Kate has this amazing ability. I can go to the cupboard and see that they is nothing for supper; but Kate can go to the same cupboard and produce something to eat for whoever happens to be at our house at the time. This ability has become a source of humour between Kate and I; that she can essentially produce food from nothing

It seems to me that Jesus is doing the same thing in our passage today. He is not sending them home to find their own super; he is inviting them to stay at his place. He is not despairing that more people have turned up than he had planned for; rather he takes what’s available and stretches it. Quite apart from the miracle that happens on the hillside there, Jesus is doing what mother’s up and down the country do occasionally, week-by-week, day after day as they feed their families and whoever happens to have come home with them that day. Stretching the family budget and food cupboard; sending no-one home.

The feeding of the 5000 is an exercise in motherhood; it’s Jesus being a mother. This, and the many times that Jesus feeds his followers and disciples, should be and is an enormous encouragement for those who are mothers, and those fathers and carers who are the ‘mother’ in their situation – if only they, and in particular mothers could hear it.

Here we are at communion; and here is Jesus being a mother again. Take, eat, all of you. Drink this cup, all of you. Whoever you are, however you have got here, wherever you have come from and whom ever you have been with, your welcome at this table and there is enough for you; I am enough for you says Jesus.