SUNDAY SERMON: The Bread Business

By Stephen Baldwin 

NT: Matthew 14.13-21

Parker Palmer is a Quaker theologian and author. He tells the best loaves & fishes story I’ve ever heard. 

Palmer was on a flight from Chicago to Denver that taxied down the runway for a very long time. The plane was in a remote corner of the airport, where it sat and sat and sat…before the engine cut off. 

Then, the pilot came on the intercom and said, “I have some bad news. There is a storm front in the west, exactly where we are headed. There are no alternatives. So we’ll be staying here for a few hours. That’s the bad news. The really bad news is that we have no food on board.” 

Back in those days, airplane food was something of a fine dining experience. Folks looked forward to a good meal served with cloth napkins and fine silverware while on board. I know, it’s hard to imagine!

So, everyone on the plane moaned and groaned. A few passengers even got angry. But then, Palmer said one of the flight attendants stood up in the aisle and took the microphone. 

“We’re really sorry here, folks. We didn’t plan it this way, and we can’t do anything about it. You’re hungry and were looking forward to a nice lunch. Some of you have a medical condition and really need to eat. So I have an idea. We have a couple of empty bread baskets up here, and we’re going to pass them around. Everybody put something in the basket. I know some of you have brought a little snack along, just in case—peanut butter crackers, candy bars. Some of you have Rolaids, Life Savers, chewing gum. And if you don’t happen to have anything edible, you have a business card or a picture of your kids or a bookmark. The thing is, I hope everybody puts something in the basket. And then we’ll reverse the process. We’ll pick the baskets up at the back of the plane and pass them around again and everybody can take out what he or she needs.”

“Well,” Palmer said, “what happened next was amazing. First, the complaining and griping stopped. People started to root around in pockets and handbags and briefcases. Some stood up and retrieved luggage from the overhead racks and got out boxes of candy, a salami, Italian sausage, cheese, crackers, a bottle of wine (yes, there was a time you could fly with wine). Soon, people were laughing and talking. The flight attendant had transformed a group of anxious people focused on their need, deprivation, and scarcity into a gracious community, sharing and in the process creating an abundance of sorts.”

Once the flight was over and Palmer was leaving the plane, he found the flight attendant and said,“You know there’s a story in the Bible about what you did.” 

She said, “I know that story. That’s why I did it.”

That story of the loaves and fishes is in all four gospels. Earlier today, we read Matthew’s version. It’s exceedingly rare for a story about Jesus to be found in all four Gospels. Not his birth, not his baptism, and not his early years get that much attention. Most parables only appear once. Yet, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the story of the loaves and fishes. 

The context of the story is important. Jesus was off in a quiet place as the story begins. Why? What news had he heard which caused him to withdraw? 

His cousin, John the Baptist, had been murdered by King Herod. They’d grown up together and baptized children together. This news surely hit Jesus hard. So when the crowds find Jesus in his quiet place, unaware of the gruesome news, the disciples suggest he send them away. 

A reasonable suggestion to most people in most times, so that Jesus could mourn. But Jesus says no. Instead, he says, “You give them something to eat.” 

Don’t you wish you could see the disciple’s face when he says that? “But, we only have five loaves of bread and two fish? How do you expect us to feed 5,000 people?”

Jesus responds, “Bring the people here, and you’ll see.” Then he takes the five loaves and two fish, blesses them, and hands them to the disciples. 

Then–this is the story of the detail you and I need to hear today–the disciples feed the people. Not Jesus. The disciples did as they were instructed by Jesus and gave the crowds something to eat, until everyone was full. 

Presbyterian preacher Walter Bruggemann once said, “When you are with Jesus you are inescapably in the bread business. You need bread to share because it is the work of Jesus to feed hungry people and express compassion concretely.” 

We are in the bread business. It is a core function of the church to feed the hungry. Blessing boxes and snack packs for kids and funeral meals and supper for the poor and potlucks on Sunday. We are in the bread business! 

And in order to be in the bread business, there is one thing you need. It isn’t a building. It isn’t a big kitchen. It’s not even bread. In order to be in the bread business, you need an abiding belief in God’s abundance. 

The disciples were operating from a perspective of scarcity. “We don’t have enough food. There are too many people to feed. We only have five loaves and two fish. This will never work.” They had a scarcity mindset. It was a reasonable conclusion, but God’s abundance defies reason. 

Let me ask you: Have you ever gone hungry at a church potluck? Never! Even if not enough people brought food. Even if a large family showed up unannounced. Even if the deacons dropped the pan of chicken. Even if the kids got in the cookies during church. Somehow, there is always enough. Because we are in the bread business. 

We serve a God of abundance  The only question is: What will you put in the basket when your plane is stuck on the tarmac?  Will you share out of abundance as God has shared with you? Amen.