"You give them something to eat."

 Matthew 14:13-21

14:13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14:14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
14:15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
14:16 Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
14:17 They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish."
14:18 And he said, "Bring them here to me."
14:19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
14:20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.  14:21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus was grieving the death of John and wanted to be alone.

The crowd would not allow that.  They dogged Jesus with their needs, which were substantial.  Perhaps the text means that they just wanted to be near Jesus or even that they wanted to be supportive of Him, or even that they were shocked and grieving and needed Jesus to help them process this tragic loss.

Jesus had compassion for them and cured them, which may indicate that the first mentioned reason was the logical choice.  The needs never stop.  People were sick of being occupied and oppressed, of not having enough on which to live and be healthy.  They were sick of the violence and bigotry, the entitlement of others over them and that they had no agency of their own as they once had to thrive in the world.  They were sick of living under empire, and Jesus cured them of the manifestations of what this kind of stressful marginalization, disenfranchisement, exploitation, abuse and deprivation can do to people.

So, when the disciples would send them away to fend for themselves as empire would do, Jesus could not allow it.  Empire is an "every person for him/her/their self" ideology.  It is about taking care of number one, even at the expense of others.  Empire is about taking more than you will ever need in order to find your security, even as you watch others go without what they need because you have taken so much.  Empire does not live on trust in God to provide enough and it does not value everyone having enough.  The Kingdom values everyone in community having enough.  They did not have the means by which to take care of themselves or they would have done so.  No.  Jesus brought in Kingdom values, and taking care of needs is huge in the Kingdom of God, so He COMMANDED THEM, "You give them something to eat."  Even after their protestations, Jesus commanded them to go about serving God's children.  Even though they did not have the means by which to do this ministry, Jesus commanded them to live Agape Love and to the committed action of sharing what little one has for another in need.  And they all ate, and they were filled, and there were more leftovers than what they started with from the disciples.

Perhaps the miracle is in the blessing, breaking and multiplying of the food.

Perhaps the miracle is in the sharing of what they had and the contagious sharing of those in the crowd, truly exhibiting the Kingdom values that Jesus embodied.

Perhaps the miracle was in finding their agency in gathering an army of 5,000 men in a day, more than the cohort of Roman soldiers who ran roughshod over God's children in that region at the time.  Perhaps it was in the power of the Kingdom to de-weaponize food in the face of the Romans who took all that they wanted and left people with little of what they needed in order to live.

Perhaps the miracle that is conveyed in this Gospel is in all of it.

But it started with Jesus' command, continued with the obedience of those who claimed to be followers of Jesus, and ended in all of the people having Shalom on that day.  Imagine that.

When stockholders refuse to take less profit for the sake of workers who are in need, they are not heeding Jesus' command.

When CEO's are taking exorbitant raises for themselves as workers go without a living wage and/or health benefits, they are living Empire and not Kingdom values.

When politicians write laws that hurt the most vulnerable to the benefit of the already wealthy, they are not heeding Jesus' command.

When nations value their predatory economic system more than their citizens' well-being and need for healthcare, affordable housing, equal education and opportunities, living wages and security, they are empire.

When these folk are sitting in pews on Sundays, soaking in the sanctuary air and planting their asses on the pews or padded theater seats, they are the goats or wolves pretending to be the sheep.

And when churches justify the systems that create poverty for many while benefitting the few, and then refuse to use their resources to help those in need, they are giving their devotion to a god, but it is not Jesus.  

Everything that the Jesus of the Gospels taught, commanded and modeled in the living of Agape Love was counter to empire.  Jesus did not allow His followers to exhibit Empire values but commanded them to live that Agape Love in committed action on behalf of others, even strangers and enemies, and especially for the most vulnerable who are victimized by empire.  Jesus still commands us to choose the values of the Kingdom and not of empire in how we live in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.

In order to be faithful to God as followers of Jesus, we must live Agape Love.  It is all about Agape Love.  To quote the famous Rabbi Hillel the Elder, of whom Jesus (and the Gospel writers were) was certainly aware, "all else is commentary."

Until the transformative teaching of Agape Love that we share by word and example changes the hearts and minds of the people in this nation, so that the systems of this nation are finally just, equitable and thus faithful to God, we must bridge the gaps of need created by empire which are all around us, out of compassion and in Agape Love.  It is Jesus' command to any of us who would follow Him.