May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 14
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 29, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 16:21-27 - But Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? . . ."
ISSUE: This passage is filled with baptismal imagery. It tells of the messiahship as that of Isaiah's suffering servant, and the image of Peter's (i.e. the world's) messiah as demonic. Those who follow Jesus are invited into the servant image, which is God's plan, as opposed to the world's image of an honorable success oriented warrior. It is about re-orientation. The passage speaks of being transformed and is fitting for people looking for new direction in their lives. For a world bent on happiness, security, playing it safe and maintaining one's status, the call of Christ is in sharp contrast to complacency.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here's a passage from Matthew that immediately follows last week's passage and we suddenly see Simon Peter suddenly and sharply in a dramatically different light. In last week's passage, Simon has that dramatic moment in his life where he confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the living God. Jesus says to him that this has been a divine revelation and awareness on this part. Then Jesus says to Simon, whose name is changed to "petros" which means rock or the nickname Rocky, that he now gives him the very keys to the Kingdom, or to the Domain of God. That changing of the name has the impact of a very dramatic and significant change in Peter's life and awareness of his calling into partnership with Jesus the Christ.
Just a couple of verses later in Matthew's gospel account for today, Peter becomes a demonic figure. Jesus says to him, "Get behind me Satan! Your are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." What we have in this passage is a kind of sparing, another situation of riposte on challenging between Jesus and Peter, peculiar to the Middle Eastern culture. It is a scene very much like the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In that scene Satan spars with Jesus quoting Scriptures in order to dishonor or to disarm him. Peter had declared that Jesus was the Messiah, Son of the living God. This confession is followed by Jesus' teaching of the kind of messianic figure that he will be. He will go to Jerusalem, undergo great suffering, and be killed and on the third day rise. This kind of messiahship was not exactly what the peasantry and the Pharisees and Jewish leadership had in mind. Obviously Peter's thinking is quite in line with the common notion of messiahship. The Messiah, the real messiah, would be like the messiahship of their ancient King David. He was a military leader who united the tribes of Israel into one great and relatively powerful nation. For Matthew's period, people expected a messiah to rebuild the destroyed Jerusalem Temple, and take on the formidable task of throwing out the Romans. But Jesus is describing another kind of messiah that was described in Isaiah's passage and especially the Suffering Servant passages. The messiah will have the Spirit of God, be one who will bring good news to the poor, healing for the broken-hearted, and freedom for prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1-2) The Suffering Servant messianic image is also one who shall have no particular dignity or beauty, despised and rejected by men, enduring suffering and pain, and wounded and beaten for the sins of the people. He would be as a lamb led to slaughter. (Isaiah 5213-53:12) Peter following the more popular trend of a 'warrior' messiah rejects the suffering servant image. The 'suffering servant' image was not at this time an honorable image. Remember, a person's honor was most important in this period. People who suffered and died, especially on a cross were not honorable people. Peter wanted no parts of this kind of movement. He wanted honor and success, of course. So he challenges Jesus. "God forbid it! This must never happen to you."
Jesus responds to the challenge with an insult to Peter: 'You are acting like a Satan, a demon.' You are a stumbling block to me. You are getting in the way by thinking like everybody else thinks, and not like God thinks. If you are going to be a real follower then you too will have to take up the cross and follow me. 'You will have to give up your life, lose life as you think of it now, and be changed.'
Keep in mind that Jesus was bright enough to know that he was in big trouble. His teachings, and his healings, his ways were sharply at odds with the thinking of the time. He was not seen as honorable. He was a deviant itinerant preacher and holy man. All the people who had acted in similar ways: Elijah, Jeremiah, other prophets, and certainly John the Baptist met with extreme opposition. Following that same track, Jesus and faithful disciples would likely face similar fates. Yet Jesus calls his disciples to a way that was different. It was a way that was not seen as feasible, or honorable, or that was bent on being successful. To die on a cross was the ultimate humiliation; it was the total loss of honor as the world of that time understood honor. So Jesus is telling Peter he thinks and understands things the way the world thinks and understands. He is going to have to change if he is going to be a true disciple. He will along with the other disciples have to be prepared for a Great Reversal in their thinking and comprehension of what messiahship and discipleship meant. They would have to become dis-oriented in order to become re-oriented into what is true honor and soldier like loyalty. The real, true, valid honor for Jesus and his messiahship is described in the Gospel account of John 15:13, "The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them."
I am also reminded of the passage also from Matthew (7:21), "Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom (or Domain of God), but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. To be genuinely honorable disciples is to participate in the thinking, in the will, of God. there must be a relinquishing of what the world thinks and commands. Again, it is a matter of re-orientation, and reversal.
I am afraid our modern way of thinking makes us very uncomfortable with this passage. It makes me uncomfortable, because in our culture we resist being victims or allowing ourselves to victimized. The victim is the poor soul thought of in a demeaning sort of way. But in this case, the victimization of Jesus and his disciples by the world was thought to be demeaning and dishonorable. However, the process led to resurrection and new life, the genuine and true bestowal of honor by God.
In this passage Peter is really going though his own death and resurrection. He has to die to his old way of thinking and reclaim a holy thinking, a divine thinking, a new Christ-like way of thinking. This passage is really very baptismal like. It is about dying and rising to something that is new. It's about conversion. We all have our image of things that our important and an appreciation of Jesus as Lord. We look to Jesus for comfort, for strength, for personal salvation. He is our Lord. He is the socially and personally acceptable religious experience. Yet this image is often very compatible with what we might call our cultural respectability. Jesus is something of the sweet one, and respectable, gentle, successful middle class people are the epitome of being successful in the world and at one with precious Jesus. The understanding that we are called into suffering servanthood as baptized into Christ is not exactly what is in the forefront of our religious thinking. We are often more defensive that avant-garde, of sticking out our necks. We are more comfortable for instance with the whole idea that Jesus died for our sins, for my personal indiscretions than that Jesus died for and because of the horrendous injustices that persisted in the world. Jesus died and gave up his life in shear caring for the poor, the lost, the last, and the least.
Today, and for many years people have seen baptism as something you do for babies to keep them living happily ever after in a state of religious bliss. Does that thought not come across as a bit meaningless and trivial? Martin Luther King is reported to have said, "If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." What is worthwhile in our lives is that for which we are will to give up things. Worthwhile life is a life in which we deeply and profoundly care about something or some person, some cause or purpose. Sometimes I think it is important for us to be very focused or intentional about what it is that god would have us to do and to be as his faithful disciples. This issue is one, I think, of discernment. We have to be intentional about our calling as a parish. The vestry may need to be more disciplined about its intentionality and leadership. Certainly the Rector needs to be clear about what God is calling him/her to be or do. All of us as Christians in the world may need to be intentional about our lives. How do we really resonate, join with Christ to be instruments of grace in the world as opposed to spectators, or as opposed to simply buying in to the ordinary cultural call to indifference, success, personal self-amusement and complacency? We really can become very wrapped up in the way the world thinks, and how we do not want to be different or in some way seen as unusual or counter-cultural. If that is the case, then we really do have to ask who it is to whom we belong. Is it the world or is it partnership as disciples with Jesus Christ?
St. Paul expressed this Gospel passage beautifully in the Romans (12:1-8) Epistle this morning: "Do not be conformed to his world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - What is good and acceptable and perfect." Baptized into the death of Christ we rise as gifted people with purpose and meaning. It is only in the dying to our old selves and to the world that we live meaningfully and with Christ in the new.
Checking y2k!
Sunday, August 29, 1999
Sunday, August 22, 1999
PENTECOST 13
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: PENTECOST 13
PROPER: 16A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 22, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 16:13-20 - Confession of Peter
He (Jesus) said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . . . ."
ISSUE: New identities are given. Through relationship and divine inspiration, Peter declares that Jesus is no longer the carpenter's son from godforsaken Nazareth, but Messiah and son of the living God. Peter is no longer just a fisherman but one who holds the authoritative keys that unlock doors for entry into the Kingdom of God's domain. Matthew is describing the formation of a new institution. The issue for us is how we ourselves identify Christ in our own lives and use that knowledge as his disciples. What does Jesus Christ mean and how do we live into that identification?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Arriving in Caesarea Philippi, a place that was supposed to have a wide variety of shrines to pagan gods, Jesus asks the question of Simon bar (son) of Jonah: Who do the people say that the Son of Man is? Peter replies that some say that the Son of Man is like John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. These three were men of great courage who stood up against great powers to proclaim what they felt the truth of God to be and what they felt was God's justice. Then Jesus asks Peter more specifically, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter boldly replies, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
More than likely most people today see this questioning of Jesus to his beloved disciple Simon as a kind of theological test. As if Jesus is saying, Simon, do you really know who I am, according to the Nicene Creed? It is in our thinking as if Jesus was completely clear about his identity and mission, and was testing his disciples. Americans would think this because we are very individualistic and have relatively clearly defined identities. We all have our Social Security number. And we pretty much define who we are and what we are going to be. This kind of clear identification was not so certain in the time of Jesus, the first century Middle Eastern culture. These people were not so individualistic, and identity came from other sources, primarily family, and then from stereotyping. Essentially, Jesus was son of Joseph. Jesus was then expected to be a carpenter following in his father's footsteps. He was also a Nazarene, coming from the town of Nazareth. Jesus' enemies of course would say he was Jesus, son of Joseph, a mere carpenter of no stature, because artisans had no property or honor. Some referred to him as Son of Mary, which may well have been insulting, since he was being defined as not having a father, and therefore a bastard. "Isn't he just the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where did Jesus get all this? And they took offense at him." Matt. 13:55-57) He is stereotyped as a Nazarene, and nothing good comes from Nazareth. Nazarenes are good-for-nothings. At this point, Jesus is not in Nazareth, and no longer a carpenter. He's become something of a deviant character without identity. So he asks Simon bar Jonah, a disciple: "Who do you say that I am?" It is to say, How is my identity be reshaped and redefined. For Jesus to make such a claim on his own would have been presumptuous and dishonoring. Who you were, your identity came from the community. Simon replies with those awesome titles, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Having accompanied Jesus and developed a close relationship, Simon is inspired. You are a deliver, messiah-like as was Jeremiah, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist. But you are also in close union with God. To know you Jesus is to be able to approach God the Father. You Jesus are the son who reveals the Father. Jesus saw Peter as clearly inspired, and a new clear identification is made of who Jesus is. It is a new dawning.
(It is also an identity that is not yet to be revealed to the larger community. A premature pronouncement like this would likely have met with great opposition as a yet a claim to honor of which Jesus was not yet considered to be worthy, nor understood in it proper context.)
Something is happening here in this account. Matthew seems to have set up this situation of Jesus being in a place of great religious diversity. Jesus is in a world where he is severely criticized and dishonored, and he receives a clearer inspired identity by his discipleship.
At the same time Jesus turns to Simon who has just had this diving inspiration and gives Simon a new identity as well. "You are Petros (Peter)," says Jesus. At this time 'Peter' was not a name, it simply meant 'rock.' Jesus gives Simon a nickname which is literally "Rocky." There are, of course, many scriptural references to God being like a rock, a fortress, a stronghold. (Ps.71, etc.) Jesus sees something of a godly strength in Peter as well. Jesus goes on to give Peter, Rocky, keys to the kingdom of God's domain. This gesture is to give Peter a real share in the rabbinic-like ministry of Jesus who was the one who came to liberate those who were oppressed. (This authority is also given to all the rest of the disciples in Matt. 18:18.) The keys were given in order that they would with Jesus unlock, open-up the way of to the love and truth of God, and of God's justice. It was truly an important responsibility.
Later in Matthew's account of the Gospel (Matt 23: 5ff), Jesus rigorously condemns some of the teachers, rabbis, and especially the Pharisees of this time. Their teachings about all the laws, says Jesus, seems to tie heavy burdens on people's backs that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren't willing to help them carry those loads. "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go it, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter!" says Jesus. (Matt. 23:13f) If Peter and the other disciples are to be rocks with Jesus, and to join in that calling to teach and to open, to unlock, to make accessible the way to God, they must be truly knowledgeable of who Jesus really is, and what his ministry is truly all about. The keys to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Domain of God are for the purpose of unlocking those things that prevent people from easy access to the justice and the love of a compassionate and merciful God. If you stand around doing the same old stuff, nothing happens. Misery, Hades, continues to prevail. But to turn the keys to unlock the way to God is to allow greater access for all people to step into the Kingdom of God.
What's going on here? Matthew is establishing a new clear identity of Jesus in a skeptical world, where many saw him as mere carpenter's son, from that place, Nazareth, from which no good can come. Matthew is giving clout to the disciples as the community with the keys for opening the way to the presence of God from which so many people have felt alienated through some of the previous teaching. Let me insert here that calling Peter, Rocky, has an element of humor for us. Peter was not always that rock like character. He is the one who walks on water but sinks. He's the one who betrays. He's the one who challenges Jesus. But he survives it all, and in that sense he is the prevailing rock. In this Caesarea Philippi, this place of many religions, and among the hostilities leveled at Jesus, Matthew establishes his identity and the firmness of his followers to be the gatekeepers, those with the keys to unlocking the way to God. This passage expresses the foundation of the church and purpose of its work.
I believe that the impact of this passage for us today is to keep in mind that it is still a valid question for us to prayerfully seek the meaning of Jesus' identity for us today. That identity influences us in how we carry out our discipleship and the church's mission. We too live in a kind of Caesarea Philippi. We live among a pluralistic variety of religions some of which are pagan. Keeping our identity and appreciation of whom we are and who Jesus Christ is for us in our world is still quite important.
For some people Jesus Christ is little more than a swear word.
For others the meaning of Jesus is something of a magical superman. He is like God who sits on a throne in the heavens somewhere and does or does not answer prayers. The problem with Jesus as a superman, or super human is that he is beyond our reach and ineffective. Jesus who becomes so grand becomes out of touch with our human condition. In his ultimate perfection he is beyond being the savior of the human condition.
For some Jesus is a moralist. He is the statement or measure of all that is good and bad. It makes Jesus appear to be a judge and the person who selects who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Life then becomes reduced to being a system of reward and punishment. We become judges of one another, and our place in life is always uncertain based on whether from day to day we are good enough. St. Peter then stands at the gate to decide whether people get let in or locked out. And we stand to question the standards of one another to condemn some, and to welcome those who think and do things our way.
For some Jesus was extraordinarily human. He was of the earth. He suffered with people. He felt outrage over the injustices by the political powers. He hated to see the masses impoverished and used by a very small minority of the rich. He hated the exclusion of people from the Temple by virtue of status, and their health.
By and large we think of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. That could mean that Jesus is distant and militant. It could mean that he is the accessibility to the love of God, and a servant. He is the broker that opens the way for people to find peace and consolation from God. It could mean that Jesus is a suffering servant who is not at all distant but who in true outreach embraced the poor, the least, and the last, seeing them as worthy of God's redeeming love in spite of themselves.
How we see Jesus as Lord, and how we define him effects who we are. If Jesus is the great superhuman character then we see ourselves as struggling to be something that we cannot attain, or deluding ourselves into thinking we are superhuman hotshots. If Jesus is moralist than we stand to become judgmental people. If Jesus is human, accessible, holy and an expression of a profound love and forgiveness of God, our motivations are then to be servants with him. It does make a significant difference in us as we seek to be the body of Christ in the world as to how we perceive and identify the meaning of Christ in our lives.
Peter saw something of Jesus that was more than, or at least different from John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. He saw him as deliverer, messianic servant. He saw him as attached in some wonderful way with the loveliness of God, truly a holy man with divine attributes.
Jesus saw in Peter in all of his wavering a rock of faithfulness. And he shared with him the servanthood ministry and the keys that open the Domain of God to all those who search and want and need the redeeming love of God.
It's so important to be prayerful, to be knowledgeable of scripture, to keep our focus on Jesus as Lord of God's love so that we can be the instruments of faithfulness that keep the channels of grace open to those who seek for God that live around and among us. It is not enough to merely accept ancient doctrines. As cleverly worked out as they may be, they don't always speak to the present age. We must reclaim not dogma along, but what is heart felt. Jesus is my Lord, the love of my life. He challenges, and gives hope. He makes me what I am, a child of God, and partner in the bearing of the keys that open up heavens gates, that opens up new understandings of being in the domain of acceptance, forgiveness and love.
SEASON: PENTECOST 13
PROPER: 16A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 22, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 16:13-20 - Confession of Peter
He (Jesus) said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . . . ."
ISSUE: New identities are given. Through relationship and divine inspiration, Peter declares that Jesus is no longer the carpenter's son from godforsaken Nazareth, but Messiah and son of the living God. Peter is no longer just a fisherman but one who holds the authoritative keys that unlock doors for entry into the Kingdom of God's domain. Matthew is describing the formation of a new institution. The issue for us is how we ourselves identify Christ in our own lives and use that knowledge as his disciples. What does Jesus Christ mean and how do we live into that identification?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Arriving in Caesarea Philippi, a place that was supposed to have a wide variety of shrines to pagan gods, Jesus asks the question of Simon bar (son) of Jonah: Who do the people say that the Son of Man is? Peter replies that some say that the Son of Man is like John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. These three were men of great courage who stood up against great powers to proclaim what they felt the truth of God to be and what they felt was God's justice. Then Jesus asks Peter more specifically, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter boldly replies, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
More than likely most people today see this questioning of Jesus to his beloved disciple Simon as a kind of theological test. As if Jesus is saying, Simon, do you really know who I am, according to the Nicene Creed? It is in our thinking as if Jesus was completely clear about his identity and mission, and was testing his disciples. Americans would think this because we are very individualistic and have relatively clearly defined identities. We all have our Social Security number. And we pretty much define who we are and what we are going to be. This kind of clear identification was not so certain in the time of Jesus, the first century Middle Eastern culture. These people were not so individualistic, and identity came from other sources, primarily family, and then from stereotyping. Essentially, Jesus was son of Joseph. Jesus was then expected to be a carpenter following in his father's footsteps. He was also a Nazarene, coming from the town of Nazareth. Jesus' enemies of course would say he was Jesus, son of Joseph, a mere carpenter of no stature, because artisans had no property or honor. Some referred to him as Son of Mary, which may well have been insulting, since he was being defined as not having a father, and therefore a bastard. "Isn't he just the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where did Jesus get all this? And they took offense at him." Matt. 13:55-57) He is stereotyped as a Nazarene, and nothing good comes from Nazareth. Nazarenes are good-for-nothings. At this point, Jesus is not in Nazareth, and no longer a carpenter. He's become something of a deviant character without identity. So he asks Simon bar Jonah, a disciple: "Who do you say that I am?" It is to say, How is my identity be reshaped and redefined. For Jesus to make such a claim on his own would have been presumptuous and dishonoring. Who you were, your identity came from the community. Simon replies with those awesome titles, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Having accompanied Jesus and developed a close relationship, Simon is inspired. You are a deliver, messiah-like as was Jeremiah, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist. But you are also in close union with God. To know you Jesus is to be able to approach God the Father. You Jesus are the son who reveals the Father. Jesus saw Peter as clearly inspired, and a new clear identification is made of who Jesus is. It is a new dawning.
(It is also an identity that is not yet to be revealed to the larger community. A premature pronouncement like this would likely have met with great opposition as a yet a claim to honor of which Jesus was not yet considered to be worthy, nor understood in it proper context.)
Something is happening here in this account. Matthew seems to have set up this situation of Jesus being in a place of great religious diversity. Jesus is in a world where he is severely criticized and dishonored, and he receives a clearer inspired identity by his discipleship.
At the same time Jesus turns to Simon who has just had this diving inspiration and gives Simon a new identity as well. "You are Petros (Peter)," says Jesus. At this time 'Peter' was not a name, it simply meant 'rock.' Jesus gives Simon a nickname which is literally "Rocky." There are, of course, many scriptural references to God being like a rock, a fortress, a stronghold. (Ps.71, etc.) Jesus sees something of a godly strength in Peter as well. Jesus goes on to give Peter, Rocky, keys to the kingdom of God's domain. This gesture is to give Peter a real share in the rabbinic-like ministry of Jesus who was the one who came to liberate those who were oppressed. (This authority is also given to all the rest of the disciples in Matt. 18:18.) The keys were given in order that they would with Jesus unlock, open-up the way of to the love and truth of God, and of God's justice. It was truly an important responsibility.
Later in Matthew's account of the Gospel (Matt 23: 5ff), Jesus rigorously condemns some of the teachers, rabbis, and especially the Pharisees of this time. Their teachings about all the laws, says Jesus, seems to tie heavy burdens on people's backs that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren't willing to help them carry those loads. "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go it, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter!" says Jesus. (Matt. 23:13f) If Peter and the other disciples are to be rocks with Jesus, and to join in that calling to teach and to open, to unlock, to make accessible the way to God, they must be truly knowledgeable of who Jesus really is, and what his ministry is truly all about. The keys to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Domain of God are for the purpose of unlocking those things that prevent people from easy access to the justice and the love of a compassionate and merciful God. If you stand around doing the same old stuff, nothing happens. Misery, Hades, continues to prevail. But to turn the keys to unlock the way to God is to allow greater access for all people to step into the Kingdom of God.
What's going on here? Matthew is establishing a new clear identity of Jesus in a skeptical world, where many saw him as mere carpenter's son, from that place, Nazareth, from which no good can come. Matthew is giving clout to the disciples as the community with the keys for opening the way to the presence of God from which so many people have felt alienated through some of the previous teaching. Let me insert here that calling Peter, Rocky, has an element of humor for us. Peter was not always that rock like character. He is the one who walks on water but sinks. He's the one who betrays. He's the one who challenges Jesus. But he survives it all, and in that sense he is the prevailing rock. In this Caesarea Philippi, this place of many religions, and among the hostilities leveled at Jesus, Matthew establishes his identity and the firmness of his followers to be the gatekeepers, those with the keys to unlocking the way to God. This passage expresses the foundation of the church and purpose of its work.
I believe that the impact of this passage for us today is to keep in mind that it is still a valid question for us to prayerfully seek the meaning of Jesus' identity for us today. That identity influences us in how we carry out our discipleship and the church's mission. We too live in a kind of Caesarea Philippi. We live among a pluralistic variety of religions some of which are pagan. Keeping our identity and appreciation of whom we are and who Jesus Christ is for us in our world is still quite important.
For some people Jesus Christ is little more than a swear word.
For others the meaning of Jesus is something of a magical superman. He is like God who sits on a throne in the heavens somewhere and does or does not answer prayers. The problem with Jesus as a superman, or super human is that he is beyond our reach and ineffective. Jesus who becomes so grand becomes out of touch with our human condition. In his ultimate perfection he is beyond being the savior of the human condition.
For some Jesus is a moralist. He is the statement or measure of all that is good and bad. It makes Jesus appear to be a judge and the person who selects who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Life then becomes reduced to being a system of reward and punishment. We become judges of one another, and our place in life is always uncertain based on whether from day to day we are good enough. St. Peter then stands at the gate to decide whether people get let in or locked out. And we stand to question the standards of one another to condemn some, and to welcome those who think and do things our way.
For some Jesus was extraordinarily human. He was of the earth. He suffered with people. He felt outrage over the injustices by the political powers. He hated to see the masses impoverished and used by a very small minority of the rich. He hated the exclusion of people from the Temple by virtue of status, and their health.
By and large we think of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. That could mean that Jesus is distant and militant. It could mean that he is the accessibility to the love of God, and a servant. He is the broker that opens the way for people to find peace and consolation from God. It could mean that Jesus is a suffering servant who is not at all distant but who in true outreach embraced the poor, the least, and the last, seeing them as worthy of God's redeeming love in spite of themselves.
How we see Jesus as Lord, and how we define him effects who we are. If Jesus is the great superhuman character then we see ourselves as struggling to be something that we cannot attain, or deluding ourselves into thinking we are superhuman hotshots. If Jesus is moralist than we stand to become judgmental people. If Jesus is human, accessible, holy and an expression of a profound love and forgiveness of God, our motivations are then to be servants with him. It does make a significant difference in us as we seek to be the body of Christ in the world as to how we perceive and identify the meaning of Christ in our lives.
Peter saw something of Jesus that was more than, or at least different from John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. He saw him as deliverer, messianic servant. He saw him as attached in some wonderful way with the loveliness of God, truly a holy man with divine attributes.
Jesus saw in Peter in all of his wavering a rock of faithfulness. And he shared with him the servanthood ministry and the keys that open the Domain of God to all those who search and want and need the redeeming love of God.
It's so important to be prayerful, to be knowledgeable of scripture, to keep our focus on Jesus as Lord of God's love so that we can be the instruments of faithfulness that keep the channels of grace open to those who seek for God that live around and among us. It is not enough to merely accept ancient doctrines. As cleverly worked out as they may be, they don't always speak to the present age. We must reclaim not dogma along, but what is heart felt. Jesus is my Lord, the love of my life. He challenges, and gives hope. He makes me what I am, a child of God, and partner in the bearing of the keys that open up heavens gates, that opens up new understandings of being in the domain of acceptance, forgiveness and love.
Thursday, August 12, 1999
PENTECOST 12
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: PENTECOST 12
PROPER: 15A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 12, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 15:21-28 - The Healing of the Canaanite Woman's Daughter - "Jesus answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs' She said, "Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.'"
ISSUE: What do we do? What do we do? . . . . Today's gospel reading is a real challenge. Jesus comes across extraordinarily harsh condemning the Canaanite woman as a dog. The story indicates that Jesus gets converted by the woman who is so loyal to him. It tells of the early church that was sometimes exclusive and felt, like the disciple Peter, that the mission of the church was exclusively for the Jews. It challenges the church today in its exclusivity to an awareness that we sometimes must make shifts in our thinking as Jesus, symbolizing the early church, had to do. We must be extraordinarily conscious that we do not exclude those who desire to by loyal to Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The passage today from the gospel account of Matthew is certainly a very challenging one. we see Jesus in something of a very different light. He is certainly not the sweet gentle accepting Jesus in this passage. A woman follows after him pleading for the healing of her demon tormented daughter. The disciples want her sent away. Jesus replies after a significantly long period of completely ignoring her: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." What in the world is going on in this passage? What a contrast this Jesus in Matthew is from say, the Gospel account of Luke. Something is going on that is peculiar to the gospel account of Matthew. Earlier in the 10:6, Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and to heal, but in Matthew he clearly tells them to stay out of Gentile and Samaritan territory. Their ministry is to be exclusively for the lost sheep of Israel. Matthew's account of the gospel, it should be remembered, was a gospel largely directed to a Jewish community. Matthew is forever telling how Jesus is a fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture. We are also getting the real impression that it was felt by a significant faction of the early church that Matthew addressed that Jesus and that early church had a very limited view of its mission, to the lost people of Israel alone, i.e. the Jewish peasants.
In this period, Gentiles and Samaritans (half-breed Jews) were seen as unclean and impure people. They were the dogs. Good Jewish men and women did not associate with dogs, Gentiles and Samaritans. Be careful here not to say weren't those Jews awful. Understand that this was the culture of the period, and Samaritans and Gentiles were every bit has hateful. The Romans were brutal (bastards), and were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. So much of all of this was cultural.
In the story Jesus has traveled into Canananite territory around Tyre and Sidon. A dirty polluted woman comes chasing after him, pleading for mercy and healing because she has a daughter possessed by demons, somehow mentally disturbed. Jesus and the disciples ignore her. Jewish men regularly talk with strange woman, not to mention foreign unclean women. But she is persistant and annoying, demanding mercy. Incidentally, "mercy" did not mean compassion. It meant "you owe me." So the pleading is Jesus you owe me the healing. The disciples want her sent away. Finally, as a result of frustration, Jesus stops to hear her out. He condescends to her, which was a challenge to his honor and status, because he has already taught his disciples earlier that their mission is not to the Gentiles and Samaritans. But the woman kneels before him, prostrating herself before him, she honors him with humility before him. She honors him with the title, "Lord, son of David," help me. She gives him a royal title. Jesus says to her just what you might expect a good Jewish man to say to a impure Canaanite woman who challenges him: "It is not right to take the children's food, [- or bread which is a symbol of salvation - ] and throw it to the dogs.[you Gentile women.] Now, mind you, there would have been a crowd of people around observing Jesus and this exchange, for it was very public as was most of Jesus' ministry. Another aspect of this time was that people challenged one another. The Pharisees were forever challenging Jesus, and Jesus was so good at combacks, retorts, riposte which enabled him to maintain his status and honor. Not this time! The Caananite woman responds: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." She, the Canaanite bitch, won the game!
Jesus then says, "Woman great is your faith, i.e. loyalty. Let it be done as you wish." The child is healed, pulled into the community, restored, with her mother. But what is really profound is that in this story JESUS IS CONVERTED!
Do you see what is happening here? We know from Markan, Lukan, and Johannine accounts of the Gospel that Jesus was assuredly inclusive in this thinking. There are parables told by Jesus like the Good Samaritan, and the Ten Lepers where Jesus held Samaritans and Gentiles in good standing. However in Matthew's community there were still many good Jews who were still holding on to the fact that this new Way of Jesus was intended only for the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew is telling this story to these "exclusivity lovers" that loved and Honored Jesus, if Jesus who was himself a good Jew, a very good Jew could himself be converted, changed, to be accepting, than so could they! You get the distinct impression from Matthew's story that Jesus, a symbol (?) here of the early church, really had to struggle in these days when the church was growing fast with these kinds of significant issues as to who could be the members of the church. It would seem that it was not so much an issue of who was moral, pure, impure, immoral, or unclean. It seems the issue was who is first and foremost faithful and loyal to the way of Jesus Christ.
This story may well have reminded the exlusive Israelites of their beloved Elijah who had the Gentile widow of Zarephath in Sidon bake bread for him, and who brought her back to life. Jesus too is the Elijah who condescends to embracing the impure. But the conversion of the early church did not come easy; it was a struggle. The disciple Peter in the Christian scriptures for the longest time was a real hold out, demanding that Christians had to first become good Jews. It was St. Paul who challenged that and began his significant ministry to the so called impure Gentiles requiring of them only loyalty, faith. Paul knew his Hebrew Scriptures of which we read a significant passage from Isaiah 56:1-7, which concluded:
"And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to ministre to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their brunt offers and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shal be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
In the life of the church today and in our recent history we have still struggled and wrestled with the issues of who belongs, and is worthy of the blessings of the church which is the body of Christ in the world. There are those whom we have looked down upon. For a very long time, and still today, the Jewish people have been looked down upon by Christians as less than godly people. We have seen black people as inferior and unclean, lacking purity. Even though some have condescended to saying we accept black people, that acceptance was compromised by equal but so long as they were separate from the white race.
The church in terms of its people have not been exempt from looking down on the poor and the homeless as distinctly excluded from the church because of class distinctions.
We have not been welcoming to the physically challenged, which the structures of our churches sometimes well bear witness too, through very short-sighted building and planning. The elderly people who contributed for years to the very temples in which we worship are often tragically forgotten in their senior years. The terminally ill are often forgotten because of the challenge that they present to us in the facing of our own mortality.
We have often established what we to be morrally right and pass judgment on others as if we had the be all and end all in what God has to say. We become God's judge and jury, without recognizing that times and thinking, and the ongoing compassion and understanding of God has and does go through significant changes. For extended periods of time the church has, still does in some instances, exclude by beliefs those who have been divorced.
Many people today are spiritually yearning and seeking admission to the presence of God. Many seek Christ, and desire to be loyal and committed. Who are they? Can the church truly be a house of prayer for all people?
A woman considered to be impure by the standards of the time came pleading with Jesus for mercy. She believed that if he was what the early church believed him to be than he owed her acceptance and healing. At the same time she was loyal to him, insistent, and persistant. If Jesus, Lord and Son of David, could be changed, what are we to say of ourselves? What are we to do in our world and time? Can we be true to our mission as the people of God, the extention of Jesus Christ in the world? What are we to do with the issues that face us as Christians in the world today?
SEASON: PENTECOST 12
PROPER: 15A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 12, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 15:21-28 - The Healing of the Canaanite Woman's Daughter - "Jesus answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs' She said, "Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.'"
ISSUE: What do we do? What do we do? . . . . Today's gospel reading is a real challenge. Jesus comes across extraordinarily harsh condemning the Canaanite woman as a dog. The story indicates that Jesus gets converted by the woman who is so loyal to him. It tells of the early church that was sometimes exclusive and felt, like the disciple Peter, that the mission of the church was exclusively for the Jews. It challenges the church today in its exclusivity to an awareness that we sometimes must make shifts in our thinking as Jesus, symbolizing the early church, had to do. We must be extraordinarily conscious that we do not exclude those who desire to by loyal to Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The passage today from the gospel account of Matthew is certainly a very challenging one. we see Jesus in something of a very different light. He is certainly not the sweet gentle accepting Jesus in this passage. A woman follows after him pleading for the healing of her demon tormented daughter. The disciples want her sent away. Jesus replies after a significantly long period of completely ignoring her: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." What in the world is going on in this passage? What a contrast this Jesus in Matthew is from say, the Gospel account of Luke. Something is going on that is peculiar to the gospel account of Matthew. Earlier in the 10:6, Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and to heal, but in Matthew he clearly tells them to stay out of Gentile and Samaritan territory. Their ministry is to be exclusively for the lost sheep of Israel. Matthew's account of the gospel, it should be remembered, was a gospel largely directed to a Jewish community. Matthew is forever telling how Jesus is a fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture. We are also getting the real impression that it was felt by a significant faction of the early church that Matthew addressed that Jesus and that early church had a very limited view of its mission, to the lost people of Israel alone, i.e. the Jewish peasants.
In this period, Gentiles and Samaritans (half-breed Jews) were seen as unclean and impure people. They were the dogs. Good Jewish men and women did not associate with dogs, Gentiles and Samaritans. Be careful here not to say weren't those Jews awful. Understand that this was the culture of the period, and Samaritans and Gentiles were every bit has hateful. The Romans were brutal (bastards), and were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. So much of all of this was cultural.
In the story Jesus has traveled into Canananite territory around Tyre and Sidon. A dirty polluted woman comes chasing after him, pleading for mercy and healing because she has a daughter possessed by demons, somehow mentally disturbed. Jesus and the disciples ignore her. Jewish men regularly talk with strange woman, not to mention foreign unclean women. But she is persistant and annoying, demanding mercy. Incidentally, "mercy" did not mean compassion. It meant "you owe me." So the pleading is Jesus you owe me the healing. The disciples want her sent away. Finally, as a result of frustration, Jesus stops to hear her out. He condescends to her, which was a challenge to his honor and status, because he has already taught his disciples earlier that their mission is not to the Gentiles and Samaritans. But the woman kneels before him, prostrating herself before him, she honors him with humility before him. She honors him with the title, "Lord, son of David," help me. She gives him a royal title. Jesus says to her just what you might expect a good Jewish man to say to a impure Canaanite woman who challenges him: "It is not right to take the children's food, [- or bread which is a symbol of salvation - ] and throw it to the dogs.[you Gentile women.] Now, mind you, there would have been a crowd of people around observing Jesus and this exchange, for it was very public as was most of Jesus' ministry. Another aspect of this time was that people challenged one another. The Pharisees were forever challenging Jesus, and Jesus was so good at combacks, retorts, riposte which enabled him to maintain his status and honor. Not this time! The Caananite woman responds: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." She, the Canaanite bitch, won the game!
Jesus then says, "Woman great is your faith, i.e. loyalty. Let it be done as you wish." The child is healed, pulled into the community, restored, with her mother. But what is really profound is that in this story JESUS IS CONVERTED!
Do you see what is happening here? We know from Markan, Lukan, and Johannine accounts of the Gospel that Jesus was assuredly inclusive in this thinking. There are parables told by Jesus like the Good Samaritan, and the Ten Lepers where Jesus held Samaritans and Gentiles in good standing. However in Matthew's community there were still many good Jews who were still holding on to the fact that this new Way of Jesus was intended only for the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew is telling this story to these "exclusivity lovers" that loved and Honored Jesus, if Jesus who was himself a good Jew, a very good Jew could himself be converted, changed, to be accepting, than so could they! You get the distinct impression from Matthew's story that Jesus, a symbol (?) here of the early church, really had to struggle in these days when the church was growing fast with these kinds of significant issues as to who could be the members of the church. It would seem that it was not so much an issue of who was moral, pure, impure, immoral, or unclean. It seems the issue was who is first and foremost faithful and loyal to the way of Jesus Christ.
This story may well have reminded the exlusive Israelites of their beloved Elijah who had the Gentile widow of Zarephath in Sidon bake bread for him, and who brought her back to life. Jesus too is the Elijah who condescends to embracing the impure. But the conversion of the early church did not come easy; it was a struggle. The disciple Peter in the Christian scriptures for the longest time was a real hold out, demanding that Christians had to first become good Jews. It was St. Paul who challenged that and began his significant ministry to the so called impure Gentiles requiring of them only loyalty, faith. Paul knew his Hebrew Scriptures of which we read a significant passage from Isaiah 56:1-7, which concluded:
"And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to ministre to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their brunt offers and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shal be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
In the life of the church today and in our recent history we have still struggled and wrestled with the issues of who belongs, and is worthy of the blessings of the church which is the body of Christ in the world. There are those whom we have looked down upon. For a very long time, and still today, the Jewish people have been looked down upon by Christians as less than godly people. We have seen black people as inferior and unclean, lacking purity. Even though some have condescended to saying we accept black people, that acceptance was compromised by equal but so long as they were separate from the white race.
The church in terms of its people have not been exempt from looking down on the poor and the homeless as distinctly excluded from the church because of class distinctions.
We have not been welcoming to the physically challenged, which the structures of our churches sometimes well bear witness too, through very short-sighted building and planning. The elderly people who contributed for years to the very temples in which we worship are often tragically forgotten in their senior years. The terminally ill are often forgotten because of the challenge that they present to us in the facing of our own mortality.
We have often established what we to be morrally right and pass judgment on others as if we had the be all and end all in what God has to say. We become God's judge and jury, without recognizing that times and thinking, and the ongoing compassion and understanding of God has and does go through significant changes. For extended periods of time the church has, still does in some instances, exclude by beliefs those who have been divorced.
Many people today are spiritually yearning and seeking admission to the presence of God. Many seek Christ, and desire to be loyal and committed. Who are they? Can the church truly be a house of prayer for all people?
A woman considered to be impure by the standards of the time came pleading with Jesus for mercy. She believed that if he was what the early church believed him to be than he owed her acceptance and healing. At the same time she was loyal to him, insistent, and persistant. If Jesus, Lord and Son of David, could be changed, what are we to say of ourselves? What are we to do in our world and time? Can we be true to our mission as the people of God, the extention of Jesus Christ in the world? What are we to do with the issues that face us as Christians in the world today?
Sunday, August 8, 1999
Pentecost 11
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 11
PROPER: 14A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 8,1999
TEXT: Matthew 14:22-33 - Jesus Walks on the Sea, and Calls Peter to Join Him.
"Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, " Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
ISSUE: Following the wilderness place of chaos where the great feeding took place, the new scene is on a stormy lake, another place of fear, chaos, and evil spirits, Jesus appears to frightened disciples. If they are faithful (loyal) they shall be able to walk with him on the chaos and command it to be calm. Keeping focused on Christ is the ultimate salvation of us and Christ's church. The passage also begins to emphasize the divinity of Jesus which seems coupled to his close prayerful relationship with the father. In both instances of feeding and calming storms Jesus' power comes after prayerful times.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The biblical stories about Jesus walking on water, and Peter also being called to step out on a stormy sea has sometimes been met with humor if not some ridicule. These stories of Jesus walking on water are not quite as palatable as others biblical events in this scientific and technological age. But before we right the story off completely, I think it is helpful again to appreciate the story and its meaning, especially as it was addressed to the people of the first century. It is essentially the meaning of the stories that we are after. What was intended to be conveyed by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or Paul even, as they related stories that had come passed down to them. Ancient peoples may in some ways have lacked in sophistication as we understand it, but they were not stupid people. The concept of Jesus walking on the water had meaning for them.
Some scholars suggest that the story may have been a misplaced Resurrection Story, which depicts Jesus walking like a ghost on the water. At first like so many of the resurrection stories Jesus is not recognized. This interpretation is a possibility, but Matthew has placed it, I believe in a significant spot in which it follows the Feeding of the 5,000. The account of Jesus walking on water follows in Matthew right after the Feeding of the 5,000. The Miraculous Feeding story took place in the wilderness or a green hillside away from towns and villages. Wilderness or desert places were seen as places where evil spirits prevailed and dwelled. In this place Jesus who has gone there to pray alone seems to be a holy man who has control over the power of spirits. This place to be feared, this place of chaos, became a place of feeding and nurturing. Disciples were invited to participate in the feeding in the conveying of the nurturing nourishing power of God. In this empty but spirit laden place, the power of God was present in Jesus.
In this next scene Jesus again goes away to pray, to be alone with the Father. Matthew indicates that Jesus made or commanded his disciples to get into the boat and return to the other side of the lake. Jesus seeks a solitary time for being with the Father.
Now Jesus' disciples many of whom are fishermen set sail and begin the crossing of the Sea of Galilee. Keep in mind what it was like to be a fisherman in this period. It was not an easy occupation and it certainly was not lucrative. The right to fish was granted by tax collectors who worked for the Roman government. The right to fish, and the tax on the right, was costly. Catching fish is itself risky. Sometimes you had a good catch, and sometimes the nets were empty. After the tax, you were subject to the market and its varying prices. It was an extremely difficult way to make a living. No one got rich or attained much status by virtue of being a fisherman.
The sea so far as the Jewish community was concerned was another place of chaos where evil spirits dwelled. The wind was a spirit and was totally unpredictable, often quite destructive. In fact, the sea was what in creation a place of great chaos, and it was what God pushed away in order to form the dry land. The place for Adam and Eve to live in the Garden. The Red Sea block Moses and his people from cross into the Promised Land, until God pushes the sea aside for the saving crossing. The sea for these people was very suspect. There were weird and strange creatures in it. Israel never had a navy. They were never a seafaring country. What's more, is the fact that the Sea of Galilee which was not really terribly large was given to some really forceful storms that came quickly, abruptly, off the surrounding desert.
In this story as it is told by Matthew you have very poor peasants who have been selected to be Jesus disciples. They are the inhabitants of a chaotic and unpredictable world. They are subject to the chaos and the fickle evil spirits. They are in the dark.
Again, however, you have the dawning of a new day. Jesus, having come down from the mountain where he was praying sees the distress of his disciples and walks out on the water and calls to them in the terrified distress not to be afraid, but to take courage. Peter, who is the traditional spokesman for the group says, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus tells Peter to come, and he dares to step out of the boat on the rough storm sea and walk to Jesus. But when Peter loses his concentration and notices the real roughness of the sea, he begins to sink, if not drown. But Jesus reaches him and reminds him not to be afraid, but to keep focused, have faith, which means to remain loyal. In this instance Peter is very Jonah like. He is about to be swallowed by the sea, but finds and ultimate salvation in God. Peter finds his salvation through Jesus Christ. When Peter and Jesus get into the boat together the wind and storm cease.
What is Matthew attempting to convey in this story. There are several things, I believe. The poor and the disenfranchised are acceptable to God through the inviting and hospitable Christ. The world that they live in can be and is chaotic. They must not be afraid, but remain loyal and Jesus Christ will see them through the storms. Matthew is addressing the early church of largely peasant peoples who were facing significant chaos, oppression, and persecution. They lived in a world of a great deal of evil spiritedness. The message of Jesus is to be faithful, to remain loyal, and to keep focused on him, and they will be able to venture out on an impossible mission, as impossible as walking on the sea. What we also see in this story is the developing understanding, or a developing theology that Jesus is Lord, that truly unmistakably Jesus is the Son of God. He has power over both land, where the Feeding of the 5,000 took place, and over the sea. He is Lord who calms and claims the chaos of the world. And those who keep loyal and focused on him will participate in the impossible mission of restoring God's Kingdom, Reign, or Domain to the world.
I think there is still another significant point to this story, as there was in the story last week of the Feeding of the 5,000. that Matthew is making. In each instance Jesus has gone away alone to pray. That is, Jesus has gone to be in communion with God the Father. Jesus is like the broker of God's power. Through that close prayerful connection with God the Father, Jesus becomes empowered. He then conveys that power to the disciples. "You feed the multitude," he tells them. "Yes," he says to Peter. Step out on the sea and come to me. Dare to risk the impossible because the power of God is with us through prayer, through union with God.
You see, the story as Matthew tells it is not concerned with the literalness of whether or not people can really walk on water. It is about the power of God revealed in Jesus Christ to bring new hope to a dawning day. In storminess, in chaos, in evil spiritedness keeping focused on Christ who is with God, we are given with Christ the power to overcome the chaos. Just keep loyal and focused on Jesus Christ as Lord, and you enter into a new world, as impossible as that may seem, a world where love, compassion, mercy prevail over punishment, judgmentalness, feuding, hatred, violence, and misunderstanding.
The passage for us today dares us to step out in faith and loyalty. It is often much more comfortable for us to stay in the boat, and try to ride out the storms, but even that can be riskier than stepping out to walk with Christ. Boats sink, even the best of them, the Titanic. We like security, but stockmarkets sink. We can lock our doors and bar our windows against madmen and terrorists with hammers, guns, but you have to step outside sometime or die or drown in the prison of our own making. The passage of scripture this story of walking on the water calls us to walk with Christ on the battering waves. Dare to do the impossible. Keep loving, keep caring, keep sharing, keep being merciful, being compassionate, doing your part in God's plan. Keep focused on Jesus Christ as opposed to the turmoil, keep in union with him. Will there be moments of doubt and slipping? You bet, the best do, as Peter did. But the saving hand of God revealed in Christ still prevails.
"God changed the sea into dry land; our ancestors crossed the river on foot. There we rejoiced because of what he did." Psalm 66:6
SEASON: Pentecost 11
PROPER: 14A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 8,1999
TEXT: Matthew 14:22-33 - Jesus Walks on the Sea, and Calls Peter to Join Him.
"Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, " Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
ISSUE: Following the wilderness place of chaos where the great feeding took place, the new scene is on a stormy lake, another place of fear, chaos, and evil spirits, Jesus appears to frightened disciples. If they are faithful (loyal) they shall be able to walk with him on the chaos and command it to be calm. Keeping focused on Christ is the ultimate salvation of us and Christ's church. The passage also begins to emphasize the divinity of Jesus which seems coupled to his close prayerful relationship with the father. In both instances of feeding and calming storms Jesus' power comes after prayerful times.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The biblical stories about Jesus walking on water, and Peter also being called to step out on a stormy sea has sometimes been met with humor if not some ridicule. These stories of Jesus walking on water are not quite as palatable as others biblical events in this scientific and technological age. But before we right the story off completely, I think it is helpful again to appreciate the story and its meaning, especially as it was addressed to the people of the first century. It is essentially the meaning of the stories that we are after. What was intended to be conveyed by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or Paul even, as they related stories that had come passed down to them. Ancient peoples may in some ways have lacked in sophistication as we understand it, but they were not stupid people. The concept of Jesus walking on the water had meaning for them.
Some scholars suggest that the story may have been a misplaced Resurrection Story, which depicts Jesus walking like a ghost on the water. At first like so many of the resurrection stories Jesus is not recognized. This interpretation is a possibility, but Matthew has placed it, I believe in a significant spot in which it follows the Feeding of the 5,000. The account of Jesus walking on water follows in Matthew right after the Feeding of the 5,000. The Miraculous Feeding story took place in the wilderness or a green hillside away from towns and villages. Wilderness or desert places were seen as places where evil spirits prevailed and dwelled. In this place Jesus who has gone there to pray alone seems to be a holy man who has control over the power of spirits. This place to be feared, this place of chaos, became a place of feeding and nurturing. Disciples were invited to participate in the feeding in the conveying of the nurturing nourishing power of God. In this empty but spirit laden place, the power of God was present in Jesus.
In this next scene Jesus again goes away to pray, to be alone with the Father. Matthew indicates that Jesus made or commanded his disciples to get into the boat and return to the other side of the lake. Jesus seeks a solitary time for being with the Father.
Now Jesus' disciples many of whom are fishermen set sail and begin the crossing of the Sea of Galilee. Keep in mind what it was like to be a fisherman in this period. It was not an easy occupation and it certainly was not lucrative. The right to fish was granted by tax collectors who worked for the Roman government. The right to fish, and the tax on the right, was costly. Catching fish is itself risky. Sometimes you had a good catch, and sometimes the nets were empty. After the tax, you were subject to the market and its varying prices. It was an extremely difficult way to make a living. No one got rich or attained much status by virtue of being a fisherman.
The sea so far as the Jewish community was concerned was another place of chaos where evil spirits dwelled. The wind was a spirit and was totally unpredictable, often quite destructive. In fact, the sea was what in creation a place of great chaos, and it was what God pushed away in order to form the dry land. The place for Adam and Eve to live in the Garden. The Red Sea block Moses and his people from cross into the Promised Land, until God pushes the sea aside for the saving crossing. The sea for these people was very suspect. There were weird and strange creatures in it. Israel never had a navy. They were never a seafaring country. What's more, is the fact that the Sea of Galilee which was not really terribly large was given to some really forceful storms that came quickly, abruptly, off the surrounding desert.
In this story as it is told by Matthew you have very poor peasants who have been selected to be Jesus disciples. They are the inhabitants of a chaotic and unpredictable world. They are subject to the chaos and the fickle evil spirits. They are in the dark.
Again, however, you have the dawning of a new day. Jesus, having come down from the mountain where he was praying sees the distress of his disciples and walks out on the water and calls to them in the terrified distress not to be afraid, but to take courage. Peter, who is the traditional spokesman for the group says, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus tells Peter to come, and he dares to step out of the boat on the rough storm sea and walk to Jesus. But when Peter loses his concentration and notices the real roughness of the sea, he begins to sink, if not drown. But Jesus reaches him and reminds him not to be afraid, but to keep focused, have faith, which means to remain loyal. In this instance Peter is very Jonah like. He is about to be swallowed by the sea, but finds and ultimate salvation in God. Peter finds his salvation through Jesus Christ. When Peter and Jesus get into the boat together the wind and storm cease.
What is Matthew attempting to convey in this story. There are several things, I believe. The poor and the disenfranchised are acceptable to God through the inviting and hospitable Christ. The world that they live in can be and is chaotic. They must not be afraid, but remain loyal and Jesus Christ will see them through the storms. Matthew is addressing the early church of largely peasant peoples who were facing significant chaos, oppression, and persecution. They lived in a world of a great deal of evil spiritedness. The message of Jesus is to be faithful, to remain loyal, and to keep focused on him, and they will be able to venture out on an impossible mission, as impossible as walking on the sea. What we also see in this story is the developing understanding, or a developing theology that Jesus is Lord, that truly unmistakably Jesus is the Son of God. He has power over both land, where the Feeding of the 5,000 took place, and over the sea. He is Lord who calms and claims the chaos of the world. And those who keep loyal and focused on him will participate in the impossible mission of restoring God's Kingdom, Reign, or Domain to the world.
I think there is still another significant point to this story, as there was in the story last week of the Feeding of the 5,000. that Matthew is making. In each instance Jesus has gone away alone to pray. That is, Jesus has gone to be in communion with God the Father. Jesus is like the broker of God's power. Through that close prayerful connection with God the Father, Jesus becomes empowered. He then conveys that power to the disciples. "You feed the multitude," he tells them. "Yes," he says to Peter. Step out on the sea and come to me. Dare to risk the impossible because the power of God is with us through prayer, through union with God.
You see, the story as Matthew tells it is not concerned with the literalness of whether or not people can really walk on water. It is about the power of God revealed in Jesus Christ to bring new hope to a dawning day. In storminess, in chaos, in evil spiritedness keeping focused on Christ who is with God, we are given with Christ the power to overcome the chaos. Just keep loyal and focused on Jesus Christ as Lord, and you enter into a new world, as impossible as that may seem, a world where love, compassion, mercy prevail over punishment, judgmentalness, feuding, hatred, violence, and misunderstanding.
The passage for us today dares us to step out in faith and loyalty. It is often much more comfortable for us to stay in the boat, and try to ride out the storms, but even that can be riskier than stepping out to walk with Christ. Boats sink, even the best of them, the Titanic. We like security, but stockmarkets sink. We can lock our doors and bar our windows against madmen and terrorists with hammers, guns, but you have to step outside sometime or die or drown in the prison of our own making. The passage of scripture this story of walking on the water calls us to walk with Christ on the battering waves. Dare to do the impossible. Keep loving, keep caring, keep sharing, keep being merciful, being compassionate, doing your part in God's plan. Keep focused on Jesus Christ as opposed to the turmoil, keep in union with him. Will there be moments of doubt and slipping? You bet, the best do, as Peter did. But the saving hand of God revealed in Christ still prevails.
"God changed the sea into dry land; our ancestors crossed the river on foot. There we rejoiced because of what he did." Psalm 66:6
Sunday, August 1, 1999
10 Pentecost
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: 10 Pentecost
PROPER: 13A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 1, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 14:13-21 - Feeding the 5,000
"They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
(The reading may begin with Matt. 14:1-12 for contrast.)
ISSUE: The Feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle story reported in all four of the Gospel accounts. It apparently had important and significant meaning for the early church. It follows and may be in contrast to another banquet story, that of Herod's banquet which results in John the Baptists murder. It is a story then of the new beginning and shifting to Jesus as the messianic hope where feeding and restoring of life and hope to demoralized people is in sharp contrast. The story is reminiscent of the works of Moses and Elisha. The story also calls the discipleship to task as teachers (feeders) with the Healer, Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The story of the Feeding of the 5,000 is one of the most significant stories in the Gospels. It is the only miracle to appear in all four accounts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Obviously the story meant a great deal to the early Christian community. Indeed, I think, it is a story that was then, and is still a story rich in meaning.
I'd like you to notice the setting or placement of the story in Matthew's Gospel account. It follows immediately behind another banquet story, and a tragic one. It may be that Matthew is setting these two banquet stories in contrast to one another. The first is the story of Herod's sumptuous birthday party. At the party his voluptuous daughter dances for him, and in shear delight he offers her anything she wants. In cohoots with her mother who had reason to see John the Baptist as her enemy, Salome asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod to save face, knowing full well the implication of this action, orders the murder of John the Baptist. Here's a very worldly sumptuous banquet which ends in the murder of a holy man.
John the Baptist who had been a prophet and preacher in the wilderness, a holy man, who undoubtedly had a significant following, of which Jesus may well have been and was likely to have been a part, is murdered. That event had to have a signficant impact on the peasantry in the area, as holy men in the community would have provided hope and godly presence to many of the poor and desenfranchised peasants. Then, you have a transition of their turning in a very large multitude to Jesus. And here with him another wilderness banquet takes place.
Let me point out that the gathering of 5,000 people in this time was just an enormous gathering of people. Most prominent towns barely had 10,000 people in them. There is no way of counting exactly if it was 5,000 precisely, but it had to be a significant number of people who at this point turn to Jesus. Matthew says that the 5,000 didn't even count the number of women and children. (Women and children in Jesus' time literally did not count.) But the point is that both women and children turned to him as well as the men.
Jesus supposedly went to be alone, which was in these days considered to be deviant behavior. Being alone was suspect, you must be up to something. This culture was very group oriented, although Jesus presumably did have his close disciples with him. The wilderness was also considered to be a place of chaos. It was a place of evil spirits, and only a person who could deal with evil spirits would spend time in the wilderness. But in light of the great tragedy of John's loss it may have had something to do with Jesus departure from the community, or a set up by Matthew in telling the story, because this was a time of loss and chaos for so many peasant people. They follow Jesus into the desert place, the place of chaos.
When this very large community gathers in the wilderness, it becomes of time of great compassion for them. It becomes a time of healing. Remember that healing in Jesus' time was not "cure" as we understand it, but of acceptance and restoration to community. Truly great feeling and concern for these people who have just lost another shepherd in John the Baptist is taking place. As the hour gets late, the disciples come to him and indicate the people are hungry and should go to nearby villages to buy food. But Jesus says to his disciples, " They need not go away, but you give them something to eat." The disciples are a bit frustrated by this because all they have is five loaves (pita bread like loaves), and two small fish. (They are by the sea.) Jesus takes what they have. Again notice the great contrast of 5,000 plus people, and only five tiny loaves and two fish, and the multitude is fed in this banquet of great abundance, where life is given, and not death and murder. Order and hope and feeding is being brought to the chaos of these people's lives. There's more than enough to go around.
Let's pick up on what seems to be going on and what Matthew is attempting to convey when he tells this story. There is the world of Herod the King, and there is the Domain of God. People did not picnic in chaos or in the wilderness. But surely, they may well have felt that their lives were in great distress and poverty, and their rulers were cruel, if not evil bufoons, and perhaps that's where the real chaos lay. Jesus is quite deviant, different from the world, and enters the wilderness to heal, restore the lost, the least, and the last. He is there to feed them. For the people of this time, the story was very reminiscent of Moses in the chaotic wilderness with the people of God who had attempted to escape oppression in Egypt. Frightened for their lives, through Moses leadership they received the Manna of God, or Bread of God from heaven, the bread in the wilderness. (Ex.16:4-8) It recalls the prophet Elisha (2Kings 4:42-44) who had 100 prophets with him, and Baal Shalishah brings him 20 loaves of bread. Elisha tells him to feed the prophets, but the servant replies< "Do you think this is enough for a hundred men?" Elisha replies, "Give it to them to eat, because the Lord says that they will eat and still have some left over." And it was so. Moses and Elisha were messianic figures, deliverers of the people. Matthew like the other evangelists is reporting that Jesus is like this, and more so. He can feed a multitude and there is still an abundance left over.
Who is eating? Everyone. Women and children, men. A whole crowd of people from every walk of life are present with Jesus, the pure and the impure, the outcasts, they're likely to all have been there eating together with Jesus in a world where people did not do that. People were often separated by gender, class, status, honor. You have a community of people who are in chaos coming for healing and hope, and for feeding. It is in a sense the foererunning messianic banquet referred to in Isaiah 25:6 "Here on Mount Zion the Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for the nations of the world - a banquet of the riches food and the finest wine. Here he will remove the clous of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations." The Feeding of the 5,000 may not have been a sumptuous as that, but it did feed a multitude.
In the feeding experience, Jesus takes the bread, blesses, and distributes it. This action was obviously related to the Last Supper. It is the Eucharistic action of the Liturgy as it comes down to us today, where people are fed with spiritual food. It is not all of this is so much miraculous as it tells who Jesus is. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is the hope and revelation of God in the world of chaos. As the poor peasants gathered in the pasture, sitting in the grass. We are reminded, as was Matthew's people: He leadeth me into green pastures, where my cup runs over. They eat fish, and of course the other place in the New Testament where there is a mention of eating fish is when Jesus eats fish with his disciples after his resurrection. Fish is the food of resurrection and hope.
In this wonderful and cherished scene of Jesus in the midst of these hurting people is healing and feeding, and the feeding is teaching. That's still what we gather for at the Eucharist is healing, restoration in the brokeness and alienation of our lives, and the teaching of God's redeeming love and acceptance, and the faith that helps us live in the world. In a world of chaos and where goodness often seems to be in short supply, it is faith in Christ Jesus that brings healing, food for thought and nourishment of God, and hope of resurrection in great abundance. Jesus is the great bountiful host.
In Jesus' time to eat a meal was a special experience. It was a ceremonial ritualistic experience. People lingered over their meal. They tell me that business meals even today by middle Eastern business men are quite lengthy. It is a time of getting to know one another, a time for discussion, debate, a time of learning. You get more that what you bargain for. It is bountiful experience. I think that this is what is being conveyed in this imporant story of the life of the church. Lingering in the presence of Christ in a harsh cruel chaotic world brought about an healing abundance of love, acceptance, and hope. God was abundantly in the midst of them, in a place where they may least have expected to find it. John the Baptist was gone. That's what the cruelty of the world sometimes does. But God goes on healing, feeding, teaching in Christ, and the world could not over come him.
We still live in the world of the "Herods" of various sorts and condition. There is a lot of cruelty, face-saving antics, dishonorable people in corporate America and in politics. Evil and injustice is a fact of our lives.. We are all sometimes the victims of that world, and sometimes we are the willing participants in that world. We all know some pain suffering, shame, brokeness and spiritual poverty at various times in our lives. Herod's world can at times be so frightening, so cruel. We need the healing and teaching, the hope, the feeding for our spiritual poverty. We need at times to be with God in the wilderness that is turn to greener pasture where the cup of love, mercy and compassion overflows. The passage tells us today that Jesus is the way to God. He provides what we need.
Sometimes people think and preachers teach that the great miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is that Jesus really got everybody there to share their lunch. That's really typical American thinking: It is really a miracle if you can get people to share. In Jesus time people naturally shared. It was the honorable thing to do and a pre-industrial world of limited supplies. The real wonder of this story is that people found Jesus Christ to be their hope and their Lord, their way to God. So the story is told over and over and over again, and cherished by the church community. Now the disciples know they don't have to send people home hungry. . . they can feed the starving. . . . and may we can too.
SEASON: 10 Pentecost
PROPER: 13A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 1, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 14:13-21 - Feeding the 5,000
"They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
(The reading may begin with Matt. 14:1-12 for contrast.)
ISSUE: The Feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle story reported in all four of the Gospel accounts. It apparently had important and significant meaning for the early church. It follows and may be in contrast to another banquet story, that of Herod's banquet which results in John the Baptists murder. It is a story then of the new beginning and shifting to Jesus as the messianic hope where feeding and restoring of life and hope to demoralized people is in sharp contrast. The story is reminiscent of the works of Moses and Elisha. The story also calls the discipleship to task as teachers (feeders) with the Healer, Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The story of the Feeding of the 5,000 is one of the most significant stories in the Gospels. It is the only miracle to appear in all four accounts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Obviously the story meant a great deal to the early Christian community. Indeed, I think, it is a story that was then, and is still a story rich in meaning.
I'd like you to notice the setting or placement of the story in Matthew's Gospel account. It follows immediately behind another banquet story, and a tragic one. It may be that Matthew is setting these two banquet stories in contrast to one another. The first is the story of Herod's sumptuous birthday party. At the party his voluptuous daughter dances for him, and in shear delight he offers her anything she wants. In cohoots with her mother who had reason to see John the Baptist as her enemy, Salome asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod to save face, knowing full well the implication of this action, orders the murder of John the Baptist. Here's a very worldly sumptuous banquet which ends in the murder of a holy man.
John the Baptist who had been a prophet and preacher in the wilderness, a holy man, who undoubtedly had a significant following, of which Jesus may well have been and was likely to have been a part, is murdered. That event had to have a signficant impact on the peasantry in the area, as holy men in the community would have provided hope and godly presence to many of the poor and desenfranchised peasants. Then, you have a transition of their turning in a very large multitude to Jesus. And here with him another wilderness banquet takes place.
Let me point out that the gathering of 5,000 people in this time was just an enormous gathering of people. Most prominent towns barely had 10,000 people in them. There is no way of counting exactly if it was 5,000 precisely, but it had to be a significant number of people who at this point turn to Jesus. Matthew says that the 5,000 didn't even count the number of women and children. (Women and children in Jesus' time literally did not count.) But the point is that both women and children turned to him as well as the men.
Jesus supposedly went to be alone, which was in these days considered to be deviant behavior. Being alone was suspect, you must be up to something. This culture was very group oriented, although Jesus presumably did have his close disciples with him. The wilderness was also considered to be a place of chaos. It was a place of evil spirits, and only a person who could deal with evil spirits would spend time in the wilderness. But in light of the great tragedy of John's loss it may have had something to do with Jesus departure from the community, or a set up by Matthew in telling the story, because this was a time of loss and chaos for so many peasant people. They follow Jesus into the desert place, the place of chaos.
When this very large community gathers in the wilderness, it becomes of time of great compassion for them. It becomes a time of healing. Remember that healing in Jesus' time was not "cure" as we understand it, but of acceptance and restoration to community. Truly great feeling and concern for these people who have just lost another shepherd in John the Baptist is taking place. As the hour gets late, the disciples come to him and indicate the people are hungry and should go to nearby villages to buy food. But Jesus says to his disciples, " They need not go away, but you give them something to eat." The disciples are a bit frustrated by this because all they have is five loaves (pita bread like loaves), and two small fish. (They are by the sea.) Jesus takes what they have. Again notice the great contrast of 5,000 plus people, and only five tiny loaves and two fish, and the multitude is fed in this banquet of great abundance, where life is given, and not death and murder. Order and hope and feeding is being brought to the chaos of these people's lives. There's more than enough to go around.
Let's pick up on what seems to be going on and what Matthew is attempting to convey when he tells this story. There is the world of Herod the King, and there is the Domain of God. People did not picnic in chaos or in the wilderness. But surely, they may well have felt that their lives were in great distress and poverty, and their rulers were cruel, if not evil bufoons, and perhaps that's where the real chaos lay. Jesus is quite deviant, different from the world, and enters the wilderness to heal, restore the lost, the least, and the last. He is there to feed them. For the people of this time, the story was very reminiscent of Moses in the chaotic wilderness with the people of God who had attempted to escape oppression in Egypt. Frightened for their lives, through Moses leadership they received the Manna of God, or Bread of God from heaven, the bread in the wilderness. (Ex.16:4-8) It recalls the prophet Elisha (2Kings 4:42-44) who had 100 prophets with him, and Baal Shalishah brings him 20 loaves of bread. Elisha tells him to feed the prophets, but the servant replies< "Do you think this is enough for a hundred men?" Elisha replies, "Give it to them to eat, because the Lord says that they will eat and still have some left over." And it was so. Moses and Elisha were messianic figures, deliverers of the people. Matthew like the other evangelists is reporting that Jesus is like this, and more so. He can feed a multitude and there is still an abundance left over.
Who is eating? Everyone. Women and children, men. A whole crowd of people from every walk of life are present with Jesus, the pure and the impure, the outcasts, they're likely to all have been there eating together with Jesus in a world where people did not do that. People were often separated by gender, class, status, honor. You have a community of people who are in chaos coming for healing and hope, and for feeding. It is in a sense the foererunning messianic banquet referred to in Isaiah 25:6 "Here on Mount Zion the Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for the nations of the world - a banquet of the riches food and the finest wine. Here he will remove the clous of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations." The Feeding of the 5,000 may not have been a sumptuous as that, but it did feed a multitude.
In the feeding experience, Jesus takes the bread, blesses, and distributes it. This action was obviously related to the Last Supper. It is the Eucharistic action of the Liturgy as it comes down to us today, where people are fed with spiritual food. It is not all of this is so much miraculous as it tells who Jesus is. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is the hope and revelation of God in the world of chaos. As the poor peasants gathered in the pasture, sitting in the grass. We are reminded, as was Matthew's people: He leadeth me into green pastures, where my cup runs over. They eat fish, and of course the other place in the New Testament where there is a mention of eating fish is when Jesus eats fish with his disciples after his resurrection. Fish is the food of resurrection and hope.
In this wonderful and cherished scene of Jesus in the midst of these hurting people is healing and feeding, and the feeding is teaching. That's still what we gather for at the Eucharist is healing, restoration in the brokeness and alienation of our lives, and the teaching of God's redeeming love and acceptance, and the faith that helps us live in the world. In a world of chaos and where goodness often seems to be in short supply, it is faith in Christ Jesus that brings healing, food for thought and nourishment of God, and hope of resurrection in great abundance. Jesus is the great bountiful host.
In Jesus' time to eat a meal was a special experience. It was a ceremonial ritualistic experience. People lingered over their meal. They tell me that business meals even today by middle Eastern business men are quite lengthy. It is a time of getting to know one another, a time for discussion, debate, a time of learning. You get more that what you bargain for. It is bountiful experience. I think that this is what is being conveyed in this imporant story of the life of the church. Lingering in the presence of Christ in a harsh cruel chaotic world brought about an healing abundance of love, acceptance, and hope. God was abundantly in the midst of them, in a place where they may least have expected to find it. John the Baptist was gone. That's what the cruelty of the world sometimes does. But God goes on healing, feeding, teaching in Christ, and the world could not over come him.
We still live in the world of the "Herods" of various sorts and condition. There is a lot of cruelty, face-saving antics, dishonorable people in corporate America and in politics. Evil and injustice is a fact of our lives.. We are all sometimes the victims of that world, and sometimes we are the willing participants in that world. We all know some pain suffering, shame, brokeness and spiritual poverty at various times in our lives. Herod's world can at times be so frightening, so cruel. We need the healing and teaching, the hope, the feeding for our spiritual poverty. We need at times to be with God in the wilderness that is turn to greener pasture where the cup of love, mercy and compassion overflows. The passage tells us today that Jesus is the way to God. He provides what we need.
Sometimes people think and preachers teach that the great miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is that Jesus really got everybody there to share their lunch. That's really typical American thinking: It is really a miracle if you can get people to share. In Jesus time people naturally shared. It was the honorable thing to do and a pre-industrial world of limited supplies. The real wonder of this story is that people found Jesus Christ to be their hope and their Lord, their way to God. So the story is told over and over and over again, and cherished by the church community. Now the disciples know they don't have to send people home hungry. . . they can feed the starving. . . . and may we can too.
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