August 6, 2023 — Pentecost +10A; Matthew 14:13-21

Now when Jesus heard [about the beheading of John the Baptist], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Where do you go when you want to get away from everyone and everything? Do you have a deserted island you like to retreat? The text tells us Jesus had heard about the death of John the Baptist — a beheading at the whim of Herod Antipas — and as such, he was looking to withdraw to a deserted place — but he couldn’t have gone too far. He most likely wouldn’t really be able to escape the rule and power of Herod — and he couldn’t outpace the crowd who followed on foot and anticipated where Jesus’ boat would land — even though it was a deserted place. But it is clear, Jesus and his disciples needed some time off.

Matthew the Gospel writer put together his Gospel with divine revelation — and his own ability to write a narrative. He puts many parables that Jesus taught together in sections of his Gospel — he does the same with his miracles. The placement of these stories and teachings seem to be placed to move the Gospel story along. For example, in chapters 8 and 9 of his Gospel, Matthew places about 10 miracles of Jesus which seem to highlight discipleship and its meaning for his followers, especially the issue of trust.

So, for the context of the miracle story today, the disciples do not sound so trusting. We know they have been on this journey with Jesus — escaping to this “out of the way” place since the death of John the Baptist. And in the midst of being tired and afraid, they hoped for some time alone. But this was not to be the case. Jesus needed some time alone as well, but the crowd that follows him takes that opportunity away from him. Does Jesus send them away? Of course not. Instead, he turns his focus off himself and his disciples and turns to curing the sick among them. The disciples must have been feeling hurt and disappointed.

And then, to seemingly pour salt into their “injured egos” — Jesus asks them to solve an unsolvable problem. There are about 10000+ people in need of food, and Jesus tells them to find something to eat for all of them, and to do it within the hour, in a deserted place, before it gets dark. His disciples are tired — they are weary — they are hurting and hungry — and now they must be angry as well.

What is Jesus doing? We ask that question, at least I have asked that question a lot lately. What is Jesus doing in the world, in our country, in the church, in our lives…..right now? G-d is active every day in the world, in our lives, in places we expect and often in places we cannot ever expect. I believe that. I also believe G-d can do the miraculous — but not only the miraculous — G-d has the power to do quite a lot, with just a little. If we take the accounting of the miracle as if we are hearing it from a 1^st century reporter — well then we are not necessarily hearing it in the same way the community of Matthew’s Gospel heard the story. How could we. In other words, we should hear this story not as “G-d can feed the entire world if G-d wants to”. Instead we should hear “Through Jesus, all people can be fed the bread of life — Jews, Gentiles, everyone.”

G-d looks to us and says “You give them something to eat.” When we accept that challenge, when we move forward in obedience and trust, well, then G-d really begins to act — and miracles, both great and small, will happen as well.

Pastor Dave