NB The service will be at Coates, open air, at 10am. Please bring a chair. Some thoughts on the Gospel (Matthew 14.13-21) - The Feeding of the Five Thousand
This is one of Jesus’ most well-known miracles. It occurs in all four Gospels. It is very easy to get stuck on the question -“How did he do it?” - and forget the more important question -“Why did he do it?” On the human level the answer is “because they were hungry and he cared for them”. Time and again we come across Jesus’ compassion in the Gospels. Even on the cross he comforts the penitent thief and is concerned about his mother’s future. It is his compassion for the sick, even on the sabbath, that he is moved to heal them. There are many examples of this overflowing concern for others - withered hands, dead daughters and sons, women bend double, with a long illness, foreign servants, lepers, blind Bartimaeus, and so on. All receive his loving response. He meets people’s needs - he hauls Zacchaeus down from his tree and invites himself to dinner. He is only here in the first place because he has been disturbed by the death of John the Baptist. Love and compassion. His disciples are concerned that it is getting late and the crowd is hungry. Jesus issues a challenge - “You give them something to eat!” The disciples are aware of their inadequacy. They cannot do it. All they have is five loaves and two fish. Jesus orders the people to sit down. Something important is going to happen. The stage is set. Jesus is there, with his disciples and the congregation. What follows is a proto-communion. We remember that in the early church fish was often used with bread and wine. Jesus asks for fish to eat after his resurrection. The Greek word for fish (ichthus) was used as an early creed - Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour. Some people still have fish symbols on their car boots. Notice how Jesus blesses, breaks and gives the bread and the fish, just as is done today at the communion service. There is something Old Testament about the whole scene - five thousand men, besides women and children, sitting on the grass. We are reminded of the Exodus. Jesus is a second Moses, with his twelve disciples representing the twelve tribes of Israel. This is emphasised by the number of baskets of scraps. It is, of course, twelve. The whole story is a proclamation of the generosity of God’s love and an encouragement to the disciples and us to show in what we do how God loves us all. Nobody in this scene is turned away. Nobody has to wear special clothes to gain entry. All are welcome and fed. Jesus is revealing his divine powers and making a prophetic gesture. On 2nd August we shall meet at 10 and we shall sit in our picnic chairs on the grass, ready to receive God’s word and to worship God. We shall, of course, keep an eye on the weather forecast and come appropriately dressed. The people in our gospel today didn’t do any such thing. So great was their need of Jesus that they came as they were, taking no thought for what they would eat or what they would wear, an example to us all, as we continue on our way through this pandemic. Lord God, your Son Jesus left the riches of heaven and became poor for our sake: when we prosper save us from pride, when we are needy save us from despair, that we may trust in you alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 31st July is the day we celebrate the memory of St Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish RC nobleman who founded the Society of Jesus in 1540, having won the support of the Pope to start an order of priests to bring the Gospel all around the world. He died in 1556. Both Reji and I studied for our MA with the Jesuits, as we know the Society of Jesus, in London and have benefitted from their rigorous and kindly teaching.
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NB: there will be a service of Holy Communion at Bignor at 10am How would you describe the wind or love? One could say the wind is like a feather’s touch or love is a journey. These literary devices are effective ways for giving colour, life, and meaning to concepts that would otherwise be difficult to understand. However, the tools are only effective if the person who hears them understands the references used. If I have never felt the touch of a feather I cannot know how the wind felt. Likewise, if I have never been on a journey, the comparison doesn’t help me better understand love. While the descriptions get us closer to the meaning, it is not the same as experiencing it. Specifically, it is the difference between knowing about something and actually knowing something. In this text, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to several concepts in order to enhance the crowd’s understanding of his teaching. Jesus ends his teaching in Matthew 13 by creating a more descriptive explanation of the kingdom of heaven. He explains it in five brief parables. After two detailed parables about the sower and ‘the seeds and weeds’, it is as if someone said to Jesus: “Tell us more about the kingdom of heaven? How would you describe it”? Jesus concludes his message to the crowd by saying the kingdom of heaven is like: a mustard seed, yeast, hidden treasure, a merchant who searches for and finds fine pearls, and finally a net. Each of these short descriptions expands our understanding of God’s kingdom. A mustard seed -- size really doesn’t matter The “smallest of all seeds,” the mustard seed grows into a tree (Matthew 13:32). Emphasising the size of the seed may refer to the modest beginning of the kingdom of heaven being realised on earth. Jesus marks the commencement of this era; he may be signifying to the crowd that from these very modest beginnings, great things will come. The next mention of the mustard seed in the gospel can be found in 17:20 where Jesus tells his disciples that the faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. Again, what is seemingly invisible can have an overwhelming impact. Like the seeds mentioned in the previous parables, the mustard seed, too, will produce a yield. Yeast -- transformed to rise above Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to yeast. When yeast is added to flour it causes the flour to rise. Yeast is a key ingredient for making bread because, without it, bread cannot be fluffy and light. In other words, the kingdom of heaven is transformative and uplifting. Without God’s reign, life would be flat and dull. It is the presence of God’s kingdom that empowers God’s people to rise above life’s circumstances. Hidden Treasure -- joy unspeakable The kingdom of heaven is like hidden treasure that has been found because it brings joy. In the parable Jesus speaks of a man who, “…in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field” (13:44). The man that Jesus describes is so filled with joy that he risks it all to obtain more. In exchange for the possibility of finding more treasure, and thusly joy, he sells it all! As such, the kingdom of heaven is not simply joy; it is a joy that is worth all that you have. A Merchant -- a valuable treasure The next parable teaches about a merchant who is searching for a pearl. Jesus states, “…on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:46). Like the man who finds a hidden treasure, the merchant who is searching for a pearl sells all that he has to purchase it. Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is a treasure; it is valuable and something to be valued. Also, Jesus seems to underscore that the kingdom of heaven must be sought. It is not easily obtained or readily available. A Net -- all-inclusive In the final comparison, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a net. The net “caught fish of every kind, when it was full they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad” (Matthew 13:47-48). As in the parable of the weeds, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as diverse and inclusive. Again, the angels come to “separate the evil from the righteous” (13:49). However, the net contained various kinds of fish. Just as the fish exist together in the sea, we also must live together, exist peaceably, and leave the judgment to God. The Scribe There is one additional aspect of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus highlights and that is the role of the scribe. He concludes, “Therefore every scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52). Scribes are often portrayed in a negative light in this gospel alongside the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Yet, the role of the scribes was extremely important. They had authority over the law. They were trained, in this case, specifically for the kingdom of God. These scribes are leaders who are responsible for mining the wisdom of the law, both the old and the new, and teaching it to the people. In a modern context, the scribes would be those who have been trained in the gospel. Preachers out of the treasure of his or her knowledge of God’s kingdom must share the ancient context of the gospel (the old) and the contemporary application of it today (the new) with God’s people. In other words, those who are responsible for the law must make it relevant for God’s people today. Once again, Jesus’ focus on the crowd does not eclipse the training and preparation he provides for his disciples. These five parables have taught us more about the kingdom of heaven. While the parables about the sower and seeds and the weeds may have appealed to the farmers in the crowd, these parables would have been meaningful to fishermen, bakers, housewives, and merchants. Their wide appeal would have helped the crowd to have a better understanding of the kingdom of heaven. We must seek the kingdom of heaven in order to find it and, when we find it, we have found a treasure. This treasure will bring joy that empowers us to rise above life’s difficult circumstances. We experience the kingdom of God in community -- all are welcome at the table. The more we are taught, by the trained scribes, the more we will grow and become witnesses of God’s kingdom here on earth. Let us pray Generous God, you give us gifts and make them grow: though our faith is small as mustard-seed, make it grow to your glory and the flourishing of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Note: there will be an outdoor service at Coates at 10am (bring a chair) and an indoor service at Barlavington at 11.30
Sermon
Note: There will be a service in Coates churchyard on Sunday at 10am: please bring a chair (or email here if you would like one to be brought for you). The alternative below is for anyone who can't make it for any reason.
Today’s Gospel contains more of Jesus’ teaching of his disciples. It starts with a picture of children in the marketplace, ‘playing funerals’, or so it seems! The children cannot agree what their roles are to be. Jesus likens his contemporaries to squabbling children, unable to agree with one another, and he then goes on to talk about how people cannot agree with one another about John the Baptist, his cousin and forerunner, and Jesus himself. John, who does not drink and who fasts hard, is possessed by the Devil, according to them, while Jesus, who does drink wine and goes out to lunch and preaches the Kingdom of God to all and sundry, even the hated tax-collectors and sinners, is accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. One line from Jesus puts them firmly in their place - ‘Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’ You can hear the sigh as you read these words. These people will never learn, even though Jesus is clearly inspired by divine wisdom (Matthew 11.16-19). We then move on to verse 25. This passage is an actual prayer of Our Lord. There is a lot of evidence that Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. Apart from the Lord’s Prayer we don’t have many actual prayers. This is one instance. It is a word of thanks to God that God has hidden the truth of the Kingdom from the so-called wise and intelligent and revealed it to infants (the simple, the marginalised, the poor, the disregarded, with whom Jesus always had a great affinity). He addresses God as Father and then turns to the disciples with words that seem to have come straight from John’s Gospel, stressing the closeness of Father and Son. It is through the Son that we come to know the Father and through the Father that we come to know the Son. Then comes a passage which is well known to those who love the BCP Holy Communion and Handel’s ‘Messiah’. If we look more closely at Jesus’ words he seems to be saying that those who are weighed down and weary will find rest by taking up his yoke, his burden. This is really encouraging for us in these challenging times. We lay aside our burdens of care and concern about the future and take up the way of life that Jesus shows us, and it is easy. We can rest in the love of God. We need to hear these words in these days. Lord God, the source of truth and love, keep us faithful to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, united in prayer and the breaking of bread, and one in joy and simplicity of heart, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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AuthorCanon John Green Archives
May 2021
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