The importance of community and removing barriers that prevent people from following Christ’s path was central to Jesus’ ministry. One of the most notable examples appears in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 14, which recounts the feeding of the 5,000.

During Saturday morning worship and Bible study, the Rev. Jione Havea, a native Methodist pastor from Tonga, reflected on the story and its deeper meaning. His message centered on the importance of food (kai) and family (kakai or kainga), emphasizing that eating together strengthens relationships and embodies the spirit of Christ’s teachings.

“There is another practice called kai taha — bring food and eat together, like a potluck. All the families come and share — that’s kai taha,” Havea said. “Some people are generous with food while some are stingy. Kainga is about relationships. One sentence from the Youth Caucus report made me pause and think: ‘The only thing that will overcome our compassion fatigue is being together.’”

Havea noted that sharing meals fosters connection, particularly during times of crisis, when poor or displaced people rely on one another for sustenance.

“The images from Gaza and Sudan, and other areas like Ukraine, show people coming to get food, and the media wants us to see their desperation,” he said. “But the media does not follow the families when they go back to their tents. When poor, hungry people return, they hear babies crying from hunger in the next tent. Poor people know how to witness and persevere in the face of challenges such as a lack of food.”

He reminded those gathered that bringing food to share was not unusual in Jesus’ time — nor is it today.

“When poor, displaced people travel, they carry food,” Havea said. “The disciples expected the crowd to go buy food. Capitalism was in the minds of people even in the days of Jesus. Young people tell us capitalism is what controls our world, churches, and our hearts.”

Havea also challenged the modern disconnect between people and the sources of their nourishment.

“Where does food come from? Beneath the dark earth. Coal comes from the dark earth. Food comes from the dark earth. Gas, petrol — everything we use as a source of energy — comes from the same place our food comes from,” he said. “But one thing is killing the other. How do we witness on this earth when the source of our food and nourishment is being punished by the source of our energies?”

Turning again to scripture, Havea reflected on how Jesus sought solitude to rest, yet was moved with compassion when the crowds followed Him — healing and feeding them despite His fatigue.

“Referring to the Youth Caucus report, we need to free ourselves from mental slavery,” Havea said. “Patriarchy is one, and it is alive in the church. Patriarchy is alive in this hall, and that needs to be healed. We need to free ourselves from white supremacy and the struggles of rainbow people. We need to free ourselves from the illness of thinking they don’t belong — crip bodies and the belief that they are not capable.”

Havea concluded by reminding the audience of their shared mission: to continue Christ’s work by healing and caring for others.

“Our world,” he said, “needs to bring what Jesus did — heal and cure our sick.”