Pastor's Sunday Message, September 20, 2026

Michael and I
One time, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan scored 63 points in one game. After the game, a reporter interviewed one of his teammates, Scottie Pippen. The reporter asked, “What was the highlight of today’s game?” Pippen answered without hesitation, “Michael and I together got 65 points!”

5 Loaves vs. 5,000 People
We often feel that what we have is very limited, while the needs around us are so great. In today’s scripture, the disciples looked at the huge crowd and worried about their limited resources. They said, “We only have five loaves, but what good is that with this huge 5,000?” (9) Like the disciples, we often feel like what we have is 5 loaves, and the challenges we are facing are like 5,000 people. So we worry. We feel overwhelmed and say, “What good is what I have when the need is so great?” If you have ever felt that way, today’s scripture is for you. In particular, I want you to notice four simple verbs in this story: “take,” “bless,” “break,” “give” (cf. Matt 14:19; Mk 6:41; Lk 9:16; Jn 6:11).

“Take”
First, Jesus takes what we bring to him. The story of feeding the 5,000 is written in all four Gospels. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus asks his disciples, “How much bread do you have? Go and see!” (Mark 6:38) Here Jesus gently invites us to think about what we already have. His point is not simply to count the loaves. For Jesus, five loaves or seven loaves – it doesn’t matter. His point is to help us see what we are already given. Because so often, we focus on what we don’t have: “Our church is so small.” “We don’t have enough resources for missions.” “We don’t have enough children and youth.”

Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, had that mindset. He immediately started doing the math, saying, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed all these people!” (*1 denarius = a worker’s full day’s wage). Philip focused on what they didn’t have. But Andrew went looking for what they did have. And he found a boy. He found five loaves and two fish. He brought the boy and his lunch to Jesus. And Jesus took what the boy brought. Jesus takes what we bring to him – our bread, our gifts, our prayers, our strength, our weakness, our whole selves. Jesus takes who we are.

“Bless”
Jesus then blesses what we bring. He doesn’t criticize or reject our offerings. He doesn’t say, “That’s not enough.” Jesus welcomes us just as we are. God loves us not because we have done something impressive for him. God loves us because he is love. Even before we have done anything for God, God delights in us. When Israel was still in their sins, God said to them through the Prophet Zephaniah, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (3:17) Our giving does not change God; it does change us. In today’s passage Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread to feed all these people?” Jesus said this to test his faith, for he himself knew what he would do. Here Jesus was teaching Philip to trust him.

A few years ago, Dallas Willard was asked about the challenges facing the church. Dr. Willard spent much of his life addressing the problem of why the church isn’t raising up more people who look and live like Jesus. At the end of a long interview, Willard was asked this pointed question: “When you look at how off track the church is, do you ever just throw up your hands in despair?” Willard smiled and said, “Never.” “But how can you not?” the interviewer asked. “Because,” he said, “I know Christ is the head of his church and he knows what he’s doing.”[1] Jesus knows. He knows his church. He knows his people. He knows us. And he loves us. When we bring ourselves to him, we hear him say, “You are my beloved!”

“Break”
Jesus takes and blesses what we bring to him. But then Jesus breaks what we bring to him. Once we ourselves are in Jesus’ hands, we are not permitted to remain self-sufficient. We ought to be broken or pruned first before feeding the world.

About three years ago, my family and I went to Korea to visit our family. We had plans. We knew what we wanted to do. Where we wanted to go. What we wanted to eat. But God had a different plan. At that time, I had some polyps on left side of my nose. So I went for a checkup. I ended up needing surgery and daily treatments afterwards. And then Joyce was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and needed surgery as well. So for much of our time in Korea, we were going in and out of hospitals. It was a humbling experience. We had planned a family vacation. Instead, we found ourselves in the wilderness. We were pushed to our knees. We were humbled. We were pruned. We were broken open before God. But we were drawn closer to God.

“Give”
Jesus takes, Jesus blesses, Jesus breaks, and then Jesus gives. Jesus gives back what we bring to him. But it is no longer what we brought to him. Something has happened. It’s new creation, new bread that can feed thousands of people.

Do you remember how God fed the Israelites in the wilderness? God told Moses that he would give the people meat to eat. But Moses looked at the enormous need and said, “There are 600,000 men here! Even if we slaughtered all our flocks and herds, would that be enough? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?” But Moses believed in God. He believed somehow God would make a way. So by faith he went out and told the people what the Lord had said. Then what happened? God sent a strong wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp – for miles in every direction, there were quail 3 feet deep on the ground! (cf. Num 11:16-23). So they all ate and were satisfied.

It’s a mystery how Jesus fed the five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. But the Bible says, “They all ate and were satisfied” (cf. Mt 14:20). And this mystery continues. Jesus still takes, blesses, breaks, gives back to us.

Jesus and I
In this story, there is one person who could be easily overlooked. A little boy. It seems like he is from ordinary or even poor family. At that time, barley bread was very common, and it was typically for low class people. And the Greek word used for the fish the boy had was opsarion, which meant very small fish. So if this kind of fish was caught in the net, people released it back into the water. What the boy had – five barley loaves and two small fish – was not great, but it was everything he had. By faith the boy brought what he had to Jesus. He had no idea what Jesus was going to do with it. But he had faith that Jesus would do something with it. Jesus wants us to have this faith: “If I bring what I have to him, he will do something with it.”

A colleague once encouraged me to imagine what happened when that boy went home that evening. What do you think he told his parents? Do you think he simply said, “Mom and Dad, today Jesus fed the 5,000”? Probably not! I imagine him running home, excited, saying, “Mom! Dad! Today Jesus and I together fed thousands of people!!!”

A small church was built at the site of the feeding the 5000. At the altar is a beautiful mosaic of five Loaves and two fish. But if you look closely, you will see only 4 loaves. One loaf is missing. It is traditionally understood that the fifth loaf is represented by the “communion bread” on the altar. Or we might say, it represents “ourselves” – the loaf held in Jesus’ hands.

Each of us here has something to offer, something to share. This morning, Jesus says to us, “Bring them here to me.” Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives back. And all are satisfied. So what do you have? Let us bring what we have to Jesus. And then, with great joy, we can say, “Jesus and I together did feed all these people!” With Jesus all things are possible. Amen.

———–
[1] Skye Jethani, Immeasurable: Reflections on the Soul of Ministry in the Age of Church, Inc. (Moody Publishers, 2017), 49.