Hungry for...?

Matthew 15: 29-37

²⁹ After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. ³⁰ Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, ³¹ so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. ³² Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ ³³ The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ ³⁴ Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ ³⁵ Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

I love Advent. What’s not to love? Apart from the rampant commercialisation of a holy season of preparation and the rapid commodification of happiness, of course. And you may or may not be pleased to know that you are going on this advent journey with me, as I will be taking all the Wednesday services between now and Christmas.

I love Advent. I love that it is a season of preparation, a time to prepare ourselves for the coming of God made flesh, that for these short weeks we are intentional about walking the talk, spreading hope and justice, acknowledging our own limitations but allowing God to rise over them.

I love Advent. So for the coming weeks, I am going to very intentionally view our texts through one question – how does this help us prepare for God?

We have been talking a lot about social justice lately, in particular our commission from God to feed God’s sheep. The gospel today is the second time in Matthew Jesus is shown feeding people’s physical hunger through a miracle of plenty, a narrative which occurs 6 times in the gospels. Why is this image so desperately important it has to be emphasised so strongly, to the point where Matthew and Mark used it twice? One significant change between the earlier story and this is that the first crowd were mainly Jews, whereas this motley crew are mainly gentiles. But I am also reminded of the old story of the new pastor. On his first Sunday, the congregation gathered excitedly and expectantly. Everyone was suitably impressed afterward with his sermon. "My, how well he spoke," remarked one. "A superb sermon to be sure," said another. A third chimed in, "If he keeps this up we're in for a treat." On the following week he preached exactly the same sermon. The people were puzzled, but generously surmised that it had probably been too busy a week to prepare a new sermon. After all, he was moving into a new house and meeting all the people. Yet he preached the original sermon the following week as well, and the week after that. The people were very concerned, and the church leadership decided it was time to confront their new pastor. They met him after the service and asked whether he had any other sermons or whether he planned to preach the same one for his entire ministry. "I certainly hope not," said the pastor, "I plan to begin a new one as soon as you start putting the first sermon into practice."

Hospitality lies at the core of our faith. This theme is repeated over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments. It is embedded in our worship with the Eucharist – the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ that we share. Without in any way taking away from our duty and pleasure in service, however, is the sure and certain knowledge that behind all of our own giving lies Christ.

When Jesus started to talk about feeding those who were with him, the disciples were a little worried. They knew full well the resources they had available, and they knew that there was nowhere near enough to feed all of these people. They are quite reasonable, I feel, in asking Jesus “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?”. To us, now, the answer is clear. There was nowhere in the desert that could sustain these people – all sustenance had to come from God.

Jesus, even at the height of his earthly ministry, followed by many, surrounded by demands, was still concerned for the most basic wellbeing of his people.  We can imagine the immense crowds surrounding the son of God as news of his power spread. No one could come to Jesus and not be healed. Yet even as he was working miracles of healing, he was aware of the simplest needs of his followers. His mission extended not only to his disciples or those in the greatest of pain, but to every single one of God’s children. God does not and can not differentiate between the worthiness or comparative pain of his followers, giving finite comfort depending on the value or otherwise of the life involved. God doesn’t save God’s compassion for those who really ‘need it’, leaving those with so called ‘lesser’ problems to struggle on alone. 

How do we see this Gospel as an invitation to prepare for Christ? Well, we know there are some problems which cannot be solved without the divine. Some hungers can not be satisfied here on earth. It is easy to fall into the trap of comparing our pain to others, to decide that we are better off than many and have no right to grieve, or alternatively to look upon the grief of others with a heart made hard by our own suffering. But Jesus never made this distinction. This love and grace and hospitality that we are commanded to share without discrimination is but a reflection of that shown to us. 

We can learn from both the example of Jesus and from the crowds. We can learn to give generously, trusting that whatever we have will through God’s grace be enough. And we can learn that the only requirement God has for us is that we show up. We will be fed.

Amen.