Homily for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

Jesus places the bread into the hands of the disciples, the very ones who moments before wanted to send the crowds away. In doing so, he reshapes their imagination. They no longer see themselves as managers of scarcity but as participants in God’s abundance.

I am away this weekend.

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Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. 

When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place, and it is already late. Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "There is no need for them to go away. Give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here." Then he said, "Bring them here to me." And he ordered the crowd to sit down on the grass. 

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over, Twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children 

The Gospel of the Lord 

Toward the end of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, utters a despairing line, clearly influenced by a Talmudic aphorism that's also quoted in Schindler's List: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." The Talmud sees absolute significance in the reverse as well. "The destruction of one life," which is closer to the sense of Odysseus's lament. 

Giving a pagan Greek hero a line adapted from later Jewish wisdom, is an interesting choice. Nolan also reinterprets one of Homer's key themes in terms overtly drawn from one of the most revered of Jesus' sayings, the Golden Rule. The ancient Greek precept of hospitality, or xenia, called "Zeus's Law" in Nolan's film, is repeatedly summarized as treating strangers and others as you would be treated. 

We hear echoes of Odysseus's lament in the opening line of the Gospel, "When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist." Matthew has just narrated a lavish banquet hosted by Herod Antipas. It is a feast marked by power, political posturing, and violence. In the middle of the celebration, Herod orders John's execution to preserve his own reputation after making a reckless promise before his guests. A king's banquet ends with a prophet's head presented on a platter. 

The crowds heard of this and followed Jesus on foot from their towns. Jesus' heart goes out to them. His response is almost physical, as if their brokenness is his brokenness. At the banquet Herod hosted, out of seeming abundance, there was death and scarcity. In the wilderness, at the banquet Jesus hosted, out of seeming scarcity, there is abundance. 

When it was evening, the disciples came up with a great suggestion. Jesus should send the crowd away to go and buy food. Jesus said to them, "You give them something to eat." What Jesus is really suggesting to them, "give them yourselves." The Persian poet Hafez writes, "There are always a few men like me who are house-sitting for God. We share his royal duties." Jesus places the bread into the hands of the disciples, the very one who moments before wanted to send the crowds away. In doing so, he reshapes their imagination. They no longer see themselves as managers of scarcity, but as participants in God's abundance. 

The prophet Isaiah calls his listeners to make a clear choice. He offers them an option of the generous self-giving of Yahweh, the God of covenant. This God has in times past given Israel manna – bread and water in the wilderness, and will now generously give all that is needed for life – free water, free milk, and free wine, all gifts of God. 

In his book, Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer describes "functional atheists" as people who claim they believe in God, but function in their lives as atheists. I"t's the godless belief that the ultimate responsibility for everything rests with us. We may talk of our trust and faith in God, but we may doubt God will show up in time and wonder if we need to be the ones to make things happen." For Isaiah, this is futility. "Why spend your money for what is not bread? Your wages for what fails to satisfy?"

Instead of seeing what is missing, Jesus remembers what God has promised and what God has given. Let's start there. What have you got? Five loaves and two fish. But what good are several rather insignificant acts of charity when there are multitudes dying of hunger? In response to such practical questions as, what good will that do? Whether five small loaves and two fish, one cup of cold water? The answer Jesus gives is always the same. St. Teresa of Calcutta's words ring true here. What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. 

Matthew's threefold action of looking up to heaven, (Our Father who art in heaven,) reciting a prayer of blessing, (hallowed be thy name,) and breaking the bread, (give us this day our daily bread,) is a beautiful pattern that we could well apply to our own daily living. In fact, we do this every time we come to the Eucharist. 

On any given day, each one of us can stand before all the needs that surround us—family, friends, job, finances, unfinished tasks, personal struggles, and say what the disciples said, "Lord, I don't have what it takes to handle all this." And the Lord says to us what he said to his disciples, "bring me what you've got." We do. Bread and wine are brought to the altar. Jesus blesses them in the Eucharistic prayer and gives them back to us in communion. It's always enough. More than enough.

When we eat of this bread, we can become bread for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, welcome to the stranger. When we do these things, the deserted place overflows with abundance and people who thought they were forgotten know for sure that God remembers us. "For there is nothing in all creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."