HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HUNGRY? Really hungry? There are people around us who live with food insecurity. That means they are without reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. They might run out of food before payday. They might have to pay for a car repair instead of buying groceries. This is not just running out of milk because you forgot to go to the store. There is no money to buy milk or anything else.
Then there’s the fact that Alabama is one of only four states that tax groceries. Over time, the grocery sales tax adds up. The tax places a greater burden on low-income families. Someone in Foley buys $150 a week worth of groceries, with taxes, pays $8,580 a year. The same family spending $150 a week in Pensacola, without a sales tax, spends $7,800 a year. That’s a lot of numbers. Just remember this: In Alabama the value of five weeks’ worth of groceries is paid in sales tax every year.
Add to that lunch shaming. I hope this has not happened to you. You go through the lunch line at school. You get a tray of food. You’ve worked hard and played hard and your breakfast is long gone. Or maybe you didn’t have breakfast. Your stomach is growling so loudly people around you can hear it. You get to the checkout and the lunchroom lady tells you there’s no money in your lunch account. She takes the tray of hot nutritious food away from you, dumps it in the trash, and gives you a cheese sandwich. For some kids, that’s the only meal they will have for the whole day because they live in a house with food insecurity and what they get is a thin slice of cheese between two slices of white bread.
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FIVE THOUSAND HUNGRY PEOPLE that day don’t know where lunch is coming from. The disciples don’t have answers. They ask Jesus, “How are we going to feed these people?” Andrew finds a young boy in the crowd who has food. Not much food — just five loaves and two fish. Imagine sharing your school lunch with your lunch table or the whole class. Or the whole school. The whole subdivision. The boy offer what he has. And Jesus takes it. The boy gives away his lunch so that other people can eat.
Now, I suspect his mother said, “That little lunch isn’t going to make any difference, just keep it.” His father said, “If you give that away, you’ll be crying later, saying you’re hungry.” The grown-ups think it’s a bad idea to give away your food. “What’s that little bit compared to all these people?” Adults say, “Hang on to it. Keep if for yourself.” The boy says, “Here’s my lunch. Jesus, use it.” Sometimes grown-ups should have the faith of a child.
Jesus takes the small meal and turns it into a big picnic. Thousands of people are fed and there is food left over.
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WHY DOES JESUS FEED the crowd this way? What is he trying to tell us?
Jesus is telling us that he/God is very interested in getting people enough to eat. That’s why Swift Church has a food pantry. Thank all of you who bring food or make money donations for us to buy food. Just as it’s surprising that one’s boys lunch in Jesus’ hands can feed a crowd, it’s surprising how many people can eat when we pool our food and money. Each month we feed around 100 people.
Contact your state representatives and senators. Encourage them to end the grocery sales tax. Also, talk with the county and local governments to do the same. That will take an undue burden off the least of these in society. Tell them you are willing to have your taxes raised in other ways to make up the shortfall.
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HOW ABOUT HUNGRY KIDS in schools? What about committing to pay for meals at school on delinquent accounts. Maybe a Fourth Day group or Sunday school class can take that on. Maybe those who have no children in school can provide money for a week’s worth of lunches. Or those in school, who see this every day, bring something extra in your lunch for the girl or boy in your class who has to skip lunch because they have no money.
Today I’m giving schoolchildren/youth paper lunch sacks. Here’s what I want you to do with them. Fill them with a complete school lunch and bring the full sack to church next Sunday. We will make sure that hungry school-age children will get them.
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ANOTHER THING JESUS IS TELLING US when he fed the crowd:
“Hey, there is enough food to go around. All you have to do is share.” Jesus could have had food fall from the sky to feed the hungry people. But instead, Jesus told the disciples — and he tells us — “You give them something to eat.”
— Keith Cardwell
