In this day of cell phones and iPads and GPS devices and laptops, iPods and more, it can be pretty hard to “get away from it all.” Indeed, I have noticed a change in my own travel planning. Any hotel that does not offer free wireless high speed Internet gets my business only in the absence of appropriately connected alternatives!
In late May of this year, I traveled to the Dominican Republic with a group of U.S. deacons to learn about the growth and struggles of the Episcopal church there. We were to spend some time living with the families of Dominican deacons, most of whom are working class. And so I braced myself for two days and two nights of “Internet withdrawal.”
Much to my surprise and delight, my Dominican family had—indeed—high speed wireless Internet! They were people of humble means, a lot of them living in a small space. No screens on the windows; no air conditioning. Water came out of the tap on demand… about half of the time. But there it was, on a high shelf: an Internet router blinking away!
We all complain that our inability to really get away is an affliction of contemporary life, and we tend to blame it on the ubiquity of electronic devices designed precisely to keep us in touch, no matter how far away from our everyday routine we have traveled. You’ve seen the commercials touting the latest gadget that enables us to conduct business from a remote beach.
So… how interesting it is that back in the day of row-boat technology, Jesus himself could not “get away.” Here again is the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson: Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns (Matthew 14:13, NRSV).
As the story continues, it sounds like the crowd might actually have gotten their first. When he went ashore, it says, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick (Ibid., v. 14).
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| Feeding of the 5000, by Justino Magalona. |
I’m not asking for a psychological explanation here, like “all humans need vacations and Jesus was human.” I’m also not asking the cosmic why, like people do when they wonder about God’s grand plan or scheme for each of us that involves inexplicable chains of events. Those might be useful discussions, but...
Rather, I’m asking what happened just before Jesus got in that boat, such that he felt the need to get away at that precise moment. What are the first 12 verses of Matthew 14 about?
It’s important to know that the lessons we read in church on a Sunday morning are often not quite the same as the original passage in Scripture. Often, they are adjusted slightly so that they will stand alone better, as “a lesson” for a given Sunday. And that often works well and facilitates sermon writing. Today, however, that practice directs our attention away from something very important.
So, let me read Matthew 14:13 again, as it actually appears in the Bible. It says, Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself (op cit.).
How’s that for a clue? But what did Jesus hear that caused him to need to get away? Verse 12, the one right before the beginning of today’s lesson, is an even better clue: His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.
So, whose body was it? John the Baptizer’s body. You know the story well. The first 12 verses of Matthew 14 tell about Herod and Herodias, the wife he had taken from his brother, and Salome, and the dance, and the promise and the beheading…. a story—if ever there was one—of violence begot by and for power and politics.
It’s a story of the unnecessary sacrifice of human life out of sheer arrogance, a story of injustice by the proud in order to save face. The news of the day drove Jesus to need to get away. And does it not sound familiar?
And do we not have plenty to want to flee from today? Starvation in Somalia, due to the maldistribution of food worldwide. Religious fanatics, Muslim and Christian alike, blowing up, gunning down, burning holy books, sabotaging the construction of worship spaces… from the Middle East to Florida and New York to Norway, of all places. And our own federal government ready to do economic violence, very possibly global in scope, in order to preserve rigid ideological positions.
If we don’t flee from the news of the day, we are likely to become cynics. But notice: That’s not how Jesus responded. When the needs of the world followed him to his get away, he turned and ministered to the people.
And just what, do you suppose, was the miracle that took place on that hill near the Sea of Galilee some 2,000 years ago? I’m sure God can create out of nothing at any time. I’m sure God can cause molecules of bread and fish to magically multiply.. at any time.
But that kind of miracle would be almost unremarkable. After separating light from dark and sea from dry land, after hanging the sun, moon and stars in the heavens, I’m guessing God could multiply bread and fish without breaking a sweat.
I’m guessing a greater miracle happened on that day so long ago. I’m guessing Jesus blessed the bread and fish.. and through his compassion and his act of thanksgiving and praise, God became known to the gathered throng in the breaking of that bread.
And when God becomes known to humankind, our hearts are opened and miracles happen, miracles of giving and sharing even when we ourselves are in hard times, of welcoming the strangers…, of caring for the least among us. So much so that we have more blessing left over than what we started with.
You’ve heard it many times: “I went to the homeless shelter or the food bank or the mission field to give/help/do something for people who are less fortunate than me,” people say, “and I got more out of it than I gave.”
Meister Eckhart, a German theologian and Franciscan monk of the 14th Century, said it this way:
For not only bread
but all things necessary
for sustenance in this life
are given on loan to us
with others
and because of others
and for others
to others through us.*
Amen.
*As quoted online by Edge of the Enclosure, 7/30/11.
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