Lance Armstrong. Going for his eighth Tour de France. His heart is nearly one-third larger than that of the average man. At resting, it beats an average of 32 times per minute, during peak performance, 200. He burns up about 6,500 calories every day for three weeks while in the race. One of the stages of the race is 120 miles long-that day he will burn 10,000 calories. You and I burn 3,500 and that’s on a good day. His lungs can take in twice the oxygen. His body fat level is 4 percent. Yours is 16. He has a weird femur bone. It’s longer than the average man’s. That gives him more torque when peddling his bicycle for 2000 miles through French mountains. This year he is older than most of the other competitors, yet it is as if he was built to ride.

Looking at this man it is unbelievable that cancer struck him in September 1996. He went through brain surgery and later chemotherapy so aggressive that it destroyed some of his muscle structure, burned parts of skin, and gave him permanent kidney damage. And yet the best bicyclists in the world have chased him for years. He is the pacesetter. He is the measure by which all others gauge their success. He is the unique one. All others are taught by his example.

Philip stood looking out at the masses that were now approaching. I’m not sure what was on his mind, perhaps thrilled by the success they were having. Jesus, watching over Philip’s shoulder, asks, “Philip, where shall we find bread for these people to eat?” Philips gives a realistic appraisal of the situation: Eight months wages would not be enough to feed everyone so much as a little nibble. But we are let in on a little secret. Jesus is testing and I think teasing Philip a bit here. Jesus already knows he will feed them by multiplying five small barley loaves and two small fish.

Jesus is ahead of Philip. He is the pacesetter. He is out in front of them all, minutes ahead sizing up the situation providing the solutions before we even know what the problems are. He is the unique one, the measure by which all others gauge their lives.

The feeding of the five thousand is a miracle on a grand scale but if we concentrate too hard on the miracle we will miss the message in the background.

I

What are we to learn from a small meal? That’s the first thing to discover from this text. The young boy that Andrew pointed out had five loaves of bread and two small fish. These are the facts. It is a small meal. Not much is to be done with such a limited amount when there are so many. Of course we are to remember that present before Jesus that day was 5000 men. Many of them had their families with them. Perhaps as many as 15,000 could have been present and the day was quickly ending. There was neither the money, time, nor organization in place to handle so many. These are the facts. Philip saw this clearly, “We don’t have the money to do this,” he said. Andrew saw it clearly also, “This boy has a small meal but how far will that go among so many?” You cannot blame them for their outlook. They were skeptical. Skeptics think like that. Nothing ever changes.

I like what Charles Swindoll points out about facts: TAKE GRAVITY. Heavy objects fall toward the earth. Always. So a builder can construct a house and never worry about his materials floating away. Count on it. TAKE CHEMISTRY. Mixing certain elements in precise proportions yields the same result. Always. So a doctor can prescribe a medication with predictable confidence. TAKE ASTRONOMY. The sun, the moon, those stars work in perfect harmony. Always. Even the mysterious eclipse comes as no surprise. TAKE ANATOMY. Whether it's the pupil of the eye expanding and contracting in response to light or our skin regulating our body temperature or our built-in defense mechanism fighting disease, we operate strictly on the basis of facts. Hard, immutable, stubborn facts. Reliable as the sunset. Real as a toothache. Absolute, unbending, undeniable.

"Jesus, what do you mean, give them something to eat? We have only five small loaves of bread and two fish. Those are the facts. Five and two. No more, no less. Send the five thousand people home; we can't take care of them today."

Andrew, like all of us, is subject to the laws and facts that govern the world but God is not. I do not mean to say that any time we want we can call upon God and he will override natural law but what I suggest to you today is that where Jesus is present no fact, no mater how incontrovertible, will keep God from accomplishing his plans.

II

And that’s the second question: What are we to learn from this big miracle? It is simply this: God can turn a small fact into a big miracle. I can hear the doctor’s prognoses: Lance you have cancer. You will need brain surgery and later chemotherapy. This treatment is very aggressive. You will not be riding your bike anymore.

Philip, what are we going to do with all these people? How shall we feed them? Jesus, said Philip, not even eight months wages would begin to feed this many. Have you ever noticed that Jesus trumped Philip? In essence Jesus is saying, I’ll go you one better. We are not going to do it with eight months wages we are going to do it with a meal fit for a child. In terms of proportions that’s why this is such a big miracle. It’s like feeding a stadium with a Happy Meal.

It is interesting to note that this is the only miracle that made it into all four gospels. Just above the shore lines of the Sea of Galilee, on a grassy hill stands Jesus with so many before him. It is the height of his popularity. He had been healing many who were sick and afflicted with demons. And on that beautiful day he reaches out to more that he had ever done in the past. He knew it was gong to be a moving event but he was also aware that he was courting danger. He would be alerting the common towns folk all over the land that he was the long awaited messiah. This would be a challenge to the religious authorities and a challenge to Rome since the messiah was to be king of Israel.

III

And this is our third question: What are we to learn from the long awaited messiah? First we learn that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Word of the Lord. How long the Israelites had waited for the Messiah to come. It had been centuries, four centuries to be exact, since the last prophet had spoken in the Land. Malachi called a backslidden nation to repentance 400 years before Christ. It had been longer still since Israel and Judah had a leader like David or Solomon or Moses. The scriptures were alive in the life of the Jewish people, as children they grew up hearing the stories of their ancestors and being told that one day God would send the Messiah who would fulfill the hopes and promises of all those years. All 5000 men gathered to hear Jesus are all asking the same question, “Is this the one? Is this the Messiah or one of the Prophets?”

And then the sun began to wane and the end of the day drew near. They had listened and followed for hours. It was now time for dinner and the disciples, perhaps out of care for their Master or feeling quite hungry themselves, wanted to send the people away. Then Jesus surprised his disciples, asking them to feed the crowd. There were many occasions when the disciples responded as any of us would. We have here only five loaves of Bread and two fish. But Jesus offered opportunities for the twelve to see God at work, to see something other than the world they had come to know and understand. He asked for the food, blessed it, broke it, and broke it again, and again. The food went out like a peace of paper folded many times and now being unfolded, a geometric progression of growth. And then the people thought they understood. This is one of the Prophets who has returned.

Elisha, the heir to Elijah’s ministry during the time of King David once fed 100 men with twenty loaves of Barley. In that story a servant in a time of famine brings 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in a sack as an offering to Elisha. Suddenly Elisha says, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But the servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” It sounds familiar doesn’t it? We have nothing here, five loaves and two fish, a small church in changing neighborhood, an elderly congregation and a changing neighborhood, no resources with which to do ministry. But Elisha says, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’”

The Messiah would come in the spirit of the Prophets of old. That’s what the people had been told. Jesus one day asked his Disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” They replied, “Some say you are Elijah, some say you are Jeremiah, others say you are one of the prophets.” And so there Jesus stood on the hillside in the shadows of that history and feeds not 100 but 15,000, and not with 20 loaves but five and two fish. It was clear to all, this man was fulfilling the word of the Lord. That this was God’s messenger.

Jesus steps into their lives and brings the past, the Old Testament past, to life. He is the Law and Prophets incarnate. The old stories breathed to life again. In a word, he is the fulfillment. Notice how the story ends: Knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, he withdrew. He sneaks away. He knows that this is not God’s way. His crown is not made of gold but thorns and his throne is not in a palace but on a hill.

What we learn from the messiah is that at times we are confronted with small resources but God can turn a small fact into a big miracle. He does this because he is the long awaited messiah. All his miracles, all his teachings, his entire life stands as a witness that he is God’s anointed One. He is the pacesetter. He is out in front of them all, minutes ahead sizing up the situation providing the solutions before we even know what the problems are. He is the unique one, the measure by which we gauge their lives. Amen.