Isaiah
55:1-5
1 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me,
and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear,
and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an
everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4 See, I made him a
witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5 See, you
shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall
run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has
glorified you.
Romans
9:1-5
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not
lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and
unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed
and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to
the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory,
the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them
belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the
Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Matthew
14:13-21
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from
there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it,
they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a
great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 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." 16 Jesus said to them,
"They need not go away; you give them something to eat." 17 They
replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." 18 And
he said, "Bring them here to me." 19 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. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they
took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And
those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
"We
have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring
them here to me."
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My daughter has been waiting patiently for this reading to come
up. What I really should say is that her two cats have been waiting since it
involves fish for dinner. Well, no matter who is waiting, it is a wonderful
story.
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First off, it is a story of compassion. Jesus tries to get away by
himself, but when he gets out of the boat, he finds a crowd waiting for him. When
he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured
their sick. Jesus had compassion for them – healing the sick and
eventually feeding the crowd. Neither of these actions appear to have been
planned, but came as a result of Jesus seeing a need. It looks like he intended
to spend time alone or with a small group in prayer in “a deserted place” which
is something he did at times. Here his heart (and more) leads him to heal and
to provide food.
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We could ask if this story about the miracle or the motive behind
the miracle? The healing and the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and
fish are great in themselves, but why was this done? So Jesus could show off?
So people could see how great he was? This sort of miracle working got Jesus in
trouble with the crowd. In John’s Gospel, we are reminded that the assembled
crowd wanted to take Jesus and make him king. As soon as Jesus heard this, he
took off to some place where the crowd couldn’t find him. This was not the sort
of king he was to be! It is Jesus’ compassion that is the motive for what goes
on. “Had compassion” in the original language has the sense of being “moved in
the guts.” It’s not an intellectual exercise or a passing whim. Today we’d say
it has to do with the heart. The ancient Greek is more visceral and actually
intestinal!
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That was then; this is now. Jesus is still moved with compassion
and we can count on that.
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Second, besides being a living sign of compassion and concern, the
story reveals much of the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom, as it breaks into our
world in what Jesus does and says, is concerned with the whole person – body,
mind, soul, and spirit. So Jesus heals and provides bread. The bread and fish
provided are more than enough. The Gospel says 5000 men are fed with women and
children remaining uncounted and still 12 baskets of fragments of the feast are
collected. We’re told All ate and were filled. So
this was not done on the cheap with a morsel for each person. They ate and were
satisfied with the simple food of bread and fish. God’s Kingdom is to be one of
plenty for all without concern for worthiness or payment. In the first reading
assigned for this Sunday, Isaiah outlines some of the signs of the Kingdom: Ho,
everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy
and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. What
this will look like when the Kingdom of God is fully upon us we don’t know but
this is what we’re promised using words we can understand and imagine.
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With the presence of Jesus in our world and the continued work of
the Spirit among us now, we know that the Kingdom of God is breaking in. It is
opposed by so much, but it is coming.
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As far as what we might do now, we may feel very inadequate. We do
know that we cannot bring the Kingdom by ourselves; the most we can do is be
part of it as it enters our world and our lives. Is there anything we can do?
Well, go over the Gospel story again, we’d have to agree that somebody brought those five
loaves and two fish. (John’s Gospel has a young boy who offers what may have
been his “brown bag” lunch for Jesus’ use.) With what somebody brought, Jesus
was able to feed over 5000 people according to the Gospel story. Do you see
what Jesus can do with only a little bit? What each of us has to offer can
become the embodiment of the compassion of Jesus for people. The results could
be amazing… or they could be quite simple. What they could be matters less than
the offering of those things, those actions, those words, all signs of our
lives. Maybe they’re more than signs after Jesus uses them.
"We
have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring
them here to me."
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| The cats await. |
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| "I type and I help." |
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