Göttinger Predigten
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Pentecost 8, 08/03/2014
USE YOUR IMAGINATION
Sermon on Matthew 14:13-21, by Hubert Beck
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, "Bring them here to me." 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 said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 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.
USE YOUR IMAGINATION
Do you ever just turn loose of whatever is happening around you and free your imagination to see where it might lead you? Children are much better at this than us adults, and they often amaze us with stories and yarns that surprise us. "Where in the world did you get an idea like that?" we ask -- and the child shrugs his / her shoulders as if to say, "I don't know. I just thought it up!"
I invite you to let your imagination run crazy today, for this is a good morning to turn loose of everything that is ordinary in life and let our minds roam in an uninhibited fashion as we look at the gospel text for today!
Start out by imagining yourself to have been one of the five thousand plus people in this account.
A First Person Account of The Day As It May Have Been Experienced by One in the Crowd
When I got up this morning I didn't dream of what the day held in store for me.
Then I heard that Jesus was near and I wanted to see and hear this fellow who has gained quite a reputation in these parts recently.
I was amazed at how many people must have felt the same way, for when I came near where he was to have appeared quite a large number of people had already gotten there ahead of me. I wondered how some of them had gotten there, for from their looks some of them could hardly walk and others looked like death warmed over. But we were all anxious to see him.
How disappointed we were, then, when he appeared briefly, got into a boat with his disciples and headed out for the other side of the sea.
But a few had some kind of sense about where he was going and someone yelled out, "Follow me," and I got caught up in a huge company of people hiking together to where we assumed he was going. It was quite a scramble, but most of us actually got there ahead of Jesus, and when he got out of the boat he apparently gave up his reasons for wanting to get to the place and instead started dealing with everybody as though they needed something he could give them.
And a lot of them did need what he gave them. I, myself, saw a lot of people who had been very much affected by the way he had touched them, spoke with them and in general gave them some kind of a new sense of hope.
Everyone lost track of time in the midst of all this, but I started hearing some of the younger children telling their parents they were hungry and I, myself, suddenly realized the day was rapidly drawing near to its close and I hadn't brought any food for a meal of any kind.
About that time I saw Jesus take up a piece of bread, hold it up as though recognizing it as a gift from God, and then start handing pieces of it to his disciples who began circulating among us. (I, myself, was quite a ways from what was happening, so I couldn't hear anything as all this took place,) We were told to sit in little groups and pretty soon one of the disciples handed out some bread and fish to our small band and all of us ate what they gave us. There was plenty for all of us and some, in fact, was left over.
Since it was late we started returning to the towns and cities from which we had come after we had eaten. As I was heading for home I heard a report that Jesus had turned a few loaves of bread and some small amount of fish into the food that all of us had eaten - and, believe me, there were lots of us. I don't know what to make of all that. I just know that we all ate and had enough, so whatever Jesus did was certainly a godsend for all of us hungry people.
.A First Person Account of The Day As It May Have Been Experienced by One of the Disciples
Now imagine yourself to have been one of the disciples
When I got up this morning I had no idea of what the day held in store for me. As usual we figured that we would hear Jesus talking to a bunch of people like he often did.
Then we received this message that Jesus' cousin John, often called The Baptizer, had been beheaded by that rascal Herod. We knew he had gotten into deep trouble over the way he confronted Herod with the charge of adultery because of the way he married his brother Philip's wife Herodias in an outrageously flagrant mockery of morality, but we had no idea Herod would kill him. The news must have struck Jesus in a very vulnerable place in his heart for he completely disregarded the people who had gathered to hear him and asked us to obtain a boat so that he could go to a quiet desert place for prayer and reflection.
So we sailed toward a place that we knew was particularly austere where we could be alone. But alas and alack, we could see the dust rising on the horizon as a huge number of people, seeing the direction we were headed and still determined to see and be with Jesus, raced to get there ahead of us - which they did! We were dumbfounded and afraid that Jesus would be very much disturbed over this, but quite to the contrary, upon seeing them his heart went out to them as usual and he circulated among them, touching them, healing them, speaking with them. So the day went on in a fashion none of us had expected.
Then, of a sudden, we looked around us and realized that the evening was rapidly closing in on us - and we became conscious of the responsibility we had for feeding these people. After all, they were there because of us - but we had no resources with which to care for them. On top of that, there were so many people that we couldn't buy enough to feed them if we had that much money- and even if we did have that much money, there was no place nearby where we could buy that many supplies. So we did the only thing we knew to do - we asked Jesus to send the people away as quickly as possible so that they, themselves, could scrounge up something to eat wherever and in whatever way possible. There was nothing else to do.
But that Jesus - you never know what he might come up with next - and you also know how he could mess around with you! Instead of taking our suggestion seriously he told us to feed them ourselves! We had just taken an inventory of what we had and we told him there wasn't nearly enough to cover the needs of so many people. But he didn't back off for a moment. He pressed the issue, asking us to give him the little that we had. Then he blessed the bread, held it up as though recognizing it as a gift from the Father and started breaking off pieces, giving them to us and ordering us to hand them out to the people. How those five loaves and two fish were turned into enough to feed all those people I have no idea. I just know we kept giving it out, coming back for more - and there was always more to take out and give! I can't say that I saw anything other than the bread and fish he gave to me and that I took to the people.
Finally all were fed and, since darkness was rapidly descending on them, the people started drifting away, returning to their towns and homes.
Then Jesus - that fellow who could make more mischief for those of us who followed him than we could ever tell you - instructed us to gather up the left-overs and, wonder of wonders, there were twelve baskets of bread still lying around where the people had eaten.
Don't ask me how all this happened. I am learning little by little to not ask questions, but just to watch and try to learn. I must admit, though, that even I, who walk and talk with him regularly, find it both harder and harder to figure him out and, at the same time, find myself more and more drawn into an attachment with him that I can't figure out, but that I am glad is taking place.
Jesus, Himself, Was Willing to Stretch the Imagination of Those Around Him
John tells us that in the immediate aftermath of this mass feeding, the people recognized, on the basis of what he had just done, that he could provide them with food security in perpetuity. Therefore they were "about to come and take him by force to make him king," (John 6:15) which Jesus perceived as a threat to everything for which he had come. So he made a rapid exit from their midst - only to find them waiting for him again the next day.
At that point Jesus openly confronted them with their materialistic hopes and intentions, urging them instead to set their sights on "the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." (John 6:27) When he couldn't shake their minds off the material forms of food he finally had to say openly, "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:33)
Talk about stretching one's imagination! The people couldn't rid themselves of the sight of the multiplied loaves of bread they had eaten only twenty-four hours earlier. So, still not fully aware of what Jesus had alluded to, they got really excited at what Jesus had said and, still seeking bread of their own understanding, asked him to "give us this bread always." (John
6:34)
Well, of course, that gave rise to a prolonged explanation of what he had meant resulting in a protesting complaint about Jesus having now gone too far in claiming himself to be "the bread of life. . . The living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6:41-59) His claims became such an offense to some around him, in fact, that "many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him." (John 6:66)
Jesus had pushed the "imaginings" of those around him to the breaking point - and they had not even caught the full impact of his words that he would give his flesh for the life of the world! While that thought is central to our Christian faith, it is an "imagining" beyond normal human rational understandings under any circumstances! The suffering, death and resurrection of this "bread of life" was to become the peg of salvation for "whoever believes," for this is the "bread that came down from heaven" in order to challenge the deathly woes of those who were satisfied to live solely on the bread of this earth.
Who could see that when looking at and talking with this man making such claims? It is not at all evident to those seeing with the eyes of this world. However, if one would but permit Jesus to open one's inner eyes of an imagination spurred on by this man making this claim, one would discover the divine bread held within his person - and the blessings that attend it.
Imagination - A Way of Seeing What Is Not Seen Immediately
"Imagination," then, is not a denial of what one sees or an event in which one participates. The "imagination" of the person who was present at the feeding of the five thousand was a description of what one among those whom Jesus fed may have experienced, but it was, even more, an affirmation of what had happened. It was, however, an affirmation of a reality coupled with a complete lack of understanding of that which he / she had experienced.
Nor was the "imagination" of what a disciple may have described when he was with Jesus that day a disclaimer of his experience, but it was a way to enter that disciple's wonderment at that in which he was participating at the moment. It was a way of putting ourselves into that
disciple's shoes and seeing and doing what he did without any serious comprehension of how
that very thing took place.
When Jesus pushed on the "imagination" of those around him, therefore, he was both speaking of a reality beyond the intellectual capacity of those to whom he spoke to comprehend while, at the same time, telling them exactly who he was and what his life was all about - and what that called for on the part of those among whom he walked. "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. . . For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . . This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the father's ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." (John 6:52-58) So spoke Jesus, the man of Nazareth who stood in front of these people as he claimed to be "the bread of life."
Doesn't that push on the limits of your imagination also? Can you picture yourself standing in the presence of this man and hearing these words? Would you have stuck by him - or would you have been among those who "no longer walked with him"?
Even more to the point, is this Jesus who suffered, died, was raised again and ascended into heaven your "bread of life"? Many interpreters think that John was hinting at the Lord's Supper when he described this confrontation between Jesus and those who were pushing against him. Whether that is so or not is subject to dispute.
What is not in dispute, however, is the nourishment he offers you in the bread and wine soon
to be offered at this altar. Here, in this place, the "bread of heaven" will be placed into your
hands and mouths as sustenance for your life. The new life that was instilled in you at your baptism will be fed and fostered in this bread and wine. With Isaiah of old I say to you, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." (Isaiah 55:1)
What Today Might Look Like If WE Become the Bread!
Now I dare to really stretch your imagination! This is a mighty big request, but stick with this
journey of imagination just a little bit longer.
Imagine yourselves to be the bread that Jesus took into his hands, blessing and breaking it. Imagine yourselves being distributed in your neighborhood as the bread from Jesus' hands; being dispersed among your friends as God's food for hungry souls; being in this parish part of the loaf shared with others as co-workers in the kingdom of God. Imagine yourselves to be given by Jesus to anyone and everyone whose lives are starving as offering them the "bread of life" in and through your presence among them.
When we take the mandate of our Lord seriously to clothe all those bodies pictured asrefugees or to feed all those hungry mouths shown on our TV sets or how we can heal the sick of so many troubled bodies displayed before us on those same screens we cry out in dismay, asking him why or how he can expect so much of us whose resources are so limited to do so much. It is then when he takes us, like five loaves of bread and two fish with which he fed the five thousand, breaks us into fragments and gives us to the hungry of the world piece by piece, bit by bit. Jesus didn't make one giant loaf of bread from a few kernels of wheat, but he broke a few small pieces of bread into piece after piece and through them fed the multitude portion by portion until all had eaten and were satisfied.
We, then, are the fragments of bread with which he would feed the world! When we take our own small piece of his blessedness to those with whom we live and move, it will be his blessing that makes it possible to satisfy the hungry of the earth. For it is, after all, from his hand that the bread comes when all is said and done -- fragments from which all will eat and be satisfied!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen