The 12th Sunday After Pentecost, (Proper 13A), Aug. 3, 2008
BCP: Neh. 9:16-20; Psalm 78:1-29 or 78:14-20, 23-25; Rom. 8:35-39; Matt. 14:13-21
RCL: Gen. 32:22-31 and Psalm 17:1-7, 16; or Isaiah 55:1-5 and Psalm 145:8-9, 15-22; Rom. 9:1-5; Matt. 14:13-21
In his biography of Alexander the Great, Plutarch wrote, “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept — for there were no more worlds left to conquer.” Whatever we strive to gain in life, we can never be sure that we will be satisfied. Even a conqueror wants more.
If we seek to be fed by Christ, however, things will be different.
Matthew’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 tells us that in Christ’s presence, “the vast multitude all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, 12 baskets full”(Matt. 14:20). God wants us to be satisfied. God wants to give us a fullness that the world cannot provide.
Can you remember moments in your life when you felt something like the contentment this gospel promises? Just as, after a summer picnic, you felt “stuffed,” can you also think of a moment when you felt spiritually full? A time when you were so pleased with life that your heart felt about to burst with happiness?
Such feelings might have occurred when you were celebrating a religious feast like Christmas or Easter. Or after you were able to help someone who really needed your help. You also might have experienced spiritual fullness after a momentous event in your life that wasn’t explicitly religious — like when you fell in love, or when you worshiped following the birth of a child.
Reading the story of the feeding of the 5,000, we might ask if this is how God wants us to feel. Maybe not all the time, but couldn’t we find fulfillment in God more often than we do?
Optimistic preachers like Joel Osteen encourage members of their congregations not to be satisfied with dissatisfaction. Rather, they should try to live “their best lives now.” These preachers offer the hopeful gospel that God wants us to have baskets full of blessings. It is absolutely right, and a good and joyful thing to take pleasure each day in God’s gifts to us.
This explains St. Paul’s amazing claim that “…we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). Alexander the Great ruled all the world he thought was worth ruling and yet he wept. “Having it all” wasn’t enough for Alexander. By contrast, Paul, under a death threat from the imperial successors to Alexander, claimed to be more than a conqueror, for in Christ he had found life in all its fullness (cf. John 10:10).
Look It Up
Does Jesus’ gift of bread to the multitudes echo God’s gift of manna to the Hebrews when they wandered in the wilderness? (Exodus 16:10-15)
Think About It
Where in my life do I most often encounter the fullness Christ promised?
Next Sunday
The 13th Sunday After Pentecost, (Proper 14A) Aug. 10, 2008
BCP: Jonah 2:1-9; Psalm 29; Rom. 9:1-5; Matt. 14:22-33
RCL: Gen. 37:1-4, 12-28 and Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b; 1 Kings 19:9-18 and Psalm 85:8-13; Rom. 10:5-15; Matt. 14:22-33
