Orthodox Sermons & Articles

The Disciples did not understand His reply and were rather confused as they had only five loaves of bread and two fish. However, when Jesus commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass, His Disciples helped Him to divide the people into groups. The Apostles had previously witnessed some miracles of Christ a few times before; therefore, knowing that Jesus was going to help them they did not object to His command. After the blessing from the Lord, those five loaves and two fish were divided among the people. As the Gospel witnesses, "They all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children" (Matt. 14:20-21).

 

Indeed, dear brothers and sisters, this great miracle could be performed only by God. Jesus is the Son of God incarnate and the miracle of feeding five thousand men with two fish and five loaves of bread proves His divinity. The Disciples demonstrated their inability to feed the multitudes as they were asking Jesus to let the people go and find food on their own. Only the power of God could multiply food in the manner it was done by Jesus. Therefore, when at some point of our lives we start to doubt in the truth about our Lord, let us remember this miracle.

 

It would be unwise to say that Jesus fed the people only because they were hungry. Every miracle of Jesus provides us with spiritual food as well. The multitudes that witnessed the miracles received another message as well: if Jesus could feed the body so easily, then He definitely can feed the soul with spiritual food. This is the same message we receive every time we read the Gospel either in church or at home. He said to the disciples, "You give them something to eat." However, if we look closer at this miracle, we will see that the Apostles gave the food to the people only after Jesus Christ multiplied it. They could not feed the multitudes on their own. Ever since, we have been abundantly fed with the spiritual food given by the Apostles through their teachings and writings that were inspired by Christ the Savior.

 

This idea becomes even stronger after reading today’s Epistle. In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul the Apostle writes against the division within their Church on account of different preachers. Christians in Corinth were divided into party-like groups: some of them claimed they were Paul’s followers, some Apollos’, who was a learned Jew from Alexandria (Egypt), some Cephas’, who is Peter the Apostle, and some Christ’s. This partition was not good for the unity of the Church. Because the Corinthian Church was established by St. Paul, he responsibly tries to fix the problem. At the beginning of the epistle passage today we heard that St. Paul asked the Corinthians to be united and follow the same teaching he taught them. The Christians have to have "the same mind and the same judgment", according to the Apostle, in order to successfully spread Christianity among the other nations and to achieve the final goal of the life - salvation.

 

St. Paul asks a number of rhetorical questions, which were easy to answer. "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" asks the Apostle in order to prevent the church from further divisions. The answer to all these questions is no. One can leave the Church, but not divide it! Grouping by the names of the Apostles who baptized them, the Christians in Corinth brought great harm to the Church, for they sought to give to the Apostles a place, which only Christ should occupy.

 

I mentioned above that today’s Gospel reading [feeding five thousand men] shows us that Christ is above everyone: He is the Source, the Power and the Performer of miracles. His Disciples only served Him in the way He asked them or taught them. He multiplies fish and bread – they give it to the people. St. Paul the Apostle brings the same concepts to the Corinthians and expresses the right teaching about how they should behave and the truth they should follow. He clearly shows that the Apostles only serve Christ in accordance to their abilities and spiritual gifts; Jesus is the One Who baptizes and performs all other sacraments in Church. As an Apostle, Paul’s primary job is to preach the gospel, teaching those who seek God to be baptized. Nevertheless, God baptizes, and the one who performs a baptism is only God’s helper.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, as we heard from both sources today, we always have to learn something for our edification. Today’s lesson was clearly about the necessity of the unity in Church around Christ the Savior. We have been talking about this matter for two Sundays already. If we are united and in one mind follow the same teachings the Apostles taught us, then we receive more spiritual help from each other and from God on our path to salvation. To upkeep the oneness of the Church in Corinth, St. Paul uses very strong words, "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10). In other words, "Forget about my name; I ask you to be together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because He wants love and unity." As you could see, this unity has to be in faith and in teaching. Bodily we can be divided into different national or regional churches, but we all have to be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment" or in other words in our beliefs. Therefore, let us keep our Orthodox Faith undivided by our personal lusts and follow the way that was cleared for us by the Apostles and their disciples. As we could see from the example within the Gospel, the Apostles always did only what Jesus told them or taught them to do. Our faith is more then 2000 years old. However, Orthodoxy is a religion of salvation not because of its age but because of the truth it has faithfully followed for all this time. Being a part of Christ’s mystical body let us praise His name joyfully and spread His teaching fearlessly. Let us be united in our small community with Jesus Christ in the center and keep the faith of our fathers. Amen.