Feeding the Five Thousand A Paradigm for Mission

Traditionally we have understood the mission of the church as only spiritual nourishment and we have often neglected its other dimensions. Nevertheless, is Christian mission only confined to spiritual enrichment? What was Jesus’ model of mission, and how is it relevant for us today in our missionary endeavor? Some of these fundamental questions challenge us when we talk about the mission of the church today in this world.

The feeding of the five thousand recorded in all the Gospels provides an insight into this. ‘So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But, many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things’ (Mk.6:32-34).

This story of feeding is about the compassionate Jesus and his ability to meet the spiritual as well as the physical needs of the people. Presence of Jesus in the deserted place: The words translated ‘Deserted place’ (Gk. eremos, eremia) refer to uninhabited areas. Therefore, the place to which Jesus and his disciples’ retreat is a remote and desolate place where nothing is happening. This is a place of isolation and hopelessness.

When Jesus comes here, the crowds follow him and the place is transformed from a place of isolation to a place where action takes place. Hence, it is the presence of Jesus, which makes drastic changes in the situation of hopelessness and transforms it into a lively place. Just as Jesus was present in this deserted situation, so also the duty of the church is to identify the ‘deserted’ situations of today and become the initiators of change. We live in situations where violence, hatred, inhuman acts are prevalent in an unprecedented manner. This implies that, we live in a situation of isolation and hopelessness. God has called the church to be an agent of transformation in the world.

These situations call the church to be an instrument of transformation by offering her presence. Transformation is to enable God’s vision of society to be actualized in all relationships, social, economic, and spiritual, so that God’s will may be reflected in human society and his love be experienced by all. By providing her presence the Church not only identifies herself with the issues of concern facing the people, but it also partakes and provides confidence to the people that Christ is present and is working towards addressing the concerns of the people.

Jesus was prompted by compassion: Compassion in its experiential level is the process of sharing the pains and passion of others. Here in this passage it is clear that when Jesus saw the crowd, with great compassion he started healing the sick. Jesus was able to see people as they were and this triggered compassion in him, which moved him to act. Compassion leads to restoration. A restoration, which seeks to redeem people from their situation of hopelessness and restore them to a dignified life.

As Jesus was moved with compassion seeing the realities around him, the situations around us should generate compassion within us. Compassion should lead the church to action, so that people are given encouragement and hope. In the story of feeding the five thousand, it is clear that Jesus did not differentiate between people. The church of today is called to have compassion towards people without any form of discrimination. Jesus’ mission was holistic: Jesus not only teaches and heals people, but he also responds to the physical need of people. The disciples wanted to dismiss the crowd and avoid the problem of feeding such a large crowd. Jesus is conscious of the physical needs of the helpless people in the deserted place.

He does not leave them to fend for themselves, but takes up the task of addressing their need. Through the miracle, Jesus feeds the people and satisfies their hunger. Here, Jesus acts according to the need of the situation- a situation, which not only demanded the spiritual dimension of human life but also the physical aspect of human need. Jesus’ approach towards addressing the specific concerns of people, engages both the spiritual as well as physical aspects, whereby a holistic solution is sought.

Thus, Mission as reflected in the ministry of Jesus, is holistic. In our context, the church needs to strike a balance between the spiritual and physical needs of people. The mission of the church can be a transforming mission if it has a holistic approach towards the various challenges that it faces. The Feeding of the Five thousand presents us with a mission paradigm that is worth emulating. This paradigm demands the church to be present in the crisis situations of the people. Seeing the crisis situation of the people, the church should be moved with love and compassion towards them. This in turn, should lead the church to a holistic and transforming mission of providing encouragement, hope and act fearlessly to address the specific concerns of people. Then only the mission of the church becomes meaningful in the lives of people and the Church becomes what it is called to be!