"You Give Them Something to Eat." Thoughts on the Daily Office 5/9/15

(Luke 9:1-17; Romans 15:1-13)

 

In the Gospel reading for today we witness the feeding of the 5000 men. For me the feeding of the crowds is always a story of wonder and anger. It seems that IF God was real, and Jesus was the Messiah, then why can't we just have this miracle replicate itself and so end world hunger? If Jesus is real, why do we still have hunger? I venture to say if we look at this story as a myth and not as a factual account of what has taken place we will find our answer (though it is not necessarily comforting).

The disciples tell Jesus to “send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place.” Jesus responds “You give them something to eat.” Here we see the problem of modern-day hunger in a few lines of the Gospel. People around us are hungry, our response, which seems quite reasonable “Send them away.” Yet Jesus has a different approach.

Have you ever been to a potluck? When I was in college I was poor and our Church would have potlucks, which were beacons of light for a college student. I remember that on some occasions I would bring nothing, on other occasions I would bring a Bunt Cake on clearance from the bakery (which somehow got eaten). What I discovered is that though I brought little or nothing, there was always food, and not just “enough” food, an abundant amount of food (12 Tupperware at least). On a micro-level, we seem to miraculously have enough food when we eat together in a community. When we choose to share our table, not only do we have enough, but an abundance. On a macro-scale we have a choice: to face the facts that working together we can stomp out hunger in our communities; or we can evade this problem and send “them” and the “issue” away. However, we must recognize that for those of us who call ourselves “Christian” or say we “follow Jesus,” we have a clear mandate here to feed those who are hungry.

The reading from Paul's letter to the Romans today backs this up: “Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.” And later, “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus...Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you Christ became a servant.” There really is no need to explain, argue or debate these Scriptures, we just need to DO them. What the Church doesn't need to argue, it rarely does.  We welcome Jesus when we welcome the stranger; we invite Jesus to our table when we invite others to our table.  God feeds the hungry of the world through us.

So today's readings have a clear message: Do not send the hungry away, do not ignore those that are hungry, do not ignore the problem of hunger which exists today because of our greed and isolation. Instead hear the desire of God for us all to live in abundance through sharing and community. And next time we wonder why God doesn't feed the hungry, remember the words of Jesus, “You give them something to eat.”