18 OT A ~ Mt. 14: 13-21 "Give them Some Food Yourselves" ~ Rev. Richard Eslinger, PhD

Jesus’ latest journey begins in a boat. He hears about the death of John the

Baptist, and seeks time to be alone. His travel soon leaves the water behind, and Jesus treks out into the desert. His disciples follow as they begin their travel by foot through the wilderness.

But a huge change in plans is about to happen. The crowds learned of Jesus’ intended journey, and they follow him by foot into the desert. Now, the parallels with Israel’s Exodus become clear. Turning to the multitude, Jesus sees them and is moved with compassion.

The crowd of people brings two chronic conditions with them. They are sick, oppressed with all kinds of illnesses. And they are hungry. Just as was the case with God’s people escaping from the slavery in Egypt, their time in the wilderness brings hunger. They lack their daily bread.

Jesus’ compassion for the crowd and their sicknesses overcomes his need to

be alone with his grief for the Baptist. Instead of a time of respite in the

wilderness, he is surrounded by sick folks who come to him for healing. There is

no time for triage out there in the desert. As God with Us, Jesus is moved with

pity and filled with compassion for those who suffer. But contrary to a present

attitude that being “concerned” for those who suffer is the high point of caring,

Jesus wades into the crowd and begins to heal. Having warm feelings alone for

those who are burdened by illness and infirmity is not enough. All this results in is

a kind of pious performance geared to impress others with our “concern.” Having

a concern for others is not equivalent to being in ministry on their behalf. And this

is what Jesus turns to, a ministry to those crippled by disease. St. Matthew adds

that “his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.” (The

homilist is invited to name healing ministries as are appropriate.) Interestingly,

the Greek word Matthew employs here, “to heal” also means “to worship.” When

Christ’s church is about healing those who suffer, there is also worship of our

Triune God. Any hope for a time of refreshment is set aside. Jesus turns to the

sick and heals them, worshipping the Father.

There is another serious lack among the crowds who followed Jesus into the

wilderness. They are hungry. The people lack sufficient food to sustain

themselves. The disciples have noticed this need as well, and come to Jesus with a

suggestion. “This is a deserted place and it is already late,” they begin. Their

solution to the crisis comes immediately: “dismiss the crowds so that can go into

the villages and buy food for themselves.”

Notice the big assumption made by Jesus’ disciples: On one hand, they are certain that nothing can be done to provide for persons who hunger out in the wilderness. Of course, this view betrays a huge lack of biblical faith on their own part. Didn’t the God of Israel provide for the people hungering there in the wilderness with manna from heaven? What about all the stories, the wisdom that had mounted up among their Jewish rabbis and sages about the manna? Apparently, the disciples were rather innocent of this tradition of Divine abundance. They displayed a critical lack—of their formation as God’s

people! But there is another way to “forget” or dismiss this tradition of God’s

abundance in the face of human hunger. In the late 19 th century—about 140 or so years ago, liberal biblical scholars set about to delete any mention of miracles from the Bible. When they came to this story of the Loaves and Two Fish, they had a ready explanation. It went something like this:

The people who went out in the desert to see Jesus had really brought

enough food with them, but just for themselves. But after being taught by

Jesus about God’s love and being inspired by his acts of pity, the people had

a “heart-warming experience.” They opened their provisions and shared

them with others. Everyone was fed.

Ironically, this “anti-miracle” attitude still can be found among some biblical

scholars. One professor of New Testament recently said, “I wonder if the ‘miracle’

of the feeding is not so much what Jesus does as what happens among the crowds in the Presence of Jesus.” 1

Such anti-miracle rhetoric ignores two important roles played by the feeding miracles. First, this theory can only “work” if we ignore how prevalent wide-spread hunger was in Jesus’ time and location. Then, too, the anti-miracle rhetoric seriously undercuts the foundations of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. There is a deep resonance between Jesus’ four-fold actions here in the Multiplication of the Loaves and at the Upper Room Supper. So we take St. Matthew at his word. The people following Jesus out there in the wilderness were hungry. Of course, as those who were mostly quite poor, they could not follow the instructions of the disciples and go into the cities and buy food either. They lacked food and they lacked the means to fix the crisis on their own.

But now comes Jesus’ four-fold actions. The Lord takes the five loaves and

blesses them. He then breaks the loaves and gives them to the disciples, “who in

turn gave them to the crowds.” Where no provision was evident from the hungry

people, Emmanuel, “God with us,” provides. And not only is everyone fed, but

they were also “satisfied.” St. Matthew’s choice of words here is important. The

crowds eat until they could not consume further bread and fish. God’s people here are not on a strict diet like in the Wilderness—where each Israelite was limited to an adequate, but restricted portion of the manna. Here, no one could eat another bite! And beyond this, “they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full.” If the Eucharist/the Mass offers the utter abundance of God’s mercy in the precious Body and Blood of Christ, that trajectory of abundance starts here in the wilderness with the Loaves and Fishes.

But the flow of abundance does not end at the Eucharist today (this evening). We are heirs of those who feasted so gloriously in the wilderness. And soon, we will receive the Body and Blood of our Savior, sign of eternal redemption in Him. But notice the arc of Divine love between this miracle of the Loaves and our share in Holy Communion today. We, too, bring our own lack to this Holy Meal. Lack of an awareness of the depth of God’s presence in Christ, our need for forgiveness which we bring to the Holy Meal, and a hunger for healing of our minds and bodies.

Today is the Feast of Abundance in which our God in Christ is feeding His people in this wilderness. So, gratefully, we sing together:

You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat.

Come give to us, O saving Lord, the bread of life to eat. 2

Chosen of God, we rejoice in the abundance of our saving Lord. And we give

thanks. This mystery of God’s provision has a way of doubling back on itself! We

are fed with such abundance in Christ and we are strengthened to go into the world to feed the hungry. (A parish feeding ministry might be mentioned here.) But we do not now ask our Lord to send the poor and hungry away to buy food for

themselves. Our risen Savior is always ready to put us into action as his disciples:

“Give them some food yourselves.”

Amen.

1 Marilyn Salmon, “Commentary on Matthew 14:13-21, Working Preacher, August 3, 2008, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18/commentary-on-matthew-1413-21-3.

2 “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart,” Omer Wesendorf, Worship: A Hymnal and Service Book for Roman Catholics, 3 rd ed., Chicago: GIA Publications, 736.