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Reverend Jon D. Scicluna Matthew 16 August 24, 2008 (The 15th Sunday after Pentecost)
Who Do You Say I Am?
Have you ever met someone who seemed to be over concerned with who they are? In 1976, Linda and I were married in Detroit, Michigan, in the very church where she was baptized and confirmed. At the same altar our children were later confirmed. And, finally, last year at the same altar I was ordained into the ministry. When we were wed, following a traditional wedding and reception, we went south to the Smokey Mountains for our honeymoon. We spent a few days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Then we traveled to Nashville, where we had tickets for the Grand Old Opree. One of the things I remember most about the trip to Nashville was the night we met a very famous person. Linda and I were at the hotel and were going down to the lobby for dinner. When the elevator door opened, there stood a lone, older well dressed, rather large man. I noticed in the man’s hand was a leather covered case, which I recognized as a case for a pool cue. Never being shy, I said the man, “Going to shoot some pool?” And I will never forget his response. He seemed a bit put out. He asked me, “Don’t you know who I am?” “No” was my response. “I am Minnesota Fats.” “Oh, yeah,” I responded, “Good to meet you; I am Santa Claus,” and I reached out my hand to shake his. Seemingly even more miffed, he insisted that he was Minnesota Fats. Then he told us he was meeting Keith Jackson from ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” and that they were going to a studio to shoot a TV special. He then asked Linda and me if we would like to join them in the limo and be part of the studio audience. Well, at that point in my life, just a few days after our wedding, I must admit I was more interested in spending time with my new bride than I was in spending the evening watching some fat guy shoot pool. Well, as we sat for dinner, there he was sitting next to us, eating dinner with Keith Jackson, and on more than one try, he repeated his question if we would like to join them. This is a classic illustration for many of our lives. We go through life worrying about who we are, hoping that everyone knows what we have done, driven by a need to be recognized and having our egos fed. Jesus also wondered if people knew who he was, although there is no doubt His motivation was not his ego or the need to be recognized. No, His motivation was your salvation. Today’s Gospel lesson is the story of who Jesus is. He and his disciples had ventured into the district of Caesarea Philippi, an area about 25 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee. The region had tremendous religious implications. The place was littered with the temples of the Syrian gods. Here also was the elaborate marble temple that had been erected by Herod the Great, father of the then ruling Herod Antipas. Here many of the people worshiped Caesar as a god himself. You might say that the world religions were on display in this town. It was with this scene as the background that Jesus chose to ask one of the most critical questions of his ministry.
He looked at his disciples and in a moment of reflection said: “Who do men say that I am?”
The disciples begin sharing with Jesus all that they had heard from the crowds who have been following Him: Some say that you are Elijah; others say John the Baptist, still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. It’s always been this way; Jesus is seen by the masses in, oh, so many different ways.
You can speak of Jesus as prophet, holy man, teacher, or spiritual leader, and few will object. But speak of Him as Son of God, divine, of the same essence as the Father, and people will line up to express their disapproval. Over a billion Muslims will say: "Prophet, yes. God, no!" Jews scattered around the world will say: "Teacher, yes. Messiah, no!" Liberal Protestants and others of various so-called Christian groups will say: "Exemplary man, yes. Divine, no!"
Who do people say he is?
Most importantly, who do YOU say he is? When Jesus asked the first of these questions, he did so in his first and only trip outside of Palestine. It was a critical moment in the life of our Lord. He was near the end of his ministry, and it was high time that he spend some time alone with his disciples, far from the watchful eyes of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other religious authorities. It was time for Him to assess His ministry. Did they understand who he was? Was his teaching and preaching fruitful, or had it all been in vain? It was a critical moment and critical moments call for critical questions: Who do men say that I am?
The disciples responded, some say that you are Elijah. Now, why would people think that Jesus was the long deceased prophet Elijah? Elijah was, of course, a highly revered personality in the religious life of the Hebrews. His defeat of the 450 prophets of Baal was a story well known even by the little children. To show you the great importance of Elijah, we must remember that when our Lord was transfigured, two men from the past stood there with him——Moses and Elijah.
But there was yet another reason why people thought that Jesus was Elijah? It was a commonly held belief among the Hebrews that one day Elijah would return and that that would mark the end of the world. In the very last passage in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi contains these words: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” Clearly Elijah’s coming would mark the most important day in the history of the world. Jesus understood this. I believe that is why Jesus said to the crowds, “If you are willing to accept it, John the Baptist is Elijah who is to come.” In that one statement, Jesus proclaimed that He was the Messiah, and the end had now come, but he knew not many would be able to accept it.
But, others said that Jesus was John the Baptist, who has come back to life. John the Baptist’s ministry was cut short when he confronted Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, for being with his brother’s wife. Herod had John beheaded, but the death soon turned into a martyrdom, and John’s popularity among the people flourished.
John the Baptist was the first prophet to come on the scene in over 400 years. His minimalist lifestyle closely patterned that of Elijah. While the upper classes and the religious establishment rejected his message, he received great acceptance among the masses and many were baptized under his ministry. It is interesting that Herod himself believed that Jesus was John the Baptist reincarnated. He thought John had come back to get him. Matthew 14:1 reads: “When Herod heard of Jesus, he said to his servants: This is John the Baptist who has been raised from the dead, and that is why these great powers are at work in him.” You can’t help but wonder, of course, if that was not his guilty conscience speaking.
By saying that Jesus was John the Baptist reincarnated, the people were saying of Jesus that he was a great and powerful prophet in the line of Elijah.
The disciples added one more description: Some are saying you are Jeremiah. Now why Jeremiah? To understand this you have to know a little story. It was believed by the Jews that before their ancestors were taken off into captivity in Babylonia and the Ark of the Covenant destroyed, that Jeremiah had secretly gone into the ark and removed the altar of incense, and that he had hidden it in a remote cave on Mount Nebo. Just before the Messiah was supposed to return, so the story went, Jeremiah would return and produce this altar to the glory of God. Was the story true? Probably not, but the important thing was that the people believed that it was true.
All of these descriptions tell us one thing. The people thought Jesus was a great prophet. They thought Jesus was here to announce the coming of the Messiah. These were compliments of the highest order. Jesus had asked, who do people say that I am? It was an important question. But not the critical question, and it is to this question that I now turn.
Jesus turns to his disciples and he asks his most personal friends, his inner circle, his trusted students, this critical question:
Who do you say that I am? By answering Elijah, John the Baptist and Jeremiah, the people paid Jesus compliments of the highest order. They were exalting the man Jesus. But it was the wrong answer, and so Jesus asks their personal opinion: “But who do you say that I am?” In other words, you have told me what other people think, but I want to know what you think. Who do you say that I am? I would suggest to you this morning that that is the most urgent, the most relevant question that confronts us today. When you are confronted with all the challenges this life can throw at you, this ONE question is most critical to you. Who do you say He is? It is in your answer that you will find peace; it is in your answer that you will find assurance; it is in your answer that you will find your very salvation. You know, you received the answer to this question at your baptism, when you were sealed with His Name. The Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John attempted in their own words to answer this question. They bestowed upon Jesus numerous titles and claims: Son of David, Son of Man, Son of God, Divine Physician, king, prophet, bridegroom, Light of the world, the door, the vine, high priest, the firstborn of creation, the bright and morning star, and Alpha and the Omega. All of these were attempts to answer this question posed by Jesus in our text today and posed to your personally right now.
But these are attempts made by others. Jesus is more concerned with what YOUR answer is than what their answer is.
Martin Luther once wrote: “I care not whether he be Christ, but that he be Christ for you.” Peter gave a good answer; Peter gave his confession. He responded: “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.” Yes, Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. He is a great Prophet, Priest and King. He is the one who was crucified for you and for me, and in whose resurrection you have your salvation. He is the everlasting salvation for Zion. We heard the words of the great Prophet Isaiah today, who proclaimed: Listen to me my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. Dear friends, do not worry if you get into an elevator and are not recognized; no, it doesn’t matter who we are. What matters is what Jesus has done for you. What matters is WHO HE IS! He is Jesus, the Son of the Living God, in Him your salvation will last forever, and His righteousness will never fail you! Amen!
Reverend Jon D. Scicluna
Matthew 15: 21-28
(August 17, 2008 -- The 13th Sunday after Pentecost)
Great is His Faithfulness! One of my favorite places in southern Arizona is the old west town of Tombstone. This town was made famous by the legendary gun fight at the OK Corral. When you think of Tombstone, what comes to mind? How many of you know how the city got its name? You might think it is because of the infamous shootout or because of its graveyard known as Boot Hill; maybe it had something to do with Wyatt Earp. Although the “Gunfight at OK Corral” is the most famous historical attraction of Tombstone, Arizona, it was the tenacity and bravery of Edward Schieffelin that spawned the town of Tombstone and the unusual way it got its name. Schieffelin was a weathered prospector whose rugged appearance was well beyond his young age. Having prospected throughout the west for many years, he accompanied members of the U.S. Calvary who were dispatched to Fort Huachuca to protect settlers from the marauding Apaches. Every day, Schieffelin would venture out into the hills and mountains prospecting for silver and gold. Each day he would brave the elements and the Apaches to where many before him had never returned. His soldier friends told him many times that if “he kept fooling around out there amongst the Apaches, the only rock he would come home with would be his tombstone.” Then one day in 1877, he discovered a silver ore outcropping that would be the beginning of his dream bonanza. He would name the mining district “Tombstone.” The rush to riches led to the booming of Tombstone, Arizona, and its rich historical attractions. In spite of riches beyond his dreams, Schieffelin continued prospecting in other parts of the west, was married and eventually died at age 49 in 1887. His wife fulfilled his wish and moved his body back to Tombstone, where he was buried a few miles away from his original claim. Now I am not sure what is written on his tombstone, but today the most visited location in Tombstone is the infamous graveyard known as Boot Hill. This cemetary was made famous for its occupants and the quirky grave markings. Here are some of the epitaphs written on the tombstones: Billy Clanton: “Killed in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral”
Newman Haynes Clanton (Old Man): “Killed by Mexicans while driving a herd of stolen cattle” Florentino Cruz, 1882: "Murdered- Allegedly shot by Wyatt Earp while looking for Indian Charlie and Pete Spencer” Harry Curry: 1882, "Killed by Indians" Hancock, 1879: "Shot by John Ringo” This one is probably my favorite: Lester Moore: "Here lies Lester Moore, Four slugs from a .44, no less, no more" What would you think if I told you that on your tombstone would be inscribed a four-word description of who you were? What will they say about you? Who would you choose to craft the words for your tombstone? If Jesus Himself was to write the words, what might he write?
In today’s Gospel, we hear four words that Jesus used to describe someone whom He did not consider of His own people. Jesus used four immortal words to describe her: “Great is your faith,” He said. This woman was a Canaanite; she had come from the country to the north of Palestine, a country whose people were hostile to the Jews. She was presumably married. She had at least one child; but that’s all we know about her. We don't know whether she was a good woman or a bad woman. We don’t know her name. All we know of her is that in this single encounter with Jesus, he spoke to her this four-word epitaph: Great is your faith.
Only four words, but they are enough to make her immortal. We can trust these words as being true because the expert on faith spoke them. Jesus searched for faith, as a miner would search for gold, yet He did not always find it not even in His own disciples. On no occasion that we of know did He ever say of Peter, James, or John: Great is your faith. More often the words he spoke to them were: You of little faith.
We regard this Canaanite woman with more than just a passing interest. She awakens in us a feeling of admiration, perhaps even envy, because she stands where most of us would like to stand. What faithful Christian would not like it said of him or her, or be remembered for all of eternity by these words: Great is your faith. Think of what it would mean if an aspiring young artist had Picasso place his hand on his shoulder and say: You have a great talent. How wonderful it would be then to a Christian, if Jesus would place his hand on your shoulder and say to you: Great is your faith! But how does one qualify for this praise? What does one have to do? To answer these questions let us take a closer look at her story.
First, we can say of this Canaanite woman that she was willing to look outside of herself; she was willing to rely on faith. Her faith existed mainly in the fact that she turned to Jesus for help. And this is significant. You see, she was a Canaanite. Canaanites were the enemies of the Jews. This woman would likely not have been a follower of Jesus. It was quite unlikely that a Canaanite would approach, much less consult, a Jewish rabbi. The prejudices were just too deep. This Canaanite woman was well aware of this great gulf between the Jews and her people. Yet, here was a woman who had a desperate need; her daughter was deathly ill. She was therefore willing to look past her prejudices and turn to Jesus for help. That was faith. And her faith was tenacious. Even after Jesus ignored her, the woman would not give up; she kept on clamoring after Jesus. The disciples even urged Jesus to send the woman away. Her clamor was embarrassing. Yet she continued in her prayer – her cry was a confession of confident faith as well as a confession of despair. She cried out for deliverance from the pain and hopelessness in her life. She said, “Lord Son of David, Have Mercy on Me. We may be shocked to observe that Jesus did not answer a word. Doesn’t it seem that way with us as well at times? At one time or another, we all come to the end of our rope; life can seem helpless and impossible. We all may find ourselves trapped in perilously tight spots with seemingly no way out and no solutions in sight. We have done all that we know how to do, and we turn to our Lord with hope and faith. From time to time, we meet the same response the Canaanite woman received; Jesus does not answer a word. Then what? How do we handle the silence of God? Let this woman be a lesson to us. Here is a woman who persisted in prayer. Like you and me, she may have been tempted to give up, but she didn’t; she kept on praying. Even when our Lord did not answer, even facing the response of His silence, she never gave up her faith. She saw the fact that Jesus didn’t say no. He just didn’t say anything. She still had hope. Here was a woman who knew how to cope with the silence of God. She believed and held fast in her faith. She clung to Christ’s promises and what she knew about Jesus, even when she was met with silence. The woman persisted, obstinately crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” God’s mercy was the ONLY hope she had left in her world. God’s grace was all she needed. Jesus was moved by her faith, and his heart was open to hear her plea. Jesus healed her daughter. Yes, we learn here what it means to cling to our faith.
Faith consists of turning to Christ for help, trusting in his love even in the midst of silence.
It seems clear that when this lady turned to Christ for help, she knew little of him. She first addressed him by simply saying, Sir. Then, unsure if she had given the proper title, she added, Son of David. Undoubtedly she had heard of the great powers of Jesus, and she was willing to put down her pride and cry out for help: "Have pity on me." She said with faith -- and this may have been the extent of her understanding -- of who Jesus was, and it was enough. Her faith existed in the fact that she came to Jesus for help in a situation, a situation where she had exhausted all of her own resources.
Yes, her faith was strong, and that is a good lesson for all of us but that is not the real lesson. The real lesson here is the faithfulness of Jesus. How many of us would be willing to accept someone who was not like us? Someone who we have been at odds with? The real story here is that Jesus is ready, willing, and able to accept us just as we are.
In this story we learn of the faithfulness of Jesus. We learn but again of is love and commitment to all, even to those who were His enemies. Though He is sometimes silent to our pleas, He is never inattentive to our needs; He allows us to be wounded so that we may learn to turn to Him with faith and be healed by the miracle of his sufficient grace. So in the face of God’s silence, we learn to pray without ceasing; we learn to trust Him in our darkest hour. That's how this Canaanite woman must have felt. She told Jesus that her daughter was sick and needed help, and what she got in reply was silence. Surprisingly, this did not intimidate her. She perceived what very few people have the faith to perceive--that the silence of God does not mean the indifference of God. This woman did not lose heart in the face of silence. She simply came and knelt before Jesus and said “Lord, help me!” He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith!” Her request was granted. And the daughter was healed. The promises of Jesus spoken to the Canaanite woman were as true for her as they are for you and for me. It is His faith that truly saves us, Jesus who showed us faith and His tenacity even when facing death, death on a cross; and in His death you have forgiveness; and in His resurrection you have redemption. Every hurting soul and every burdened heart can come to him in the confidence of prayer. We cling to his gospel, trusting in the abundance of His mercy and the riches of His grace; in faith you cling to the forgiveness won for you by His death and resurrection. What shall it say on your tombstone? Great is your faith? Maybe! Redeemed! Without a doubt! Lord God, Son of David, Have Mercy on Us! Great us Your Faithfulness! AMEN!
Reverend Jon D. Scicluna August 10, 2008 (The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost) Matthew 14 You Can Walk On Water!
Have you ever been afraid? So afraid that you were almost paralyzed? So afraid that the words stuck in your throat and you wanted to scream, but you could not? Pastor John Ortberg wrote a book sometime back titled, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of The Boat.” In it he tells a wonderful story about a ride he and his wife once took in a hot-air balloon. The balloon party consisted of the Ortbergs, the pilot and another couple. The Pastor had always assumed that the baskets hanging below hot-air balloons were about chest high. No sweat. However, the basket on this particular balloon came up only to their knees. One good lurch would be enough to throw someone over the side. So Pastor Ortberg says he held on with grim determination and white knuckles. His wife was even more afraid than he was. She didn’t like heights in the first place. So she kept a death grip on the sides of the basket and would not look down for any reason. About this time Ortberg decided he would like to get to know the kid who was flying the balloon. He asked the young man how he got started flying hot-air balloons. He knew they were in trouble when the young man started to speak, “Dude,” he said, “It’s like this . . .” Ortberg discovered the young man spent most of his time surfing and got into flying hot-air balloons by accident. Literally! One day he was driving around in his pickup truck after having too much to drink, when he crashed the truck, and badly injured his brother. His brother still can’t get around too well, the young man said, so watching hot-air balloons gave his brother something to do. “By the way,” the young pilot added, “if things get a little choppy on the way down, don’t be surprised. I’ve never flown this particular balloon before, and I’m not sure how it’s going to handle in the descent.” Ortberg’s wife looked over at him and said with feeling, “You mean to tell me we are a thousand feet up in the air with an unemployed surfer who started flying hot-air balloons because he got drunk, crashed a pickup, injured his brother, and has never been in this one before and doesn’t know how to bring it down?” Then the wife of the other couple looked at Pastor Ortberg and spoke the only words either of them was to utter throughout the entire flight. “You’re a Pastor,” she said. “Do something religious!” “So,” joked Pastor Ortberg, “I took up an offering.” Some of you can appreciate the feeling of downright panic that these balloon passengers experienced. You have been there, maybe not in a hot-air balloon, but there have been times in your life when you have experienced this type of fear or anxiety. Be it your health, your finances, your family or your faith. We live in a turbulent time. The newspaper and television is never good news; it is only natural for us to have these fears. And it comforts us to know that the disciples of Jesus also experienced fear. They’re not up in a hot-air balloon, but their situation is just as perilous. They’re in a small fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. It’s getting dark and a storm has come up. The boat’s a considerable distance from land and is being buffeted by the waves and the wind. These experienced fishermen are becoming increasingly anxious. Even in the hands of experienced sailors, a small boat on a treacherous sea can be frightening, and the disciples are frightened. Then something quite extraordinary happens, something that shakes them to the core. Jesus comes out to them, walking on the water. Now they are really terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they cry out in fear. But Jesus says to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” These words spoken by Jesus are words spoken for you and me. These words of Jesus are words spoken for you and me even today. When the boat we are in becomes too treacherous to handle, when the seas of our lives become un-navigable, then Jesus talks to us, “Take heart.” He says, “It is I; have no fear.” I have been told that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear. Fear can limit us, defeat us, and cause us to fail. It is fear that paralyzes our lives, that causes us to shrink back and withdraw. It is fear that keeps us unhappy and dissatisfied with ourselves, and unable to cope with the prospect of meaningful change. It is fear that haunts our marriages, and causes us pain. Fear produces sleepless nights, as we toss and turn and worry about events over which we have no control. We can focus on our fear or we can focus on our faith. Focusing on our fear will distract us and ultimately cause us to fail. Focusing on our faith will bring us peace, comfort and rest. Yes, Jesus tells us to fear not. He tells us to come to Him. In faith you can move forward and “Keep your eyes upon Jesus.” The Christian faith at its best is a call to adventure: it is a call to walk on water. Our roots are in the Old Testament where we see a people brought into their very existence by faith. These were people whose existence began with the command to Abram to leave his country, the country in which he and his wife were born, and to go to a country which they did not know. From Palestine this little tribe of Hebrews wandered to Egypt; and from there it again returned to Palestine. Abraham was led by his faith. God himself was his guide and his navigator. And make no mistake about it. When Jesus told those early disciples to fear not, He was not telling them to seek the safety and security of their own means. Rather he was telling them to move forward, and to always trust in Him. The gospel narrative for today is a story of faith versus fear. Simon Peter is out in the boat crossing the lake after a long day with the crowds. Earlier that day he saw Jesus take bread and fish and feed over 5,000 people. Now he is stepping out of the boat into the storm, trying to imitate his Master who is walking on the water. Good old Peter is tempting the storm. He’s successful for a moment, but the situation gets the best of him. Fear rises and his body sinks.
Over and over again the message of the Bible is clear: fear not, fear not. Over seventy times this is mentioned in scriptures; fear is mentioned in God’s Word more than any other human emotion. So if you have your fears, you are not alone; trust me. Paul, writing to the young disciple Timothy, said, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.” Yes, it is fear versus faith. And left to our own strength, fear will win over us every time. The opposite of fear is faith—it is the work of God through the Holy Spirit. After his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the church. He gave you and me the power to overcome fear and to live a life grounded in your faith. It is faith in Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of God’s promised salvation, that will overcome our fears. When you turn to Jesus, you can in fact climb out of the boat and go about dealing with your fears and tears. In faith you can confront your fears. In faith you can see your fears for what they are, and you can put fear in its place. Give your fear to God. He will replace it with hope and comfort. He will replace your fears with a sound mind, full of love and peace. You are not powerless in the midst of the storm. You have the Holy Spirit at your side. I can hear God whispering in the Peter’s ear: quit letting your imagination magnify your fears. The storm is furious, SO COME TO ME, for I am greater still. Trusting in Jesus you can confront your fears. You can walk out of the boat to Jesus--who calls you to safety--who calls you to salvation. Like St. Peter doubt based on what you see around you will cause fear. Fear will cause you to sink. Listen to these words of comfort spoken by the great Prophet Isaiah: This is what the Lord says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Let me tell you a story that came to me this week as I was thinking about this sermon. It was 20 years ago when I was a young fearless deputy sheriff. We were learning to rappel from great heights. One of the swat instructors had taken us to the local fire department and we were to rappel from out of a basket which was extended from the fire truck some 85 feet, 8 stories off the ground. After receiving instructions on how to tie the ropes, and being told that the guy on the ground would be holding one end of rope, and that he could actually control our decent, we were instructed not to fear. So now it was my turn. I remember being raised slowly up into the sky and after backing up to the gate the instructor who was up in the basket with me told me to lean back and trust the rope. Well as I leaned back and looked down at what I was certain was going to be a jump to my death, I chickened out. There I was hanging by my toes, hanging over the edge suspended by just a rope tied around my waist, and I could not do it. I asked the instructor to bring me back into the basket and lower me back to earth. He refused and told me to jump. Now, I wasn’t a particularly godly man, like Pastor Ortberg in the hot air balloon, and my thoughts were not to do something religious; no, my thoughts went to the pistol that was clipped to my belt. “If I can only reach my gun, I could force these guys to get me back in the basket and lower me to the ground,” I was thinking to myself. Well, I could not reach the gun. At that point the instructor kicked my toes off the edge, and I was free falling, forced to trust the rope and the other deputy on the ground. Well, by my presence here today, you know that I made it down and lived to tell the story. You have all experienced fear in your lives and it is at these times of trouble that Jesus says to you, just as he said to Saint Peter: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid--come to me.” When the storms of life seem to overwhelm you, trust in Jesus, trust in His resurrection and you too shall walk on water. Amen!
Reverend Jon D. Scicluna August 3, 2008 (Pentecost 12) Matthew 14 Jesus Feeds His People Danny is a nine-year-old boy who came bursting out of Sunday school one week like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Dad by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.
"Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin' closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!”
By now old dad was shocked. "Is THAT the way they taught you the story?"
“Well, no, not exactly," Danny admitted, "but if I told you the way they told it to us, you'd never believe it, Dad."
With childlike innocence the little guy put his finger on the pulse of our adult world, where cool skepticism reigns supreme. It's more popular to operate in the black-and-white world of facts. I used to say, “If I don’t see it. I won’t believe it.” Then after many years working on the street as a law enforcement officer, my motto was, “I don’t believe anything I hear, and I believe only half of what I see.” That is the way many of us go through life, suspicious of most everything we see and leaving no space for the miraculous.
And so when most of us read the story of how Jesus fed five thousand, we tend to ask ourselves the question, "Did it really happen?" There have been a number of attempts to "explain" this miracle. One attempt says that the people were so moved by Jesus' generosity and the generosity of the little boy, that they brought forth the food they had hidden under their clothes and in their traveling pouches. This way everyone was satisfied. Another theory says that the story is not really talking about physical hunger but spiritual hunger. When the small amount of food was passed around everyone tore off a minuscule symbolic fragment, and so Jesus was said to have satisfied the thirst of the soul, not the stomach.
I think these questions say more about us than they do Jesus. If Jesus is the Messiah, and I believe he is, then there is no question he indeed performed miracles, and on a regular basis. The point of the story of feeding of the five thousand is not to prove that miracles happen, but to show us his love, to show us his care and fulfillment of his promises. The promise of deliverance!
Jesus is the fulfillment of His Father’s promises. For so long the Israelites had waited for the Messiah to come. It had been centuries, four centuries to be exact, since the last prophet had spoken in the land. Malachi called a sinful nation to repentance 400 years before Christ. It had been longer still since Israel and Judah had seen leaders like David, Solomon or Moses. The scriptures were alive in the life of the Israelites. As children they grew up hearing the stories of their ancestors and being told that one day God would send the Messiah, who would fulfill the hopes and promises of all those years.
On the day of our text a group of 5,000 men gathered to hear Jesus teach, men who were following this man from Nazareth, men whowere all asking the same question, “Is this the one?” It is true there were as many reasons for coming to hear him as there were people there that day, but they all asked the central question: Is this THE Messiah or one of the Prophets?
And then the sun began to wane and the end of the day drew near. They had listened for hours. As many as 5,000 men and their families, a stadium full of people, sitting within a valley, were listening, trying to answer the question, IS THIS THE MESSIAH? It was now time for dinner and the disciples, perhaps out of care for their Master or feeling quite hungry themselves, wanted to send the people away.
Then Jesus surprised his disciples, asking them to feed the crowd. The disciples responded as any of us would. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish.
But Jesus showed the twelve God at work. He showed them something greater than the world they had come to know and understand. He asked for the food, blessed it, broke it, and broke it again, and again. And then the people were sure this is one of the Prophets who had returned. Elisha, the heir to Elijah’s ministry during the time of King David, himself once fed 100 men with twenty loaves of barley. In that story a servant during a time of famine brought 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain as an offering to Elisha. uddenly Elisha says, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But the servant said, “How can I set this before 100 people?” It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? We have nothing here, five loaves and two fish, a small church in a changing neighborhood, an elderly congregation and a growing neighborhood. But Elisha says, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’”
The Messiah would come in the spirit of the Prophets of old. That’s what the people had been told. Jesus one day asked his disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” They replied, “Some say you are Elijah, some say you are Jeremiah, others say you are one of the prophets.” And so there Jesus stood on the hillside in the shadows of that history and fed not 100 but 5,000 men, plus women and children, and he did it not with 20 loaves, but five small loaves of bread and two fish. It is clear to all this man was fulfilling the word of the Lord. This was God’s messenger.
It is remarkable to me how much the past is tied to the present. And how much the future depends on that connection. We see it in the life of our Lord. Jesus reveals who he is and teaches who God is by coming to you and feeding you, day in and day out. In this way Jesus fulfills the word of the Prophets. Jesus steps into their lives and brings the Old Testament to life. He is the Law and Prophets incarnate. The old stories breathed to life again. In a word, he is the fulfillment of all that has been written.
So what happened on the shores of the Sea of Galilee as recorded by St. Matthew was not the first miraculous feeding, and it wouldn’t be the last. The crowd had gathered in the middle of nowhere, a wilderness, and it was getting on toward evening. It was time to break up the meeting and go home. When Jesus learned they did not have anything to eat, the bible tells us what happened next. That day Jesus used five loaves and two fish to feed a whole multitude of people.
That’s what happened then and there, but it has a lot of meaning for what goes on here and now. Jesus still feeds his people when we are alone, even as we are right here in this desert, right here in our Sonoran desert, at those times when we are oh, so alone. We know there’s a time and a place for being alone in our Christian life. In fact, when you’re alone with God, when you are alone in prayer and meditation, it is good. But when you’re alone by yourself, it’s not so good. And many of us know all about that too. We tend to wall ourselves up with our hurt and our pain, feeling sorry for ourselves and nursing hatred and bitterness. That’s not solitude at all; that is loneliness--that is being alone without God, and that is not good. We need to be reminded that Jesus Christ is still with his people to feed and nourish them with his Word and Sacrament, just as surely as he fed the crowd in the Galilean wilderness. Yet so often we forget that. Sometimes we think that Jesus is sitting off somewhere at the edge of some distant galaxy. We think that he has left us alone to struggle with our own fears and doubts. Then we are plagued by sin and temptations with nothing but our own courage and inner resources to carry us through. We try to be more godly people, but we fall flat on our faces. Like St. Paul, we find that the good things we want to do, we don’t do, and we wind up doing the evil things we don’t want to do. Our inner resources are pretty flimsy when it comes to building a relationship with our Creator. That’s why Jesus Christ feeds us in this desert, just as he did in Galilee. He feeds us with his love and compassion. You might feel like you’re deserted, but you’re not. Because of His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus our Savior comes to feed us even here in the private wildernesses of our lives. To every sinner weighed down by the guilt of the past or imprisoned in the bondage of present temptation, he says, “You’re mine! You’re free! Go and sin no more!” To every heart weighed down by shame or sorrow, stressed out by the anxieties of life, he says, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” At times we all live in deserted places, all by ourselves. Remember, alone with sin is not good. But alone with God is very good. We may all wonder from time to time if the Gospel stories are true, if they really happened; we may even want to embellish them as did the Sunday Schooler when he told his dad the story of Israel’s deliverance in the Exodus. Dear friends, I tell you without reservation that the story of Jesus and his life-saving Gospel are in fact true, every word--every letter. Nothing needs to be embellished. For it is right here on the edge of this wilderness that He comes to you, and brings you the life-giving food of his Gospel. Yes, Jesus Christ is still feeding his people, feeding you forgiveness, giving you new life, bringing you your very salvation. AMEN!
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