9th Sunday After Pentecost, July 26, 2015

Collect for the Day

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reflections: Indeed, it is the “things temporal” that wake me up in the night, that grow out of all proportion. I develop tunnel vision; they become ultimate. Remembrance is a grace that puts my concerns in true context. Remembrance is a sacrament, whether we re-member at the altar, or in our fuzzy slippers while we struggle to get the dog outdoors before she pees on the floor. 

First Lesson: 2 Kings 4:42-44

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

Reflections: This story occurs during a famine. Before this account, Elisha accomplishes a number of wonders, including raising the dead son of the Shunammite woman.

I find it surprising that a man would give his grain and bread away rather than keep it for himself and his family. Even more because this man was a stranger to Israel. As Fr. Tony pointed out, he came from a town named after a Canaanite god. Nevertheless, he brings his first fruits to the prophet of Israel’s God.

I can imagine that Elisha’s servant, Gejazi, must have thought his master was nuts to waste the bread on son many hungry people, when it would satisfy a smaller number of people so much better. But God apparently clued Elisha in about something today’s social scientists are discovering. Satisfaction doesn’t depend on how much we have. It depends on how equitably the goods are distributed. We don’t really mind going a little hungry, if everyone else is a little hungry, too. What disturbs us is going hungry while the guy next door drives to a swank restaurant in his new car.

Is it any surprise that according to the Book of Acts, the Early Church shared everything equally?

Psalm 145: 10-19 Exaltabo te, Deus

All your works praise you, O LORD, * and your faithful servants bless you.

They make known the glory of your kingdom * and speak of your power;

That the peoples may know of your power * and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; * your dominion endures throughout all ages.

The LORD is faithful in all his words * and merciful in all his deeds.

The LORD upholds all those who fall; * he lifts up those who are bowed down.

The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, * and you give them their food in due season.

You open wide your hand * and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways * and loving in all his works.

The LORD is near to those who call upon him, * to all who call upon him faithfully.

 

Epistle: Ephesians 3:14-21

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Reflections: We are being rooted and grounded in love; the roots of our inner being are spreading deeply into the nourishing soil of the Divine. God being infinite, we have embarked on a lifelong journey of soul formation, not a short trip that is completed at baptism, or at confirmation, or . . . at any finite destination. Our deepening life in Christ is organic—witness the Eucharist, where we receive His body into ours.  

Paul prays that we may comprehend the full dimensions of Christ’s love. . . that we may understand or know a Mystery that remains beyond the capacity to understand. . . that we may comprehend, encompass, embody the “fullness of God.”

Jesus’ mother Mary has long been known in the Eastern Church as Mater Theou, “Mother of God.” This inscription is placed on all her icons. In addition, there is a beautiful icon of the Virgin standing with her arms raised in prayer. And a circle of Divine Light with an image of a young Christ blessing is at the level of her heart. This is the presence of Christ hidden within her. In this image she is called platytera ton ouranon, she who is “more spacious than the heavens.” He, whom not even the heavens can contain, dwells within her. And this is St. Paul’s prayer for us. 

Gospel: John 6:1-21

Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?"

Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Reflections: The first reading and the gospel fit so well together, and there’s a lot to consider when we meditation on the miraculous feeding. But my attention is drawn to how differently Philip and Andrew respond to the situation.

Philip strikes me as a realist; he assesses and evaluates the situation, then makes a pronouncement and is done with it. It’s not an emotional issue for him. He doesn’t wring his hands with anxiety or regret.

Andrew seems to be the polar opposite. Apparently a natural optimist like his brother Peter, he almost bursts with enthusiasm: a little boy has some bread and fish! But then he second guesses himself, perhaps a bit self-conscious about his unguarded excitement.

          Jesus seems unaffected by either a realism that would stop him from trying, or a hope that is easily discouraged in the face of so large a task. Maybe it doesn’t matter whether we tend to see the jar half full or half empty. Christ nourishes us in ways we cannot expect, in situations we think are irredeemable.