|
FINDINGS III By Harry T. Cook
Proper 12 - B - July 29, 2012
John 6: 1-21
(2 Kings 4: 42-44, Psalm 145: 10-19, Ephesians 3: 14-21)
 | | Harry T. Cook |
By Harry T. Cook
7/23/12 With the passage from John -- one of the five in the New Testament that speaks of what has come to be known as "the feeding of the five thousand" -- we enter that difficult territory of trying to account rationally for what so many take as evidence that "miracles do happen." At the outset, let us remember that the English word "miracle" is often a translation of the Greek εργον which means "work." [Other Greek words thus translated are τερας (wonder) σημειον (sign) and δυναμις (power)]. The word "work" in the Bible means, in effect, the result of what one is supposed to do because of who he or she is. A laborer (τεκτων) is known for what he does. That is his work (εργον).
What Jesus is depicted as having done of an extraordinary nature is as often as not deemed a "work." John, the gospel writer, used the term to account for the healing of the lame man at 5:20. Then at 7:3 Jesus' disciples want him to go to Judea and show off his "works." At 10:38, the term is used again in a similar context. At 14:11, Jesus is depicted as telling Philip, who is confused about whom Jesus represents, that if he can't figure it out from what Jesus says then he should try looking what he does -- i.e., the "works."
Thus can one say that what Jesus was depicted as doing in arranging for five thousand people to eat their fill from scarce resources he was "doing his work." -- That might suggest that the gospel writer, who could have used "wonder" or "sign" rather than "work" of the event, meant to say of Jesus, "Well, that's what he does. It's his work. Big deal."
What did John depict Jesus actually doing? Not much. He received the five barley loaves and two fish "contributed" by a youth, made the blessing over them and passed the food around. The barley loaves would have resembled pieces of pita bread. You could break five of them into bite-sized bits and maybe 100 people could get one each, which would not be (as the text says) "as much as they wanted."
Thus have generations of homilists supposed out loud that the youth set (or was caused to set) an example for others both by bringing food and sharing it, thus multiplying the available supplies sufficient unto the day.
What's missing from John's version of the mass feeding is the confrontation Mark, Matthew and Luke depict Jesus having with his disciples. In John's version, Jesus raises the issue of how the crowd that has followed him will be fed. In the synoptics, the disciples ask the question and suggest that Jesus send the crowd away to find food. "You give them something to eat," is Jesus' rejoinder.
The disciples, it is said, go among the people looking for food to confiscate for the greater good, and do, in fact, locate the famous loaves and fish. Mark, Matthew and Luke make no reference to the youth who appears in John's version of the story.
All four gospels remark on the leftovers -- 12 baskets full. What size the baskets were we do not know, but the point is made that from five loaves and two fish a great deal remained.
Are the 12 basketfuls the "work?" Is the "work" the satisfied crowd? Or is it what John or anyone imagines Jesus having done the "work?" However the homilist decides to answer those questions will determine what he or she will do with this text.
If the preacher wants to go with whatever Jesus said or did to feed the crowd, the choices are simple. Either Jesus had the power to turn five loaves and two fish into a meal for 5000 people, or he had what it took to get people to share what they had brought.
If it is the former, then Jesus had magical powers and could have made the five loaves and two fish feed 10,000 people, 100,000 people and so on and so on. The "work," then is what Jesus said or did. Old-school Catholics may think in this regard of what they used to hear at the holiest moment of the mass as the priest said over the bread: Hoc est corpus meum, supposedly acting in the name of Christ to make the Bread of Life out of plain old bread.
If it is the latter, one might suppose that Jesus had such a commanding presence or persuasive argument that he could convince people to do what might not necessarily come naturally to them: to share what they had -- or, along the lines of Matthew 5:40/Luke 6:20, to give it up entirely -- then the "work" is what the people did. If the appealing picture is of a crowd whose individuals have been adequately fed (Mark, Matthew and Luke make the point that the need for food was mentioned toward the end of the day when people would ordinarily take nourishment), then that in itself is the "work."
A central point often missed or overlooked in the teaching about this passage is the end result: hungry people were fed. It doesn't matter who gets the credit for making that happen, and it doesn't much matter how or by what agency the hungry were fed. It matters that they were fed.
In a world beset by widespread hunger, even in some places out-and-out starvation, the focus might best be on the shrunken stomachs, the parched lips and the beseeching eyes of the malnourished. However whatever gets to them in a form they can ingest and digest is the "work" to be done by those who can do it. Not surprisingly, those hungry who are fed may take that good fortune as a "sign," "wonder" or "power." And we don't care. Those who make it happen will know that it is a "work" that had to be done.
As Mark, Matthew and Luke told the story, Jesus put the responsibility to feed the people upon his disciples. "You give them something to eat." That is the most powerful homiletic point of all.
One can see what might well have been the model for the crowd-feeding story in the gospels by citing the 2nd Kings reading appointed in the RCL to accompany that story. A measured amount of barley and corn is brought as first fruits to Elisha, who instructs that it should be given directly to the people. The concern is that it won't be enough, but Elisha says that there will be some left over. The people ate; and there was a remainder.
The suggestion is that it was Yahweh who made the difference, and that is alluded to in the accompanying psalm (145: 16-17): "The eyes of all wait upon you, Yahweh, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature."
|
