Back Together (Matthew 14.13-21)

Yesterday, I came home after a week of camping. I had some time alone, while I was away… Which was great.

And, I had some time with family. Which was also great. Normally this week of camping would be attended by a great many of my relatives, but there were just a few of us, because of the pandemic.

Now, I’m back. I’m ready to be back; back in community. Back together with you, back together in worship and in ministry.

Which - coincidentally - is exactly what our scripture is about today. It’s about spending time alone, then coming back together.

At the beginning of our scripture, Jesus is surrounded by people - his disciples, and the crowds that followed him - when someone arrives, bringing him news about John. 

John (you may know) was a preacher and prophet who happened to be Jesus’ cousin. John preached a message of repentance, calling on people to turn away from the ways of this world, and embrace a new kingdom - the kingdom of God.

John’s message inspired Jesus, and Jesus appeared before John and was himself baptized. And John recognized Jesus as the holy one of God, who would take his message to the next level.

But now, some time later, Jesus received some news about John, and the news was that John was dead, that he had been executed by Herod.

After receiving this news, Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

I get that. I understand the need to be alone. 

Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. He needed time to mourn. To lament. To grieve. To make sense of everything, and figure out what to do next.

But the crowds, somehow, figured out where he was going. Maybe someone told them; maybe they could see his boat off in the distance. So the whole crowd went around the lake on foot, to the deserted place where Jesus was headed. In fact, they got there before him.

Everytime I hear or read this scripture, I want to stop the story, and yell out to the crowds, “Back off! Just give him some space, will you? Can’t you see? Jesus needs to be alone right now!”

But I don’t know… maybe Jesus was happy to see the crowds greet him when he reached the shore. Maybe the time he spent in the boat by himself was enough. 

And maybe, the crowd didn’t just need Jesus; maybe Jesus knew that he, also, needed the crowd. Not because he needed the attention. But because his mission and purpose depended on them.

This is what he was sent for: to love, to show compassion, to heal people, to release them from all that oppresses and binds them. This was his next step: to carry on the ministry that was entrusted to him, the ministry that got its start when he was baptized by John.

So now I think that Jesus realized, when he was alone in the boat, that he wasn’t really alone. It’s funny how it works out that way sometimes. When you have a moment alone, and you are able to reflect on things, you realize just how connected to others and how loved you really are.

So when Jesus saw the crowd, I think he realized that his grief was a grief that was shared. The crowd was mourning with Jesus. As much as they needed him to provide healing and hope and comfort, they were also able to give a little comfort back in return, just by mourning with   him, holding space for him, in light of the news of John’s death.

They may not have been as close to John personally as Jesus was, but they were incorporating into their lives the message John preached. They were choosing to live by the values and the ways of the wholesome, healing, life-affirming kingdom of God, even in the midst of  the corrupt, oppressive, life-denying kingdoms of this world.

And with John’s death, it seemed that, for a moment at least, things had shifted in the wrong direction, that the kingdoms of this world had gained the upper hand, and the kingdom of God was just a little further away.

So they were mourning, too; and Jesus recognized this, and he recognized that his grief and their suffering were tied together. 

And when our grief and our suffering are tied together, individual mourning gives way to communal lament, and mutual love, and compassion for one another.

Last time I preached, I mentioned how pervasive individualism is in our society. We are the most individualized society earth has ever known. 

This, I think, makes it hard for us to understand all the ways in which we are, in fact, connected… the way one person’s grief or suffering really is every person’s grief or suffering.

I think about this as we deal with the ongoing issues surrounding race in this country. Many white people insist that they are not racist. They admit that maybe their ancestors were, but how can they be held responsible for what their ancestors did?

But the more I read and study scripture, the more I realize that this life we are called to live is more like that group project we all had in school. Very early on in Genesis, Cain asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” - In other words, am I responsible for someone else’s well-being? 

And then, page after page, chapter after chapter, scripture answers: Yes. You are your brother’s keeper. You are your sister’s keeper. You are your neighbor’s keeper. You are responsible for one another. You are responsible for your neighbor’s healing and wholeness.

In an individualized culture, that’s just something that’s hard for us to understand. I take responsibility for my own actions, but you’re going to hold me accountable for how others act?

And the answer to that is yes, if those others are people with whom you are in community. The answer is yes, if you consider those others to be your neighbors.

So, technically, even though you might not be responsible for how another individual acts, you do share responsibility for how the community acts, for how society acts.

That’s why each of us has the responsibility to not only be non-racist, but to be actively anti-racist. In other words, it’s not enough that we keep racism out of our lives; we must also work to remove the systemic racism that exists in our society.

Because we are all connected. We are all one. We recognize each other’s grief and sorrow, and we show compassion to one another, just as Jesus recognized the crowd’s sorrow even as he himself was grieving, and that his grief and their grief were connected… which led him to have compassion on them and to minister to them.

So, maybe I was wrong in thinking that Jesus wanted the crowd to back off and give him some space. Maybe, when he saw them on the shore, he welcomed their presence. And maybe, as he healed them, he found some healing for himself in the process.

The story continues...

When it got late, people started getting hungry. (Remember, they had walked all the way around to the other side of this very large lake.) The disciples, who were still learning about all these things, told Jesus to send the crowds away, back to the villages, to get something to eat. 

I think the disciples themselves were hungry, and wanted to eat, but knew it would be rude to do so while Jesus was still ministering to the crowd.

But Jesus wasn’t done connecting with the crowd. If they were hungry together, they should eat together. So he told the disciples: “You give them something to eat.”

“Um, yeah, Jesus. We have nothing here but five pieces of bread and two fish. Not even enough for us, really. There’s no way we can feed all of them.”...

The disciples were about to learn that you don’t ever tell Jesus that there’s “no way.” 

Jesus told them to bring the food to him. So they brought him the loaves and the fish… They were probably grumbling inwardly as they did it, thinking, “Well, there goes our dinner…”

Then Jesus took the food, blessed it; and he broke the bread; and he had the disciples distribute the food to everyone.

And there was plenty. More than enough.

And this became the kingdom of God made present; the kingdom come, on earth, as in heaven. They were a community. No one was left to fend for themselves. They were hungry together, and they ate together.

It is such a different mindset than what our culture teaches us. It is truly radical. But when we worship together - no matter how it is that we are worshiping together - we get a glimpse of the radical kingdom of God. When we pray for one another, show love for one another, and support one another, we find ourselves actually living in God’s kingdom. 

And as long as we have faith, and as long as we prioritize the wellbeing of every person and not just our own wellbeing, then God will always ensure that we always have enough.