MT14:13-21

Matthew in the Margins…Pent+9…Revised 2017

Jesus never draws too firm a line between soul & stomach. True religion always feeds both. To feed the hungry may be justified by theology, but to feed the hungry is to do theology!

John’s death puts Jesus himself at risk. Herod will be after him next, if, the priests, or the Romans don’t beat him to it! Jesus is a threat to the status quo; still needs to be today! He goes out there by the lake to give Himself some personal space to come to terms with John’s death & its implications for His own life & ministry. Warren Carter¹ says withdrawal is 'to …..make space for a different reign’.

But crowds get wind Jesus is coming their way, & when they see Him heading for the other shore in a boat no doubt crewed by fishermen friends, they set out on foot to race Him to the other side. When JS sees what a sick & sad & sorry lot they are, He’s so moved He puts His personal need for space aside & heals the sick among them. When, late in the day He’s told the only food they have between thousands of them is 5 pieces of coarse barley bread & 2 tiddlers. He tells them, “Bring your bread & fish to me!” What follows is a miracle, a sign of the Very Presence of God among them. Someone (Weatherhead?) long ago suggested a way of ‘understanding’ this miracle / sign based on John’s account. A boy hands over to Jesus the meal his mother has packed for him. When Jesus accepts the boy’s gift, blesses the bread & fish, & begins to pass them round, people every-where catch on, & produce food they’ve brought with them from their pockets & bags. Sharing it with others round them. And it’s more than enough to go round. Who, except God, knows how the miraculous feeding takes place! But since hearing that idea years ago, I’ve sometimes thought, ‘If it did happen that way, that would’ve been as great a miracle as any other.’

Think of it like this: As Jesus gives up the personal space He’s out there looking for, & shares His healing gifts with the sick in the great crowd, so the boy gives up his lunch & shares it with Jesus, who shares it with the crowd. Who then share with each other, as the above view suggests. For that spirit of giving up something personal: space, bread, fish, whatever, & for sharing to explode among the great crowd, wouldn’t that be an amazing, mind-blowing sign of God in their midst? What are the signs of God in our midst today? Can we expect to find any if we’re not doing our share of sharing? By the way, there’s evidence that in some parts of the early church, fish, as well as bread, became part of the eucharistic celebration.² In memory of this event, as of that Other One?

One aim we, today’s church, could take from all this for today’s sick, hungry world is that we not keep to ourselves, for ourselves, any of the gifts God graciously shares with us, but pass them on. Pass them around. Make them go around! The Gospels meticulously record there were left-overs. When God fills, God fills! What about next time we have something, anything at all we can share, we offer it to God to pass on to someone who needs space, healing, or is hungry in any way at all? And see what God will do with our gift. See how far God can make it go around.

¹ Matthew & the Margins, Orbis, 2000, p.305   ² Andrew B McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists, Oxford, 1999, p.127+