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Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost August 3, 2008 |
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Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost August 3, 2008 |
To understand why the story of the feeding of the 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21) begins the way it does it is important to read the verses immediately preceding (Matthew 14:10-12). John, the cousin of Jesus, has just been murdered. The disciples have buried his body and have broken the news to Jesus. John’s head was cut off at a birthday party where power issues, jealousy and fear led to violence. Grief now mingled with shock. John was dead.
Today’s opening verse (13) tells us what we would want to hear, that when Jesus heard this, he withdrew in a boat to a desert place by himself. That makes sense. Withdrawing to grieve is a good thing. But the crowds didn’t know of the grief. News didn’t travel then like it does today. But they had heard about Jesus and what he was doing for people, so they had followed him. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is that when Jesus saw the crowds he didn’t row quickly back out to sea to get as far away as he could get.
Instead, the Greek translates literally “he was filled with tenderness over them.” He knew something they didn’t know – that he wanted more than anything for them to know – more than he wanted his solitude. He wanted them to know they mattered – they counted – that they were not expendable or disposable as the world had told them, and John, they were.
Now the disciples had let Jesus be with the crowds until the end of the day. But by then they had had enough. They urged Jesus, “Send them away. Dismiss them.” Have you even been sent away? If you have, you might have empathy for what is suggested here. Logic said there’s not enough money, or space, or emotional energy, or power or good will for all of us, so you better go. The disciples weren’t being cruel. They were grieving. And besides that, there was hardly enough food for them to eat let alone the crowds. But Jesus says, “They need not go away.”
Jesus knows his own grief. He also knows no grocery store, not even a 7-Eleven is nearby. But Jesus’ mind doesn’t jump to the scarcity questions. Does he have enough energy? Will there be enough food? Instead, he focuses on the deeper need. The real need is not for food. The real need is to know they are in the presence of God. Jesus knows this. The crowd senses this – they followed Jesus into the desert out of hunger for more than food. It is only the disciples who don’t know this – at least not yet.
The difference between Jesus and his disciples is that Jesus sees whose world this really is that they’re living in. The disciples only see themselves. “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” They see the situation as helpful. They say they have “nothing.” They haven’t yet grasped the reality of being in God’s presence.
Jesus responds by asking them to bring him the little they do have. They do so and Jesus takes it, looks up to heaven, blesses and breaks it. Then the text says something very interesting in the original language. “He gave to the disciples the loaves and the disciples to the crowds.” I had never seen that before. The literal translation is: “Jesus gave to the disciples the loaves and the disciples to the crowds.”
The disciples are given back the same gifts they had given Jesus, but the gifts are given back blessed by God and broken to be shared. With blessed and broken loaves and fishes, the disciples themselves are then given to the very crowds that seconds ago they wanted sent away. How different the story would have gone had the crowds been sent away!
All those loaves and fishes overflowing would never have happened! The necessity participated in the possibility. Had there been no crowd there would have had no need. Imagine the trouble there would have been if all those loaves and fishes had been made available and there was no one to eat and enjoy it. The disciples would have had to run after the crowds, “please, come back! There’s plenty, there’s plenty.” What a predicament they’d have been in! Too much fish left over in the desert wouldn’t have smelled very good for very long. And what would they do with all that leftover bread?
Not only would sending the crowds away not have met the need the crowds came hungering to have filled. The disciples would have missed out as well. What a missed opportunity there would have been. The potential of a lavishly abundant feast being served up only to find the hungry guests had all just been dismissed out of fear there wasn’t enough! Lucky for the disciples Jesus hadn’t followed their suggestion.
Before we act how wise it is to ask, “Is this decision expecting that we are in the presence of Almighty God?” Or are we seeing only ourselves: “We have nothing here…” If we withhold from taking life into our own fearful hands and instead entrust our lives and gifts to Christ, what surprises might be in store! Imagine the joy of having participated in the hungry crowds having their real needs met! And all the disciples had to do was to take Jesus at his word and distribute the gifts he had given them – but those five loaves and two fish blessed and broken open by God were more than enough.
Have you loaves and fishes? God does miracles with just the likes of these! There is a loaves-and-fishes-type story hidden in Chico State University’s Book in Common for this coming year. It’s written by the son of Lutheran missionaries who served in Tanganyika, now Tanzania. Perhaps you’ve read Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea.
As an adult back in the United States, Mortenson joined an expedition to the second highest mountain in the world, in the Himalayas. He never made it to the top and coming back down got separated from his party and ended up in a remote little village in Pakistan. In spite of their poverty; their five loaves and two fish, the people there helped him and he promised to return and build them a school. His efforts too started small, but others joined him and since then 58 schools have been built in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Our connection with Rwanda has similarities. Not long ago the same kind of violence that happened to John the Baptist was happening all over Rwanda. Today they are witnessing to the world the possibilities of reconciliation as people from opposing tribes are together building churches, schools and community. They have blessed us with being companions – ones who break bread together – loaves and fishes shared around the world. The same can be said of the Torres Shelter and the incredible stories of people offering similar gifts on local levels.
The efforts of churches near and far introducing people to the mystery that Jesus sends them to be his living body in the world is no less a miracle. We forget at times that scarcity and fear met their match in Christ’s death and resurrection. Knowing this deeply, frees us to live extravagantly. Our vision – more and more people, encountered by Christ, empowered for God’s purposes – reflects knowing deeply that Christ’s resurrection matters!
Extraordinary feasts happen through ordinary people empowered for God’s purposes. As Jesus said to his first disciples when they feared the needs around them, “They need not go away. You give them something to eat.” And Jesus gave the disciples back the loaves and fish they had given him, and having blessed them, he gave the equipped disciples to the crowds.
ELCA Missionary Karen Ressel writes in the August 2008 Lutheran, “I’ve come to realize that a miracle occurs when God takes the meager gifts we each offer and weaves them together to accomplish wonderful things.” Have you loaves and fishes? God does miracles with just the likes of these!
Amen.
+Pastor Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA