{"id":26530,"date":"2026-07-29T11:08:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=26530"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:08:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:08:43","slug":"matthew-1413-21-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/matthew-1413-21-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 14:13\u201321"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tenth Sunday After Pentecost<\/strong>\u00a0| 02.08.2026 |\u00a0Matthew 14:13\u201321\u00a0<\/strong>| Carl A. Voges\u00a0<\/strong>|<\/h3>\n

The Passage<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Now when Jesus heard this [the death of John the Baptizer, verses 6-12], he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart.\u00a0 But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the town.\u00a0 As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, \u201cThis is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cThey need not go away; you give them something to eat.\u201d\u00a0 They said to him, \u201cWe have only five loaves here and two fish.\u201d\u00a0 And he said, \u201cBring them here to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.<\/em><\/p>\n

And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.<\/em>
\n[Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe LORD will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in the time of trouble.\u00a0 Those who know your Name will put their trust in you, for you never forsake those who seek you, O LORD.\u201d [Psalm 9.9-10]<\/p>\n

In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the Lord\u2019s baptized and ordained people make their way through the six months of the Pentecost season, our Life in him deepens through our exposures to his Scriptures and Sacraments.\u00a0 Through the Old Testament books, the New Testament letters and the four Gospels of the Holy Writings we actually come face-to-face with the realities of the Lord\u2019s Life!\u00a0 Through the Baptism, Forgiveness and Supper of the Lord such confrontations are intensified!<\/p>\n

This is excellent for us because it is tough to live as the Lord\u2019s people in the world.\u00a0 From its beginning the world is fully wrapped up in itself.\u00a0 It gets its stuff done through its realities of money and power.\u00a0 It puts an attractive front on its things, but is unable to prevent their destructive side from leaking out.\u00a0 While the world is skilled at noticing when things are wrong, it flounders when those wrongs need to be addressed.\u00a0 The world, ultimately, leaves us with poor leaders and sorry economic models.\u00a0 Its money and power leaves its people floundering and mis-directed!<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the Lord\u2019s people have continual access to the holy places of his Scriptures and Sacraments.\u00a0 In them we participate in the Life which comes from eternity.\u00a0 In them we are deepened and strengthened to deal with the realities of the world in which we live.\u00a0 This surfaces clearly in today\u2019s Gospel where we see the Lord\u2019s compassion impacting thousands of people.<\/p>\n

We begin with what occurs in the front of this passage from Matthew \u2013 the description of John the Baptizer\u2019s death.\u00a0 John had announced the Son of God\u2019s entrance into this world, he had pointed to Jesus as the anticipated Messiah.\u00a0 But John had been put into prison because he spoke honestly of the king\u2019s immoral behavior in securing another wife.\u00a0 John was abruptly killed, though, because the king had made a drunken promise to his niece after her dancing before his banquet guests.\u00a0 With this event in the background Jesus withdraws, by boat, to a lonely place.<\/p>\n

Such a place recalls a wilderness, it probably looks like portions of Nevada, Arizona or California.\u00a0 Such a place is inhospitable; it is not possible for people to live there for lengths of time; it is hard on people who try to make their way through it. \u00a0The Greek word for \u201clonely\u201d refers to a \u201cdeserted place,\u201d a \u201cdesert,\u201d an \u201cuninhabited region.\u201d\u00a0 Our world, built up and maintained by the gods it creates, ends up being that way.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t start out that way (its approach is to make it look pleasant, attractive and promising).\u00a0 But then it stumbles.\u00a0 Wrapped up in its own life, living off its money and power, it falls back into its own life, creating an area, a region, where life becomes extremely difficult to establish and maintain.<\/p>\n

Biblically understood, it is striking that Jesus\u2019 withdrawals are described in this fashion.\u00a0 The withdrawals, though, give Jesus the opportunities to be with his Father before re-entering the blasted areas of the world\u2019s life, the surroundings where the world\u2019s gods dominate the people in them.<\/p>\n

Hearing of Jesus\u2019 action, the crowds from the various towns follow him on foot. \u00a0When Jesus returns from his withdrawal and comes ashore, he sees this great crowd.\u00a0 He has compassion for them and cures those who are ill.\u00a0 The Greek word for \u201ccompassion\u201d runs deeply, it is much more than our Lord feeling sorry for them.\u00a0 It is not a shallow empathy; visually, it\u2019s like the difference between a shovel barely cutting into the ground and the shovel going into dirt twelve inches or more!\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 penetrating compassion also recalls the passage in Isaiah where a barely-burning fire is not to be snuffed out and a damaged bone is not to be broken!<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 curing of the sick takes all day and when evening comes, the disciples want the crowds sent away to buy food for themselves.\u00a0 This is in stunning contrast with the Lord\u2019s attitude but it is also the first mention of food.\u00a0 Jesus notes that the crowds do not have to go away.\u00a0 In fact he puts it on the disciples to give them something to eat!\u00a0 They report that they have nothing but five loaves of bread and two fish!<\/p>\n

Stepping into their inadequacies, Jesus orders the loaves and fish to be brought to him (note this is a command!).\u00a0 He also orders the crowds to sit down on the grass.\u00a0 Our Lord \u00a0takes the loaves and the fish.\u00a0 He looks to his Father, blesses and breaks them.\u00a0 He then gives the loaves (and the fish) to the disciples so they, in turn, can give the food to the crowds (these actions definitively recall the actions of his Supper in the Church\u2019s Liturgy!).<\/p>\n

Matthew reports that the crowds are filled (their hunger is satisfied) and that the broken pieces fill twelve baskets.\u00a0 This is a vivid reminder of Israel\u2019s twelve tribes who were fed by the LORD God during their forty-year journey through wilderness!\u00a0 Matthew also comments that those eating this food are more than five thousand people, including the men, women and children!<\/p>\n

This passage deepens our understanding of the Life given us by the LORD God!\u00a0 When people find themselves in lonely and ripped places, there can be the growing realization that the world\u2019s life, ultimately, cannot provide for them.\u00a0 There is also the saving realization, though, that the Son, the Father and the Spirit are entering such places, strongly providing for them!<\/p>\n

It is difficult to live in the world as the Lord\u2019s people.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Gospel, however, sketches out a biblical pattern which frames and sustains our lives in the middle of all the difficulties which press in on us every day.\u00a0 From the days of our Baptisms we have been learning how the LORD God draws us into his presence through his holy Writings, his Forgiveness and his Eucharist.<\/p>\n

Being drawn into his presence establishes a breaking and restoring pattern for all the baptized and ordained throughout their entire lives!\u00a0 Born to be caught up with our own lives, we learn (often painfully) that such an exclusive focus leads to people being lost.\u00a0 Eventually, though, such persons also recognize they are being hammered because of their self-focus and the false gods on which they rely.\u00a0 From there they can call on the Lord and he rescues them, drawing them more fully into the holy places of his Scriptures and Sacraments.\u00a0 In those places they thank the Lord for his mercy (his compassion!) and the wonders he does for his people!<\/p>\n

This breaking and restoring pattern (often described as Law-Gospel in the Lutheran tradition) holds the Lord\u2019s people together as they are worked over by the world\u2019s gods.<\/p>\n

It clarifies and sharpens the proclaiming, serving and teaching of the Lord\u2019s Gospel from his parish communities.<\/p>\n

It also reminds us of the natural tendency (driven and maintained by the unholy trio of sin, Satan and death) to pull away from the LORD God when our lives are being swarmed by the world\u2019s gods.\u00a0 Such a tendency creates parishes who try to make themselves attractive to the desires of people or who continually speak of their successes or who cleverly tap into people\u2019s emotions.<\/p>\n

All these tendencies do, however, is blunt and obscure the work given by the Lord to his parishes!\u00a0 That\u2019s why you can go to a Burial Liturgy which focuses almost exclusively on the person who died or participate in an Eucharist which is sloppily put together or hear a homily which is barely connected to a text undergirding it!<\/p>\n

Thankfully, though, there are the Lord\u2019s Scriptures and Sacraments to which we have access and there are the members and friends in our parishes who stream into the Church\u2019s liturgies on a steady basis.\u00a0 These people push to be in the Lord\u2019s presence even though their lives are burdened with illness or are managing difficult circumstances. \u00a0Such individuals are well aware of the world\u2019s lonely, ripped places, but they are more aware of the Lord\u2019s holy places.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they press in on his.\u00a0 They recognize that in them they have access to the Lord\u2019s rescuing, sustaining and creating activity!<\/p>\n

These baptized and faithful people understand we live in a time when most people are focusing on themselves \u2013 their desires, their successes, their emotions.\u00a0 But the baptized and faithful people also recognize they cannot stop the pursuits they notice or even prevent them.\u00a0 They let those pursuits go on, knowing that, ultimately, such pursuers will finally be brought to the world\u2019s lonely and ripped places.\u00a0 And it is there where the LORD God will meet them with his deep compassion, restoring their blasted lives with his own!<\/p>\n

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Pr. Carl A. Voges,
\nSTS, Columbia, SC;
\ncarl.voges4@icloud.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tenth Sunday After Pentecost\u00a0| 02.08.2026 |\u00a0Matthew 14:13\u201321\u00a0| Carl A. Voges\u00a0| The Passage Now when Jesus heard this [the death of John the Baptizer, verses 6-12], he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart.\u00a0 But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the town.\u00a0 As he went ashore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,468,727,157,853,173,108,110,461,349,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-26530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-9-so-n-trinitatis","category-archiv","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-carl-a-voges","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-14-chapter-14-matthaeus","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26531,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26530\/revisions\/26531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26530"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=26530"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=26530"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=26530"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=26530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}