What are you hungry for? Abundance? Isaiah 55.1-5; Psalm 145. And Matthew 14. Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender Loaves & Fishes. In classical rhetoric, a commonplace is a statement or bit of knowledge that is commonly shared by members of an audience or a community. I just said a commonplace. Loaves & Fishes. Hugo or I brought you a commonplace in your brown paper bag. It’s a bit of taste, actual flavor, of our gospel lesson for today. This idea of baking bread and cooking fish to bring the gospel lesson in a brown paper bag, came to me early in the week as I read this story, this very familiar commonplace, again. For the zillionth time. I invite you to nibble as I preach. Save a little for communion too. I know its weird and maybe uncomfortable on screen. Or maybe you don’t enjoy salmon. Especially with hard boiled eggs. Just don’t tell me. I want you to do this as a way to break open the commonplace, to receive this Word in a way you may never have before. It’s a signal of abundance. Listen for the Word of God for you, Matthew 14. What are you hungry for? I’m always struck by Isaiah’s question: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, your labor for that which does not satisfy? Isaiah asks. Why do I? #to appear middle class at least #to look a part, sophisticated #to fit in #to follow cultural trends #to feed my cravings I want to spend my money and labor on service and generosity. I want to hunger for justice. This covenant Isaiah writes about is about everyone having enough. Break down barriers that divide rich and poor. Black and white, outsiders and insiders. I ask, what would it take to make this happen in our communities, in our country? What is the work the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to do for racial justice and equity today, right now? What do you hunger for? You might remember, This particular part of Isaiah is called the Book of Consolation, chapters 40-55. It’s a collection of writings over the course of 75 or 100 years, during Israel’s exile in Babylon in the 7th century BCE. The writer wishes to lift up the people, to remind them of who they are and whose they are. Sound familiar? The covenant still holds, even in a time of dislocation. Never forget this! The covenant still holds, even in a time of dislocation. Governments fail, countries go into chaos and war, suffering increases beyond all measure. Yet we claim God still pursues redemption for the whole of creation. Even when we cannot see it with our own eyes, we might be able to hear it with the ears of our hearts or the taste on our tongues. Come, eat. Participate in this lavish spread - get water, wine, bread, milk, smoked salmon - like a market of vendors, all in one place. I will set this table for you, Jesus says. You need no money, everyone is welcomed. A Crowded Table. To accept this invitation is life. Life! This embodied, biological, real taste on the tongue, life! Not some faith construct we generate in our heads. But flesh and blood, real life. This life, this day. What are you hungry for? Fish and bread, maybe? Take a bite. (Do it!) Did you notice the context for this recounting of the 12 feeding the upwards of 10,000. Counting the women and the children of course. The context: It’s one little verse: Now when Jesus heard this… what is this He heard? John the Baptist, his cousin, his compatriot, his baptizer, his friend, had been beheaded. Not only that, his head had been pranced around a dinner party, by a young woman, trying to please her powerful mother. Her step-father, Herod and the other men, total drunks, their eyes on this sweet young thing carrying a head. So gruesome. Jesus wanted to go away to grieve, to pray, to be in anguish for such evil to transpire. He wanted a moment alone. But the peoples’ hunger for His compassion is so ravenous, they follow him. Even in His despair, Jesus extends His healing touch, serves the weak. The day grows long, its supper time, the disciples are worried. “What are we going to do with all these people? They’ve got to be hungry. Jesus, do something.” No. Jesus says, No. You do something. What? Fish and bread, its what we got. ITs not enough. We never have enough to share. The scarcity model comes into view, again. In a statement of faith and humility, Jesus looks to heaven, the dwelling place of the Most High. Jesus hallows God’s name, giving it first place. Like we do every week when we say the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be your name. Hallow: To make holy. Or to recognize holiness. You could say our sanctuary, our Zoom gatherings, have been hallowed…for the worship of God. All of a sudden there is enough to go around. With leftovers for the local food bank! It’s a compelling story, the only miracle story of Jesus found in all 4 gospels. Come eat, you who have no money. Are you thirsty? Drink. There is plenty! We’ve only got 5 loaves and 2 fish. It's nothing. Really? What if one of the disciples had lifted his or her head to heaven, seeking God’s blessing? What might have happened? It certainly is a foreshadowing of the Last Supper. It is certainly a mystery. I don’t know how fish and bread reproduce like this. What I do know is Jesus’ compassion extends to the lower social classes through healing and through feeding, basic care. He generates an alternative world. He offers salvation and forgiveness. He welcomes all. Come and eat, you who have no money. Come and eat, you who are broken by life. Come and eat, you who are filled with grace and mercy. Everyone, come, come to the table of life. What are you hungry for? Abundance?
Courage! I Am! Don't Be Afraid!
Little Faith, Big Bold Steps Or Salvation’s Gesture or Courage! I Am! Don’t Be Afraid! COURAGE! I AM! DON’T BE AFRAID! Write these words down, memorize them, make a sign for your door posts, your kitchen and the tablets of your heart. Repeat them as your mantra every single day, a developed rhythm: Courage! I Am! Don’t Be Afraid! Courage! I Am! Don’t Be Afraid! Courage! I Am! Don’t Be Afraid! Now let me explain. Jesus’ words writ in ALL CAPS. 9 verses on either side of His claim of Lordship. Remember? When Moses asks for God’s name in Exodus 3 to convince the people he really has been speaking with the real deal, God responds, “Tell them I Am sent you.” Isaiah 43 captures this same sense: “But now, says Adonai, I who created you, who formed you; do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name and you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you...For I AM Adonai, your God... Jesus does not give a shout across the water, “Hey guys, its me.” He is making a revelation of His true identity. Fully human and yes, fully God. What is significant to note, this miracle is not done by Jesus, where He destroys what it means to be simply human. It is not an intrinsic act on His part, rather it is extrinsic, done from the outside. God enacts this miracle for Jesus! Jesus speaks a performative word - courage. From the French - encourage - to have heart, or to take heart. As Jesus trots on top of the water, He acts with courage and deep faith, for He knows God is as good as His Word. Ok, a little bird walk is in order to address deep and serious questions: Did Jesus walk on water? (Pause). Did this miracle take place in the material world within which we live? Is it possible to believe in the symbolic miracle of Jesus’ power to save His disciples, without thinking He actually walked on the Sea of Galilee? Some of us have had the privilege to stand right there on the shore, these questions haunting our minds. Jesus is the one who scares the disciples, not the wind or storm. They think they are seeing a ghost! Is this a spirit from the nether world? Hebraic thought envisioned water as metaphysical, always a threat to human life. Yahweh has power over the seas to induce creation, by separating sky and land, sun and moon, waters and wind. Throughout the OT God’s Lordship is heralded as triumphant over the waters. This is the enactment of God’s authority and sovereignty over all of Her creation. Jesus walking on water is a divine revelation. Courage! I AM! Don’t be afraid! With 2 little Greek Words - ego eimi - Jesus lays claim to the Sovereign Lordship who rules the seas and the winds and is liberator of Israel! He hints at who He is right now AND who He will become on the cross. He wears this name. I Am. He enacts the salvation the Psalmist writes about: @ hand. Nearby. Next to. Within reach. Close. How else could God lift us up if She wasn’t? It is the gesture of salvation, His outstretched hand lifts Peter out of the water, back into the boat. Jesus’ grace outshines Peter’s little faith. But I don’t want to trash Peter either. He got out of the boat, out of his comfort zone, out of what he knew and held onto. He had enough faith for a moment. In this story, Peter is the church, tossed and torn by the cultural winds. What about Our church, our time. Racial justice and equity, how do we learn to be anti-racist, for the choice is stark - racist or anti-racist? There is no such thing as race neutral, not in a country that was built on the economic exploitation of Africans as “hands”. Slave owners kept meticulous records of the exact # of ‘hands’ they owned, what price they paid for them, and what they sold them for; each ‘hand’ a person a woman, man, or child. In our constitution, it says that white property owners could vote and Black men were considered 3/5’s human. You did not have to own land, you could simply own ‘hands’. And be considered as having property. The church supported this status quo. Our church history is deeply entwined with America’s Original Sin. The church benefited from the economy of the work of unpaid ‘hands’ to build churches, colleges and universities, expansion into the West. Our list of repentance against African Americans is very long. Our list of repentance against Native Americans is very long. To destroy patriarchal white supremacy, I believe we will need a truth and reconciliation commission, similar to what they had in South Africa. As Christians, followers of this Liberating Jesus Savior and Lord. Frightened as all get out. What does it mean to de-center whiteness? In life, work, habits of thought? As a White, Christian, preacher, I am doing a deep dive into theological books by African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinx, for I know my mind needs to be stirred, challenged, to think in new pathways. Some of this work I’ve already done, but it is a never ending task of de - centering the racist patterns that occupy the scaffolding of my personhood. Let me ask you this: What is your definition of a Christian? James Cone, the scholarly father of Black Liberation Theology, answers: “A Christian is one who is striving for liberation.” Liberator of ancient Israel. Liberator of the United States. Liberator of Wallingford Presbyterian Church. Liberator of me and you. Jesus liberates us from sin through the cross. Jesus liberates us from oppressing other people by our words and actions, or our lack of words and actions. Silence is violence, the signs say. They’re right. Jesus always speaks up for those outsiders, marginalized, Gentiles as they were called then. People of Color we say now. Can you see the outstretched hand? The gesture of salvation? Will we, can we, walk on water toward Jesus? It is a daring act, takes some faith. But like Esther, we are called to such a time as this. It’s nothing we planned, nor expected, nor even prepared for. But George Floyd’s death, Breanna Taylor’s Death. Maud Arbrery. Philando Castillle. Michael Brown. Trayvon Martin. Eric Gardner. Freddie Gray. And all the others, named and un-named. We are in a once in a century pandemic, the worst economic depression the US has ever seen. What are we going to do? How are we going to respond? We have this moment to actively work toward dismantling white supremacy, in the grand and glorious Name of Jesus Christ. He promises to remain against all our fears. He is at hand. We live in His Presence all the days of our lives. He is calling us out of our comfort boats, to act courageously, with as much faith as we can muster. His grace will make up for any lack. Courage! I Am! Don’t be afraid!