AProp13

Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21

August 3, 2008 – 11:00 Baptism of McCaa Laura Stapleton

 The feeding of the multitude - one of the best known stories of Jesus.

It is such a contrast to the story that takes place just before it.

This story of miraculous abundance comes

right after the death of John the Baptist.

If you’ll remember, John was beheaded during King Herod’s birthday banquet

after Herodias’ daughter, Salome, danced for the king

and he promised in front of his guests to give her whatever she asked.

Her mother ‘wanted John’s head’ and so that is what she told Salome to ask for. 

A life taken to satisfy the hunger of Herodias’ revenge and hate against John.

And then after this banquet feast where life is so brutally taken

we have a tired hungry crowd being fed abundantly with the bread of life.

As our reading begins, news of John’s death has a profound impact on Jesus:

John - his cousin - who had baptized him.

So, Jesus leaves the crowds he has been with

from town to town teaching and healing

and goes off in a boat so he can be alone.

But, when he gets to the shore, there the crowds are, waiting for him.

Some have kept sight of his boat and followed along the shore

and others probably have joined them along the way.

He looks at them… tired but hopeful faces

of those who had brought the sick to him,

of those who hungered for more of his teachings

about the kingdom of God and how to live in its freedom.

Scripture says when Jesus looks at them, he has compassion for them.

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrased version of the bible, entitled The Message,

 says ‘his heart went out to them’.

A good translation – because way down at the root of the word,

there is a connection to the part of animal sacrifice,

when the heart is taken out of the animal to offer to the gods -

the taking of the heart of a sacrificial victim.

I can’t help but contrast a part of John’s body being taken off

and sacrificed on demand

with Jesus willingly letting his heart go out to the great crowd.

Jesus’ heart goes out to the crowd.

And in Matthew, Jesus’ heart goes out two separate times.

This time in Chapter 14 where the 12 disciples and the 12 leftover baskets

symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel.

And in the feeding of the multitude in the next chapter -

where there are seven fish and seven leftover baskets

symbolizing the seven nations of Canaan, meaning the Gentiles.

Matthew making the point that Jesus’ heart went out to all people.

Anyway, in our story today, it is after the evening mealtime.

The disciples want Jesus to dismiss the great crowd

and send them away so they could go buy food.

Jesus says, “They need not go away. You give them something to eat.”

The only thing the disciples can think of is to gather whatever food

is there and then distribute it evenly among the crowd.

Today if we went to a great outdoor concert,

maybe Wolftrap or an outdoor venue in Atlanta,

if for some reason everyone was asked to contribute the food and snacks

they still had at the end of  the event so it could be evenly distributed

what would we see?

Probably bags of potato chips, leftover sandwiches in ziplock bags,

maybe Tupperware containers with some potato or pasta salad,

some hummas and various kinds of spreads.

Probably some apples and grapes and watermelon.

There would probably be quite a lot of leftover food to spread around.

Well, what we notice with the multitude on the shore

is how very minimal amount of food was.

Folks didn’t count on McDonald’s in those days.

They wrapped up food for lunch or snacks and took it with them.

But, here, from this huge crowd,

a size that far exceeded what the disciples would have expected

only five loaves of bread and two smoked fish are found.

The fish, then, go unmentioned.

It is the bread that is important to the story.

And, however much exaggeration there may have been

in this account as it was handed down and then written,

the point in its telling was the unbelievable contrast

between what was needed and what was available.

When I was in college, one Sunday at the student chapel

the preacher tried to explain this story by holding up a regular sized loaf of bread

for all of us to see (probably about 100 in the congregation)

and then showed that if we were willing to share,

that loaf could indeed provide a little morsel of bread

for everyone present.

I don’t think that is the point of the story.

The heart of the story is when Jesus takes those five loaves

and blesses them and breaks them and gives them out.

What made the story a story of miraculous abundance

was that the bread came from the compassion of Jesus.

Jesus is saying to the disciples, ‘You give them something to eat’

Not in the taking of these five loaves alone

but in collaborating with him

in the taking and giving of his heart to the needs of the world.

In John 6:28 the disciples asked Jesus,

‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’

And his reply, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom God has sent.’

Jesus held up bread at another meal, blessed it, broke it,

 and said, This is my life, this is my body given for you.

When I was little I would want to take my dinner roll

and saw it in two with my dinner knife.

And my grandmother would look at me

like I had lost my mind.

She would wave her hand as if to shoo away what I was doing.

‘You don’t cut bread at the dinner table, you break it!’

I don’t know where that piece of etiquette comes from.

Maybe it has roots in our deeply religious ritual of breaking bread.

And, perhaps this could be a practice that reminds us of

the power and presence of Jesus great thanksgiving.

The taking and blessing and breaking of his life, his heart,

can be woven into our everyday lives,

not only at this table (altar) but also when we break bread at our tables at home,

always a reminder of our collaboration with Christ

as his heart goes out to us and to the world.

To give thanks, because it is not ours to begin with.

To break it so it can be given.

And when we give it, to break ourselves and let our hearts go out, too.

Jesus, the bread of life, taken, blessed, broken, and given

to let his heart go out to the multitudes.

I think there would have been leftovers even if the disciples had tried to give it all away

because our God is a living, eternal source of life.

Jesus was willing to give of himself until nothing was left.

Yet, in the resurrection we find that there is more of him than before.

And I’ll bet we’ll find there is more in us to give when we give

from that eternal place from which his heart goes out to us.