that are actively going on even in this moment. Satan urges you right now not to listen to the word of God. Satan wants you to disregard the word of God because it doesn’t do anything. The spiritual battle is going on now! And we’ve got to wake up!

We should not allow Satan to become our master. We’ve got to open our hearts and ears to hear Jesus’ words, and obey them. And not ending there, we must also speak about the kingdom of God and Jesus’ love. If you want to have check-up. If you want to know how mature you are in faith and spirit, just hear what you talk about in daily lives. Just think what you think about most of them time. And there you have it: your spiritual condition and your relationship with God. Jesus spent his whole life to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Now, we cannot hesitate anymore. We must start listening and meditating on his word a bit more seriously. I pray that JBF may become the sons and daughters of the kingdom of God. I pray that JBF may hear the word of God, and obey it. Amen.

Jesus also healed all who needed healing. Jesus helped people practically with their life problems. Jesus didn't just speak to them about God's kingdom and then say, "Bye-bye. Take care of yourself." Jesus helped people with their life problems and difficulties. Jesus is the true Doctor who can heal us from the inside out.

II. You give them Something to EAT (12-17)

Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God for hours. And nobody left. Jesus gave his all to the crowd, and it getting dark. It has been a while since the Twelve gave up on the idea of having vacation. And now it was getting and they were far away from the town, the disciples took an initiative, and gave Jesus an alarm call. Look at verse 12. "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 actually had a very reasonable and mindful suggestion. Through Jesus’ training and discipline, they grew in their compassion and care for others. But they could not have imagined what Jesus was going to say to them.

Look at Jesus’ reply in verse 13a. “[Jesus] replied, "You give them something to eat." The disciples had just said, "Send the crowd away." Jesus said, "You give them something to eat." The disciples thought that the crowd had to solve their own problem of food and lodging. Jesus did not agree. Of course the disciples had food and shelter problems of their own. And Jesus knew that very well. Then why did Jesus tell them, "You give them something to eat"? What is Jesus teaching us here?

In the first place, Jesus wants us to do something. The disciples said, "they can go." Jesus said, "you give them." Jesus wanted them to take responsibility and do something for the crowd. Jesus was including them in his great world salvation work. There are many spiritually needy and hungry people in the world. Jesus wants to feed them all and he wants us to participate. If we don’t participate who will? And when Jesus picks us up and uses us as his instrument, then there is no greater accomplishment then that. We’ve got to stand up and get ready to participate in the holy works of God.

Secondly, Jesus wants us to have a giving spirit. Jesus gave and gave and gave until he gave his life. If we do not give to others then we cannot say that we really know Jesus or follow Jesus. Paul learned from Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Ac 20:35) Naturally, we are skilled and fixated on getting something, rather than giving. What do the most babies say when they learn how speak? "Mine." Not only children, but in our society we automatically look out for ourselves and our families first, and then, if we think we have anything left over, we might consider helping others. Jesus promised in Luke 6:38, "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." Let us give more than we receive, then you will receive much more, promise.

Lastly Jesus wants us to give what we have to him. When his disciples heard Jesus saying “You give them something to eat”, they probably thought Jesus was crazy. But they didn’t freak out. What did they say? Look at verse 13b. "They answered, 'We have only five loaves of bread and two fish--unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." (Who was the person who brought a boy with his little lunch or dinner box? Andrew.) Actually, the disciples did really well to look and find something, rather than complaining about Jesus' impossible command. They found something, though it was small: only 5 loaves and 2 fish.

When it comes to serving and helping others, we ask ourselves a lot of questions, and most of them are doubtful and excusing questions. We say, “Can I really make a difference?” “I can do so little. And this is not going to do anything.” We feel like a drop of water before a forest fire. We have limits. Actually we cannot do much. But what gives us hope? That Jesus can. Jesus didn't expect his disciples to come up with 5000 bread and fish. Jesus just wanted them to give whatever they had. Then he would bless it and use it to bless everyone. Jesus wanted them to start with what they had, whatever they could find. Sometimes we think that we have nothing to give to Jesus or what we have is too small. But everyone has something to give to Jesus that he will surely bless and use. What have you been giving? And what can you give? You can give your morning to Jesus in faithful prayer and daily bread. You can give your time to read Bible and mediate on it. You can give money that you saved up to help others. You can give food to feed your brothers and sisters. You can give your time to teach and to help others. Whatever we have may be small. But when it’s given to Jesus, he makes a miracle out of small thing.

What did he do when his disciples brought 5 loaves and 2 fish? Look at verse 14-17. “(About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking 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. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” This is what happened and this is what Jesus can do with something so little. So, what do we must do? Give what we have, give what is precious, and give what might look small to Jesus. And what? Let him use and work with our five loaves and two fish, and we can surely experience small and big miracles in our lives. Did you find your five loaves and two fish yet?

The one of five loaves and two fish that we all have is our Orchestra. We sound good. We are amazing. We sound like a professional Orchestra. Really? Yes and no. Comparing to the many other Orchestras, we don’t sound so good. We perform with shaky intonation and changes of tempo everywhere. Starting from me, I don’t know a thing about conducting. And I am the conductor for the Orchestra. That is enough to explain the musical level of our Orchestra. But one thing is sure. We don’t play for money. We don’t play for the recognition. We play for the glory of God. We play with our small talent that is like the five loaves and two small fish. We put our hearts into what we do, and we do our best. And we sound awesome in God’s ears. We encourage people with heart-moving music that you cannot hear from New York Symphony. And this Orchestra is the five loaves and two small fish that God gave us. Now let us give it all to Jesus. Let us pray that our small offering may reach many souls in the ministry, schools, and even to those who are suffering in Uganda and Haiti. May God bless us abundantly, and let us see the glory of God through the work of God. Amen.

In today’s passage, Jesus challenges us saying, “You give them something to eat.” And as he said, we just have to give something from what we have to our Lord Jesus. And the rest is taken care of by Him. I hope you can more think about Jesus’ command, and take your time to discover what we can bring out to Jesus. One thing is sure. When you do bring something and offer that to Jesus, Jesus will do something amazing with it. What is your five loaves and two fish? Let’s find out, and give it to Jesus. Amen.