https://youtu.be/d5L3qIN5zJ0
From small things come great things. You could do a sermon on that this week.
Last week we talked about the mustard seed and how it becomes a great tree that God planted in an unexpected place and welcomed creatures that wouldn’t be welcome in that place. This week, we see Jesus create an abundance where there is scarcity, feeding 5,000 men, plus women and children in an unexpected place.
But I’m not going to talk about that.
If I were to lean on my practical and down to earth side, I might try to explain away this miracle as not so much a literal multiplication of what Jesus had in his hands, but a figurative multiplication of the crowds, seeing how Jesus was sharing what little he had, were moved to share what little they had with each other until they somehow ended up with leftovers.
But, I think that’s a silly theory and I’m not going to entertain it. All four gospels tell this story and none of them entertain the idea that this was less than anything than a miracle.
We could talk about how this story is an early foreshadowing of the Eucharist, with Jesus taking, breaking and sharing bread (and fish) with the crowd. Even appearing to feed them all, whether they were baptized or not, or part of his denomination or not, but I don’t want to step on any toes and Eucharistic mysteries are a little over my head anyway, so I won’t go there either.
What I would like to point out is something I’d never considered until this week about this story.
How easily everything in history could have changed, from that day until now, if some of the people who thought Jesus was going to be a political messiah had been right.
This story follows right after the death of John the Baptist. Jesus, after hearing about the death of his friend and (possibly) cousin, goes out to a deserted place to get away from everyone. As the news of this spread – both the news of John’s death and Jesus’ departure, crowds started to follow him out there. What their mood is, the bible doesn’t say, but the whole scene feels like something out of Game of Thrones.
The decadent King Herod, throwing a lavish party and banquet for his birthday, his step-daughter/niece does a dance for him that pleased him so much that he offered her anything she wanted . What she asked for was John the Baptists’ head on a platter. Herod had arrested John because his wife was upset that John spoke out against their marriage (as she had been formerly married to his brother, but had divorced him). He had not killed John because he was afraid of his many followers. However, now he has put himself in this position, and carries through with the execution.
Cut to Jesus, going out to the wilderness upon hearing this and a crowd of 5000 men following him out there. If this were an episode of Game of Thrones – if Jesus had been only a political messiah, this would have been a great chance for him to rally an army and storm Herod’s palace. A few choice words – a nice speech and he could have turned this crowd to his will and fired them up for revenge. Heck, leave out Game of Thrones, this sounds a lot like a story from the Book of Judges.
But that’s not what Jesus does. Jesus sees the crowd and he has compassion on them and goes around healing the sick among them. Later that night, they have their own banquet. Not a huge party coming from an earthly king’s abundance, but a simple meal amongst grieving friends coming from their scarcity.
Instead of raising up an army to conquer and regain independence, he shows an army their greatest strength is each other and that compassion is stronger than retribution.
When Jesus finally does meet Herod, after his arrest, he doesn’t condemn him, there’s no “my name is Jesus of Nazareth – you killed my cousin – prepare to die”… he simply stands before him until Herod, bored with him, sends him away.
I wish that I had that kind of fortitude. I am not a patient person. When faced with adversity, I often fight back with stubbornness. When someone is wrong on the internet, I feel like I need to make them right.
The compassion isn’t there.
A few weeks ago, these feelings came up in me and I started to memorize an old prayer I heard often in my childhood and it helped a lot. And like a lot of things that people do to feel better, once I started to feel better, I stopped doing what was making me feel good and slipped back into old habits. So, I’m going to read it now, and ask that you pray this with me. I also recommend adding this prayer to you prayer life. It can change you, if you let it.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
From small things come great things. You could do a sermon on that this week.
Last week we talked about the mustard seed and how it becomes a great tree that God planted in an unexpected place and welcomed creatures that wouldn’t be welcome in that place. This week, we see Jesus create an abundance where there is scarcity, feeding 5,000 men, plus women and children in an unexpected place.But I’m not going to talk about that.
If I were to lean on my practical and down to earth side, I might try to explain away this miracle as not so much a literal multiplication of what Jesus had in his hands, but a figurative multiplication of the crowds, seeing how Jesus was sharing what little he had, were moved to share what little they had with each other until they somehow ended up with leftovers.
But, I think that’s a silly theory and I’m not going to entertain it. All four gospels tell this story and none of them entertain the idea that this was less than anything than a miracle.
We could talk about how this story is an early foreshadowing of the Eucharist, with Jesus taking, breaking and sharing bread (and fish) with the crowd. Even appearing to feed them all, whether they were baptized or not, or part of his denomination or not, but I don’t want to step on any toes and Eucharistic mysteries are a little over my head anyway, so I won’t go there either.What I would like to point out is something I’d never considered until this week about this story.
How easily everything in history could have changed, from that day until now, if some of the people who thought Jesus was going to be a political messiah had been right.
This story follows right after the death of John the Baptist. Jesus, after hearing about the death of his friend and (possibly) cousin, goes out to a deserted place to get away from everyone. As the news of this spread – both the news of John’s death and Jesus’ departure, crowds started to follow him out there. What their mood is, the bible doesn’t say, but the whole scene feels like something out of Game of Thrones.
The decadent King Herod, throwing a lavish party and banquet for his birthday, his step-daughter/niece does a dance for him that pleased him so much that he offered her anything she wanted . What she asked for was John the Baptists’ head on a platter. Herod had arrested John because his wife was upset that John spoke out against their marriage (as she had been formerly married to his brother, but had divorced him). He had not killed John because he was afraid of his many followers. However, now he has put himself in this position, and carries through with the execution.Cut to Jesus, going out to the wilderness upon hearing this and a crowd of 5000 men following him out there. If this were an episode of Game of Thrones – if Jesus had been only a political messiah, this would have been a great chance for him to rally an army and storm Herod’s palace. A few choice words – a nice speech and he could have turned this crowd to his will and fired them up for revenge. Heck, leave out Game of Thrones, this sounds a lot like a story from the Book of Judges.
But that’s not what Jesus does. Jesus sees the crowd and he has compassion on them and goes around healing the sick among them. Later that night, they have their own banquet. Not a huge party coming from an earthly king’s abundance, but a simple meal amongst grieving friends coming from their scarcity.
Instead of raising up an army to conquer and regain independence, he shows an army their greatest strength is each other and that compassion is stronger than retribution.
When Jesus finally does meet Herod, after his arrest, he doesn’t condemn him, there’s no “my name is Jesus of Nazareth – you killed my cousin – prepare to die”… he simply stands before him until Herod, bored with him, sends him away.
I wish that I had that kind of fortitude. I am not a patient person. When faced with adversity, I often fight back with stubbornness. When someone is wrong on the internet, I feel like I need to make them right.The compassion isn’t there.
A few weeks ago, these feelings came up in me and I started to memorize an old prayer I heard often in my childhood and it helped a lot. And like a lot of things that people do to feel better, once I started to feel better, I stopped doing what was making me feel good and slipped back into old habits. So, I’m going to read it now, and ask that you pray this with me. I also recommend adding this prayer to you prayer life. It can change you, if you let it.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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