Sermon for August 2, 2020
Proper 13A – RCL Track 1
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7,16
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
This Sunday we heard the Story of the feeding of over 5000 people. A story that is very familiar. If you google for images related to the story, which I frequently do to see if there are good public domain images I can use for programs, we find thousands of images. Images that range for written icons, to paintings by the old masters to children’s coloring pages. It is a story that we both know well and at the same time find incredulous. Really – Jesus fed 5000 men, along with the women and children, with five loaves of barley bread and two fish – perhaps two fish would do if they were the leviathans that the psalmist mentions God creating for sport. But more likely they were two tilapia!
But before I get to the feeding part of the story let’s start with the feeling part of the story. We are told that Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. We don’t here why unless we back up. Jesus has just been told that his cousin John the Baptizer was executed. Jesus felt deep emotion, a deep sadness and deep pain at his cousin’s murder so he withdrew – as we see Jesus do at other times of trial and tribulation, to mourn and to pray.
It is in his grieving that he arrives at the deserted place to find that the crowds have followed him on foot. The crowds are clamoring to hear the good news of God’s Loving Kingdom, the crowds desire healing of their infirmities. And Jesus is moved. His emotion is not one of anger for being interrupted in his grieving but he has a deep compassion for the crowds. He has a deep love for God’s creation. Jesus’ emotions go from a deep grief to a deep compassion.
Jesus shows us God’s ability to feel emotions. This, for me is part of why the incarnation is important, it shows us that God is a God who cares for creation. A God who is moved by the death of John the Baptist, a God who is moved at the death of a child and raises her up. A God who can enjoy the love and happiness at a wedding party, a God who has compassion of the sick. All this helps me realize that our emotions, our feeling are God given tools to help us spread the Love of God in our world.
This is Good news, and perhaps not so good news sometimes. Rolf Jacobson, a professor and preacher from Luther Seminary that I follow said, “Why is it good news? Among other reasons, because it means that when we suffer and raise our prayers and groans to God, we can rely on the fact that God will hear our words, see our suffering, and that God will care—God will feel compassion for us.
(Incidentally, it might also be bad news for us, because to the extent that we oppress others or contribute to their suffering, it will also mean that God will hear their prayers, see their suffering, and show compassion on them ... which might mean God will move against us.)[1]
After a day of healing and teaching it is getting late and the disciples who are with Jesus in this deserted place recognize that it will soon be dinner time and the people will be hungry. There was no nearby supermarket – or any kind of market to procure food. So they tell Jesus what any good event manger who did not plan on a dinner event would do, they advise Jesus to disband the group and send them on their way so they can get their own food. The disciples are acting from a place of scarcity. They only have enough food for a few so send the many away.
Unfortunately our society tends to live into this place of scarcity. It is one of the factors that drives systemic racism. There is only enough privilege and power for a few so we need to demean and crush the others to preserve it for ourselves. If we let others join the banquet there will not be enough food for us. We will go hungry.
But that is not God’s way.
Jesus operates from that place of abundance. Jesus tells the disciples that the crowds can stay and that they can feed them. I can just imagine their faces. Feed them with what? We have Nothing they say. Only a little bread and a couple of fish. Not nearly enough to feed 5 to say maybe up to 10,000 people
I looked at a party planning website and calculated that to provide one sandwich – with cheese and meat - to feed 5000 it would take 400 loaves of modern bread, 400 pounds of sliced deli meat and 300 pounds of sliced cheese. A whole lot of food. More food than most of can imagine producing in the middle of nowhere. So if there was a women or a child for each of the men present it would take at least double that amount of food to give them each a single sandwich – let alone give them enough to each be full. That is literally over a ton of food to feed the crowd!
Jesus, who has been feeding the crowds spiritually and emotionally now tell them to sit on the grass while he prays and gives thanks for five loaves of bread and two fish. I can imagine there were more than a few skeptics that the little amount of food being blessed would be feeding all of them. Perhaps they thought it would feed the inner circle and that they were just witnesses. But a miracle happened. Jesus told the disciples to break the blessed bread and to feed the people – and all ate their fill. And there were leftovers!
Several years ago I visited the spot that tradition says this miracle took place on the banks of the sea of Galilee. There is a wide gently sloping area that people could gather. It may or may not be the actual place but since about the 4th Century pilgrims from all over the world have come to remember and give thanks that Jesus could indeed feed the world. I found that place to be a thin spot. A place where I could feel the strong presence of the Holy. God was present at that site and it gave me goose bumps. It opened my heart in a way that other lake side views did not.
There is something very holy about making room for the other. There is something holy about feeding those who are hungry – both spiritually and physically. A holiness that I feel when we are able to make communion together. A holiness that I feel when we gather on Wednesdays to break bread at communion and then feed lunch to the hungry. More than one time on a Wednesday I have seen the looks on the faces of the wonderful folk who provide the meals as they are sizing up the number of folk in the church and thinking that they don’t have enough to go around. Only to find that we did feed the crowd and did have leftovers!
God feels and God feeds. God empowers us to feel and feed too. And during this pandemic we have to find different ways to feed each other until we can safely gather again. We can feed each other by reaching out and listening to the fears and anxieties of those who are isolated, those who are at risk of severe illness. We provide communion when we pray for a just society where all of God’s beloved children are invited to the table. We are at God’s table when we work to end systemic racism.
Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, in his sermon for Pentecost said, “If I make room for you, and you make room for me, and if we will work together to create a society where there is room for all of God's children, where every human being, every one of us is treated as a child of God, created in the image and likeness of God, where everybody is loved, everybody is honored, everybody is respected, everybody is created as a child of God. If we work together to build that kind of society and don't give up, then love can save us all.”[2]
The miracle we remember today is one of making room for the other. A miracle that shows how a mindset of abundance will feed the hungry. A miracle that shows us that there is no scarcity in God’s kingdom, a kingdom we pray will be on earth every time we have a service and recite the Lord’s prayer and ask that God Loving Kingdom come be among us just as it is in heaven.
We are called to act out that miracle today. To make room at the table for those who have been excluded from the table. To call out the systemic racism that believes that there is too little power and love to go around. To call out the hunger in our world that sees only five loaves of bread and two very small fish. To see that we do have enough to share. And in that sharing we will discover the communion that we long for with God. A communion that is accessible even when we are apart.
I pray this week that we can find ways to open our hearts to feel the pain and grief in our world. I pray that we can find ways to take action to eradicate the structures and institutions that create and enforce inequity and racism. I pray that we can find ways to help the sick and suffering – following God and science to end this pandemic so that we may come to a time when we can physically share in God’s communion and feed the hungry.
Amen
