The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

August 3rd, 2008

Lessons:

Isaiah 55:1-5

Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

Romans 9:1-5

Matthew 14:13-21

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Friend Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our Gospel text for today begins, "When Jesus heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself." The question that you can't help but ask is, of course, what did he hear? Jesus had just received horrible news, terrible news…frightening news. John the Baptist was dead, and the manner in which he died made the news all the more unbearable. He was beheaded…and it gets worse, he was beheaded so that King Herod could save face. You see, John had been telling King Herod that it is NOT okay to be messing around with his brother's wife, Herodias, and so to silence him Herod threw him into prison. Then Herod's birthday comes and he throws this lavish party and invites lots of important people. The evening was capped off by a dance performed by Herodias' daughter, that is, Herod's niece. The dance made such an impression on Herod that he promised to give her anything that she asked for…and prompted by her mother she requested the head of John the Baptist…on a platter, please. Herod was worried about the uproar this would cause among John's followers, but ultimately he gave in to peer pressure and the thing was done.

Have you ever received news that seemed to make the world stop…the kind of news that feels like somebody just punched you in the gut? The kind of news that causes everything else that's going on in your life to immediately fade away…the kind of news that makes a person withdraw and turn inward for a time.

This is what happened to Jesus that day…so often we think of Jesus as aloof and above the cares and concerns of the world, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The news of John's death hit Jesus really hard. Why? Well, there's nothing in the Bible to suggest that John and Jesus were really close friends, but their lives and ministries were, without a doubt, intimately bound to one another. The purpose of John's life and ministry was to prepare the way for Jesus, by proclaiming the message, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!" This is precisely the message that got John in so much trouble with Herod. John baptized Jesus and in doing so, handed the baton to him, after the baptism the text tells us, "…from that time on Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.'"

Is it any wonder that John's horrific death gave Jesus pause? John was just the messenger, Jesus was the message. Is it any wonder that Jesus needed to withdraw, to have some time by himself, to think and pray and contemplate his own fate?

When Jesus had crossed the sea, he found that the deserted place he was looking for was not deserted at all, but filled with a huge crowd of people. And what was his response, annoyance? No. Anger? No. Frustration!? No. Compassion. He had compassion on the crowds; he came ashore, and he cured their sick.

Here we see Psalm 145, which we read this morning, acted out in the flesh… "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…the Lord upholds those who fall and uplifts those who are bowed down…You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing."

But Jesus hadn't even begun to show his compassion. He and his disciples and this huge crowd were out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat, so his disciples, quite sensibly, tell him to send the crowds away so that they can go get food…Jesus says, "The don't need to go away, you give them something to eat." They replied, "But Lord, all we have is fives loaves and two fish!" Jesus then took the loaves and blessed them and broke them and gave them to the disciples who gave them to the crowds and everyone ate and was filled, more than 5,000 people.

Jesus was neither aloof or above the cares of the world. The hymn we're about to sing today says it well, "Lord whose love in humble service bore the weight of human need." Jesus had compassion because he knew what it felt like to be hungry and sick and heavy burdened. Jesus is fully human! But he is also fully God and therefore has the power to do something about it. He has the power to heal and to take five loaves and two fish and feed five-thousand.

Hunger isn't really our need is it? We say that we're "starving" all of the time, but we don't really know what it feels like to be hungry. While, physical hunger may be quite foreign to us, spiritual hunger is not. We know what it feels like to be spiritually empty. We know what its like to feel separated from God. There's so many things competing for our time and energy and allegiance and so often our faith gets set aside, whether consciously or unconsciously, while we run after things that leave us empty and desperate for something real.

Our reading from Isaiah for this morning asks, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? How often we chase after things that do not satisfy stuff that isn't bread, stuff that doesn't nurture us physically or spiritually, but rather saps us of life? Yep, we know what it feels like to be spiritually hungry.

The Good news is that Jesus does too. He is the one who cried out from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus experienced the depths of spiritual emptiness, and he has compassion for us when we are spiritually starving, he has born that weight. He has felt that human need to be connected with God. The really good news is that, not only does Jesus have compassion for us, but he also has the power to help us.

Jesus never stops getting out of his boat coming ashore and meeting us at the point of our need. Jesus is always about the work of healing us and making us whole. Jesus is the bread that satisfies and he lives to give us life, real life. And just when we find ourselves at the point of crying out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" He says to us, "I haven't forsaken you, I'm right here with you, and I always will be, nothing can separate you from my love. Amen.