Sunday, August 3, 2014

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

MATTHEW 14:13-21
IN THE TIME OF JESUS, EVERYONE BELIEVED IN GOD. THERE WERE THREE GENERAL UNDERSTANDINGS GOD. THE PHILOSOPHERS, LIKE ARISTOTLE AND PLATO, REASONED THAT GOD WAS THE SUM OF ALL PERFECTION, THE UNCHANGEABLE ONE, THE UNMOVABLE MOVER. ALTHOUGH THIS GOD MADE SENSE INTELLECTUALLY, IT WAS HARD TO SEE SUCH A GOD AS PERSONAL. OUTSIDE OF PHILOSOPHERS, FEW PEOPLE B RESONATED WITH THAT CONCEPTION. THE COMMON PEOPLE, ON THE OTHER HAND, USUALLY BELIEVED THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL GODS, ALL UNDER A SORT OF FATHER FIGURE. THE ROMANS BELIEVED IN JUPITER, THE GREEKS IN ZEUS, THE NORSMEN IN ODIN, THE EGYPTIANS IN OSIS. ALL HAD IN COMMON THE IDEA THAT HUMAN BEINGS WERE PLAYTHINGS TO THE GODS, AND SINCE THEY WERE SO MUCH MORE POWERFUL, AND CARED SO LITTLE ABOUT PEOPLE, THE MOST YOU COULD HOPE FOR WOULD BE TO PICK OUT A GOD AND OFFER SACRIFICES IN THE HOPES OF GETTING THE GOD TO DO YOU FAVORS. IN THE END, GODS WERE JUST LIKE PEOPLE, WITH ALL THEIR GOOD AND BAD POINTS, EXCEPT MUCH MORE POWERFUL. AND THEN THERE WERE THE JEWS. THEY INSISTED THAT THERE WAS ONLY ONE GOD. THEIR PROPHETS AND HOLY MEN SAW THAT GOD AS THE ALL POWERFUL BEING WHO ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE HUMAN RACE, AND ESPECIALLY WITH THE JEWS. IF THE JEWS WERE FAITHFUL, AND FOLLOWED THE LAW, AND OFFERED SACRIFICES WITHOUT BLEMISH, THEN GOD WOULD REWARD THEM. IF, ON THE OTHER HAND, THEY FAILED IN THESE TASKS, GOD WOULD WITHDRAW HIS FAVOR – MAYBE EVEN USE HIS POWER TO PUNISH THEM. THE JEWS HAD BEEN IN EXILE, THEY'D BEEN SUBJECTED TO PAGAN RULERS, THEY'D HAD NATIONAL CATASTROPHES – AND THEY KNEW WHY – THEY HAD BEEN UNFAITHFUL AND IT SEEMED AS THOUGH THEY COULD NOT EVER PLEASE THIS STERN AND ALL-HOLY GOD, WHO WOULD NEVER DESERT THEM, IT WAS TRUE, BUT WHO REQUIRED FROM THEM MORE THAN THEY WERE ABLE TO GIVE.
WE CHRISTIANS PROBABLY CYCLE THROUGH ALL THESE IDEAS. WE SOMETIMES THINK OF GOD IN THE PHILOSOPHIC SENSE – WE CAN NEVER REALLY MATTER TO A GOD WHO HAS ALL THE POWER, ALL THE TRUTH, ALL THE INTELLIGENCE AND WISDOM, AND ALL THE HAPPINESS THAT IT'S POSSIBLE TO HAVE. AND OFTEN WE THINK OF GOD AS SOMEONE TO BE PLACATED; SOMEONE WHO WILL REWARD US IF WE PRAY ENOUGH, OR FAST ENOUGH, OR SAY ENOUGH ROSARIES. AND WE OFTEN THINK OF GOD AS WATCHING OUR EVERY STEP, PLANNING TO ZAP US IF WE GET OUT OF LINE, A GOD WHO IS ALWAYS MAKING HIS LIST AND CHECKING IT TWICE, GONNA FIND OUT WHO'S NAUGHTY AND NICE.
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES IS A GREAT MIRACLE, INDEED. BUT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT THE APOSTLES ONLY KNEW ABOUT WHEN IT WAS OVER. THE PEOPLE IN THE CROWDS ONLY KNEW THAT THEY WERE TOLD TO SIT DOWN AND SOMEONE WOULD BRING THEM FOOD. AND THE APOSTLES DID JUST THAT. TO A PERSON IN THE CROWD, NOTHING SPECTACULAR. EVEN THE FOOD WAS PRETTY PLAIN. BUT THEY WERE HUNGRY AND THEY GOT FED.
WHERE WAS THE REAL MIRACLE? THE APOSTLES FIRST OF ALL ASKED THE LORD TO DISMISS THE CROWDS, SO THAT THEY COULD GO AND GET SOMETHING TO EAT. THEY WOULD HAVE TO HIKE TO THE NEAREST TOWN AND HOPE THAT SOMEONE WOULD SELL THEM SOMETHING. AND IN THOSE DAYS NOT EVERYONE HAD MONEY, NOT EVERYONE HAD A SURPLUS OF FOOD. DISMISSING THE CROWD TO GO AND FIND FOOD WOULD GET THE APOSTLES OFF THE HOOK, BUT IT WOULDN'T DO MUCH GOOD FOR THOSE 5000 PEOPLE WHO WERE OUT IN A DESERTED PLACE. AND THE APOSTLES WANTED TO BE OFF THE HOOK; AS WE LEARN LATER, THEY HAD A LITTLE FOOD, AND PROBABLY DIDN'T WANT TO FEEL GUILTY WHILE THEY HAD THEIR SUPPER AND THE CROWD DID NOT.
BUT JESUS IS GOD, AND JESUS TOOK PITY ON THE CROWD, JUST AS HE HAD TAKEN PITY ON THEM WHEN HE WAS HEALING THE SICK, MAKING THE BLIND SEE AND THE DEAF HEAR, DRIVING OUT DEMONS. AND HE TOLD THE APOSTLES TO HAVE THE CROWD SIT DOWN. AND THEN HE SAID, “YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT.” I'M SURE THE APOSTLES WERE NOT EXCITED ABOUT GIVING WHAT THEY HAD AWAY, AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY'D BARELY MAKE IT PAST THE FIRST FEW PEOPLE AND WOULD BE OUT OF EVERYTHING. BUT THEY SWALLOWED THEIR SKEPTICISM AND AFTER JESUS BLESSED THEIR DINNER, THEY BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE IT. AND ONLY WHEN THE FOOD DID NOT DIMINISH, ONLY WHEN THE TWELVE BASKETS OF LEFTOVERS WERE COLLECTED, DID THEY LEARN OF THE MIRACLE; AND WE'VE SPENT TWENTY CENTURIES THINKING ABOUT IT, AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.
JESUS IS SHOWING US SOMETHING ABOUT GOD, SOMETHING THAT ESCAPED THE PHILOSOPHERS, THE PAGANS, AND EVEN THE JEWS. IN THAT CROWD WERE PEOPLE OF ALL SORTS; MOST LIKELY SOME WERE VERY HOLY AND ATTENDED SYNAGOGUE EVERY WEEK; AND OTHERS WERE LESS SO, TAX COLLECTORS AND SUCH; AND STILL OTHERS, EVEN LESS – THIEVES PICKING POCKETS – BECAUSE ANYWHERE A CROWD GATHERED, YOU COULD FIND A FEW THIEVES – AND REVOLUTIONARIES WHO WERE PLOTTING TERRORISM AGAINST THE ROMANS; AND A FEW LADIES WITH VERY BAD REPUTATIONS, BECAUSE THEY FOLLOWED THE CROWDS AS WELL. BUT JESUS MAKES NO DISTINCTION; HE GIVES EVERYTHING AWAY, NOT BASED ON MERIT, NOT BASED ON ACCOMPLISHMENT, NOT BASED ON HOLINESS – HE GIVES ALL THE FOOD AWAY BECAUSE HE HAD COMPASSION ON THE CROWD. COMPASSION IS NOT THE SAME AS PITY; PITY MAY MOVE YOU TO ACT, BUT COMPASSION MOVES YOU TO SUFFER WITH. AND JESUS WOULD NOT EAT WHEN THOSE IN THE CROWD COULD NOT EAT. AND THE SECOND THING TO NOTICE IS THAT JESUS WORKS HIS MIRACLE THROUGH HIS RELUCTANT APOSTLES, THE ONES WHO WANTED TO DISMISS THE CROWD – SO THAT THEY COULD EAT WHAT THEY HAD. AND WHEN THE APOSTLES BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE THE FOOD, IT IS WHEN THEY GIVE AWAY WHAT THEY HAVE, THEY FIND THAT THEY HAVE MORE, AND THE MORE THEY GIVE AWAY, THE MORE THEY HAVE, AND THROUGH THEIR LETTING GO OF WHAT LITTLE THEY HAVE, GOD REWARDS THEM WITH SUPERABUNDANCE.
JOAN AND I KNOW A COUPLE WHO REACT TO FINANCIAL PROBLEMS BY GIVING MORE OF WHAT THEY HAVE AWAY. EARLY IN THEIR MARRIAGE, SHE WAS PREGNANT AND HE HAD A JOB WHICH DIDN'T PAY VERY WELL, AND THINGS WEREN'T LOOKING GOOD AT ALL. THEY DECIDED TO INCREASE THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE SUNDAY COLLECTION. AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, HE WAS OFFERED A NEW POSITION WITH A BETTER SALARY. AND THIS WASN'T THE ONLY TIME – THEY HAVE HAD MANY EXPERIENCES WHICH HAVE MADE THEM FIRM BELIEVERS IN THE GENEROSITY OF GOD.

THE REAL MIRACLE IS THAT TWELVE HUNGRY APOSTLES WHO WANTED TO DISMISS THE CROWD WERE CHANGED SO THAT THEY TAPPED INTO GOD'S COMPASSION AND UNEQUALED GENEROSITY – AND YOU AND I CAN AS WELL. PUT GOD TO THE TEST. NEXT TIME YOU REALLY NEED SOMETHING, GIVE SOMETHING OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO SOMEONE IN NEED, AND SEE WHETHER GOD WILL OUTDO YOU IN GENEROSITY – HE PROMISED HE WOULD. DO YOU TRUST HIM?