Luke 9

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0:00 Okay, I've been talking about, we're going to, we're looking at the stories about food in loose gospel because like it seems like in loose gospel Jesus is either coming from a meal, add a meal or going to a meal in every place that you encounter Him and thinking about what's happening with food. We're looking at all the food stories. We looked last week at this story where Jesus eats at the Pharisees house and how the woman who everyone thought of as a sinner actually received Jesus more fittingly than this kind

0:33 of church rule follower guy. And this week we want to look at the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Luke. It's in Luke chapter 9 if you want to look there with me. Luke chapter 9 starting at verse 10. I mentioned it's this story, I mentioned it to the kids. It's in all four gospels I double checked it is. I don't know how many of the stories are in all four but certainly not all of them and

1:05 enough that we could probably put them on one hand because John just kind of tells his own thing. But John has this story as well and I really think it's probably because so many people experience this miracle that it's like in the air whenever anyone asks stories about Jesus this is one of the top ones because so many people experienced it. If there's 5,000 they only refer to the men so however we know at least one kid is there because that's where the lunch came from.

1:35 So if there's families with the dude then we're talking 10 to 15,000 people and like I told the kids I don't know how many of the arena seats but somewhere around 20,000. So it's a lot of people in a kind of see that are there and probably that's why it's in every gospel but Luke's is a little bit different. There's a couple of distinctives. We're starting at Luke chapter 9 verse 10. Oh, oh on, on their return the apostles told him all that they had done and he took them

2:12 and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida which is on the north side of Galilee or the sea of sorry the north side of the sea of Galilee. And when the crowds learned it they followed him and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing and now the day began to wear away and the 12 came to and said to him, hey send the crowd away to go into the

2:46 surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions for we're here in a desolate place but he said to them you give them something to eat. And they said well we have no more than five loaves and two fish unless we are to go and buy food for all these people for there were about 5,000 men and he said to his disciples

3:18 have them sit down in groups of about 50 each and then they did so and then when they all had sat and had them all sit down and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them and then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd and they all ate and were satisfied and what was left over was picked up 12 baskets full of 12 baskets of broken pieces.

3:56 Crazy story I do think it would be interesting to imagine what it's like to be there you know there's several points of curiosity it's like the first it's like Jesus takes the five loaves and fishes and prays for him and then gives him to the 12 and it's like okay pass him out you know and I think they've gone around and had everybody sit in groups of 50 so they they have a sense of how many people are there let's see 50 there's two

4:35 per hundred the math is going to get tricky so so so there's 20 groups for every thousand is that right so then 20 times 5 is that a hundred groups of 50 just for 5,000 right I mean there's like five chairs in a circle here so there's like a hundred of us at least so they know they've been around and they can see it all settled out and now it's like

5:10 whoever's in the front is going to get some food right like if there's 12 disciples and there's five loaves and two fishes then each disciple gets maybe maybe each disciple gets a half a loaf of bread that's 10 and then one disciple takes one fish and the other disciple takes the other fish maybe right okay and then they go out to pass out the food to me

5:41 that's bonkers right and like it doesn't multiply before he gives it to them he gives them a half a loaf and says go start passing it out and so then there's several points in this story where it's crazy I mean the kid offering the food is crazy but but let's just say maybe he thought he was just going to feed Jesus and the disciples that's more reasonable but the disciples going to start breaking off a half a loaf into 10,000 20,000 people the confidence to do

6:20 that is crazy it's only because they can go well he told me to that they start doing that right they don't know how that's going to resolve they cannot in any reasonable fashion think that they're good it's going to work they just know Jesus told them to go do it and so they start doing what is clearly crazy I mean that's like a there's a whole line of thought we could go down there

6:54 but that's enough to get your brain going a little bit in that direction there's another part also that always sticks out to me and it's it's uh it's when Jesus tells the disciples you give them something to eat I love that the disciples like hey we should Jesus it's getting late and look at the number of people here this could turn on us let's tell them all to go home just to take care of them yeah they need some food

7:28 and he's like you give them something to eat and they're like you're asking us to do something that we do not have the capacity to do we we cannot do that that's their response we don't have any food what do you want us to go by who's going to pay for that right foxes have dens and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to even lay his head what are we going to do go buy food for all these people and what bring it back here we're in a desolate place they're like you're crazy and

8:02 this is one of the themes for me in Luke in this little section if you look back just before that in Luke chapter nine towards the beginning Luke has this story where Jesus has sent out the 12 right the beginning of the chapter he says and he called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal and he said to them take nothing for your journey no staff nor bag nor bread nor money and do not

8:37 have two tunics and whatever house you enter say there stay there and from there to part and amid and whoever they whenever they do not receive you when when you leave that town shake the dust from your feet as a testimony against them and they departed and went through the villages preaching the gospel and healing everyone the disciples Jesus is in this scene right here where he's just sent out the 12 and say hey you guys go together in pairs so you're not alone I'm going to give you

9:11 this authority announce that the kingdom of God is here and then heal some people right and then also if they don't like you shake the dust off your feet and take your piece back right in another place he says take your piece back so he's trying to like help these disciples build up their sense of confidence what what they can do and they do that so much that the word gets to pilot hey these

9:43 people are going around and he's like who is this guy and you'll see there if you were to keep breeding pilots like he hears about these 12 going around and casting out demons and healing people and that their disciples of this dude Jesus and and he's like who's this dude Jesus and people like we don't know some people think he's John the Baptist we know you beheaded him but maybe he's been been brought back to life and pilots like I cut the guy's head off like he's not coming back to life right like and then they're like well maybe it's Elijah or one of the prophets they say

10:17 but people don't know and so people are trying to figure out so Luke says in the way that Luke remember he went and collected stories about Jesus and then he arranges them in an order to teach us something about Jesus so we could take away a meaning and he tells this story first about the disciples who get the authority to go and announce the reign of God and have people healed and then people are wondering who Jesus is and then this story about all this food and then right after the story about the food he asked the disciples hey who are people saying that I am and

10:48 they said some say John the Baptist others say Elijah still others one of the prophets well who do you say that and will we say you are the Christ okay great he moves on right so he's trying to Luke is trying to say the disciples were starting to get it but a key point is this feeding situation key point is this feeding situation so reading about Luke a distinctive for Luke that I hadn't ever really noticed before because maybe I haven't read this story in Luke I've read it in John

11:20 a couple times and maybe Matthew but in Luke you see does the business about establishing them into groups of 50 and apparently if you were throwing a large banquet like if a king was welcoming a bunch of people in a banquet this would be a common thing you would have them sitting in groups right about 50 at big tables where you could remember we talked last week about you'd recline on the ground leaning on one elbow in a group of 50 and they could they could set a table or bowls on

11:57 the ground enough to feed that many you could get around them like this and eat and so and if you look again at the story from Luke he says that when Jesus he went away to the theta which is this desolate place on the north side of the sea of Galilee and they they follow him there he he was intending to take his disciples there after they had the field trip remember they each they so they

12:28 went out they saw that it worked then they came back to Jesus Jesus like cool let's go over here and now he's going to debrief what they experienced and when he goes out there all these people follow him because why because 12 dudes just went around used his name and healed people and cast out demons and said the reign of God is here people are like what's going on where is he they follow the 12 the 12 go and follow Jesus so they all then go follow and then when you read Luke's

12:59 gospel what he's trying to debrief with them it says he's teaching them about the kingdom of God about the reality that God is in charge and that his king is here and then this is distinctive they're all out there in the middle of the wilderness and I have noticed this in every one of the gospels it's not as though Jesus is like like the crowd is like him in what did you bring this out

13:35 here to starve it's not that they're fine it's fine it seemed fine nobody's pestering Jesus about what are we going to eat remember the Israelites in the desert are like did you bring us out here to starve and Jesus gives them or God gives them manna on the desert floor in this situation nobody's even asking in John's gospel Jesus actually brings up the meal

14:07 in this one the disciples come to them and go maybe we should send them home before they start getting hungry but it wasn't they could also just leave if they wanted I do think sometimes about this how we got 10-15 thousand people and only one kid or kid's mom thought to pack him lunch right like nobody nobody really thought about it we did talk about it at the beginning remember

14:40 food is totally different in first century Israel than it is for us right it's Mother's Day Megan's already put in her request for chicken pakata it's what she wants just about every Mother's Day and birthday she thinks I make it great I just look up a recipe I make it probably different every time it's probably just because we make it for her but I know what I'm going to need to make chicken pakata I want to have to go buy as she likes it

15:14 with like angel hair so I'll go get some pasta I'm gonna need some butter we make you make it with a little brew you know some white wine I'm gonna go get a chicken breast some chicken breast she likes it with the chicken and bread the chicken and it's a situation I got to get the lemons you know and squeeze the lemons it's why she did sit on special things it's kind of a situation but if I need to make it I just go get the stuff to make it right in first century they're not refrigerating they're not preserved I mean they're preserving a little

15:49 bit with salt but like not everyone is just like preserving meat remember like if they're gonna throw a big feast they need to account ahead of time who's all coming so that they can make sure they kill the right animal and have the right food ready and if they've got bread a lot of times the bread is really bad like hard and so like I there's one thing they would make this fish sauce where they would take the guts from the fish and let it sit in a bowl for a long period of time outside and get all gross but it would it would preserve itself then they'd stick

16:25 the bread in it and it would soak up the fish flavor and soften the bread and then they could eat this salty fish bread situation right so when like the Pharisee last week is having this feast everybody goes man because it's we're gonna get some food and so when a king throws a feast everybody goes it doesn't matter whether you agree with the king or not whether you're on the king's side or not if the king will let you sit at the table you go to his table right if the

17:02 Pharisee will let you sit there you sit at his table and then whoever's sitting closest gets the most because they're more important this is why Jesus tells the story about not sitting outside of your rank because every meal is ranked so a feast is important anybody comes who can and then when you get there you sit in the rank as close as you can because you're gonna get the most do you see Jesus goes out into a desolate place and whoever wants to come comes and when he sees

17:37 them all all thousands of them assembled he's been talking about the reign of God and how he is the king come to set up the reign of the god and he says assemble them in fifties and let's eat a banquet bring me what you got and we're gonna feed them all he doesn't dumb sort him out

18:11 he he doesn't ask who's with him and who's against him he doesn't ask if they agree with him or disagree with him he doesn't ask in this moment do you believe in what i've come for or do you not believe in what i've come for would you like to eat what i have he says then wherever you are whoever you are eat what you can until you're satisfied

18:45 it's not a very often where they can eat a meal until they're as full as they'd like to be uh how lovely is the walk back yeah

19:19 you came in a group maybe a family or some friends somebody who felt ostracized and like a sinner the rabbis forgiven him somebody who had a withered hand or a bum foot is walking and working better we all heard the promise that there is a king coming and maybe here who welcomes all to the table

19:57 and feeds them all we ate as much as we want a walk back forgiven restored and fall I would like to know what that fish is like you know like what is fish that's been miraculously multiplied to taste like

20:35 I think good I think it tastes good I think Luke puts a meal right in the middle of a story about who Jesus is because it exemplifies his true identity not John the Baptist living on locusts and honey

21:08 not the prophets like Elijah waiting for God to deliver food by the crows right not Moses going out the one of the prophets hoping to pick it up off the ground Jesus is the one from whom whose hands come all that is needed everything forgiveness healing and provision for all who are interested from his hands come

21:39 all that is needed for all who are interested certainly this morning he has enough for you whatever you need you need to belong belong you need some provision he's where it is he's where it is he's where it is

22:10 he's where it is he's where it is he's where it is he's where it is he's where it is you need some protection you need some sustenance or some mission he's got it for you and he will not it's it's free for all who are interested this morning you are forgiven and provided for because you are his

22:45 we come all who are interested and receive from him let's pray that we could do that this morning hey Lord thank you for the story of your provision your miraculous provision teaches like the disciples to learn our place to collaborate with you in the world to receive from you greatly gratefully and to give of what you've given us to give it away freely

23:19 in Jesus name we pray