Sermons

Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday 31 July at 10am

Lesley Ashton

Readings: Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14: 13-21

(With acknowledgement to the insights of Jeffrey John in 'The Meaning of the Miracles')
The miracle we read about in this morning's gospel is one that must be familiar to us all, one that we may have heard interpreted in a number of different ways, one that has layers of meaning within it. Perhaps because I have recently been priested the theology of the Eucharist feels particularly pertinent as I have been reading and preparing for this morning. But lets look at the broader context first and read the language of the miracle and the history that lies behind it.

Matthew's gospel particularly, seeks to show that Jesus is the one in whom God's purpose culminates and is the fulfilment of God's will as disclosed in the scriptures. As a Jewish writer, steeped in Old Testament scriptures, he uses these as a starting point to tell a new story that reapplies the truths and hopes of the past into the future.

Jesus is being presented by Matthew as the new Moses, the one who is bringing in a new age, but a new age that resonates and makes sense with the history of the people of Israel. Like Moses, Jesus crosses the water into the desert, sits the people down and feeds them with the same abundance as the manna that came down from heaven in the wilderness. Perhaps less obviously, the actions of Jesus also recall Elisha, who took an army of men into the desert and miraculously feeds them with a few loaves. ( 2 Kings 4) that are brought by a man offering his first fruits to this man of God. In this story there is again more than is needed for all to be satisfied.

The feeding of the 5000 seems to be drawing from these stories to show that Jesus, in recapitulating what both Moses and Elisha did, fulfils both the Law and the Prophets. Jesus is the one whom both the Prophets and the Law foretold.

If we look two chapters ahead into Matthew's gospel we find another story of Jesus feeding a great crowd but the numbers of loaves, fishes, people and baskets are different.

Here again we find Matthew giving an underlying message by using numeric symbolism and geographical context. The first miracle pointing to a Jewish context and the second to a Gentile one, the two stories illustrate the two stage preaching of the gospel, first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. But also illustrating that there is enough left over at the end of each miracle to feed more.

The symbolic meaning of the bread is the Word of God, the message of salvation and in John's gospel the account of this miracle is followed by Jesus helping the people to understand that the bread that God gives is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Jesus says 'I am the bread of life' and he told the people that those who come to him with never be hungry and those who believe in him will never be thirsty. He then continues in a more overt way, to make some of the same connections with their ancestors that are subtly present in Matthew's gospel.

One of the challenges we face as Christians today is how the theological truths in the New Testament resonate for us in this time and place. How do we, in our own turn, maintain an integrity and sense of continuity between the past and the present?

As I hinted earlier this miracle holds within it, the key elements of the Eucharist that we continue to celebrate week by week within this church. Each time we share communion together we receive Christ the eternal word of God both in scripture and within sacrament.
We come together, as a people who have a shared faith in God, people who live in the desert of earthly life, people who are hungry and hopeful to receive. We see in the feeding of the five thousand the four fold actions that take place each time we celebrate the Eucharist. The bread and wine are taken, blest, broken and given as they were by Christ in that deserted place and as they were at the last supper. Christ continues to look upon us, as he did in his earthly ministry with love and compassion and comes to meet us in bread and wine. The miracle of 2000 years ago continues and we will affirm this together in a short while when we say the words. Christ is the bread of life. When we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death Lord Jesus until you come in glory.

God's invitation is to all and there is always more than enough, for God's generosity surpasses human kindness. The invitation is to Jew and Gentile, to the beautiful and to the unlovely, to the saint and the sinner, to those we would gladly welcome and to those who make us feel uncomfortable. God's generosity extends beyond theological viewpoints or understandings, it includes those who live with faith bordering on certainty and those whose faith is a slender thread. And when we are tempted to think otherwise, we do well to remember that Jesus included at his table the one whom he knew would betray him and that many of his meals were eaten with those who others despised and rejected.

We come to God's table as a common people, because we each recognise our need and whatever riches or positions we hold in our everyday lives, we know that we need something more. So we come as equals, each of us aware of our need of the bread of life. And it is at God's table
that we experience the generous outpouring of God's love which is enough and sufficient

Yet we need to remember that whilst God's abundant generosity is always evident, it is never to be wasted for there are the baskets, the fragments that are gathered, when all have been served.

In one sense the collection of what remains is a sign of the reverence and respect that God places on what we have first brought to Him to be blessed. Like the loaves were brought to Elisha and the loaves and fishes to Jesus , so week by week we bring our own gifts of bread and wine, money, talents and work and oursaelves to be offered to God and we offer them in faith that God will transform them and return them to us as a blessing.

The fragments are gathered also to remind us of the work that still has to be done and that there is still plenty of God's generous love remaining to be offered to those who acknowledge their need of Him.

And finally from an eschatological or end time perspective, the baskets remind us of that great banquet in heaven when all who have been scattered across the earth will be brought together for the eternal banquet where with all the saints we will feast together.

In our church tradition the elements that remain at the end of the communion are gathered and consumed with respect for what they are and represent or handled with reverence and kept to take to those who belong to our church family but who through illness or circumstance find them selves unable to come to this place.

So we trace through time and place the symbolism and meaning that stretches back to the people of Israel. yet still resonates with us today. We are reminded of God's timeless generosity, his absolute faithfulness, His economy of shared abundance for all. Let us therefore share this Eucharist together with thanksgiving and with joy.

Amen

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