18^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); 9-2-20

Is 55:1-3   Ps 145   Rom 8:35,37-39   Mt 14:13-21

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

         During this unprecedented time of pandemic, we hear the refrain, “We’re all in this together.”  Yes, we’re all being battered one way or another, which offers a modicum of comfort:  misery loves company, I suppose.  But, then we hear words from St. Paul in the second reading which cut to the quick: “What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword” (Rom 8:35).  As we deal with economic uncertainty brought about by this scourge, coupled with all the fissures of our society being brought to light, such as embedded racism, we may have this sinking feeling: “Yes, there’s a lot that can separate us from God.” We know that we shouldn’t feel that way, but the experience of dread, uncertainty, and loss hang over all of us.

Today’s Gospel provides an antidote to self-pity and discouragement.   Jesus had just learned of the death of John the Baptist, his cousin who foreshadowed his ministry. With a heavy heart, he crosses the lake by boat in search of a “lonely place apart” (Mt 14:13) where he can process his loss and grief.    When He returns, He sees many people who have followed Him and were tired and hungry from their travels to be with the Him.  The hour is late; Jesus’s disciples become concerned that more demands would be placed on the Lord, so they suggest that they send the crowds away to the nearest villages, where they can buy food and eat.  In other words, just go away—we have problems of our own.

Notice, however, how Jesus responds to their predicament: “as he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion for them, and healed their sick” (v. 14).  Brothers and sisters, that is how Jesus is: he is always compassionate.  He is always pouring Himself out into others.  As a result, the crowds follow Jesus everywhere, to listen to him and to bring him their sick and wounded.  Seeing all of their pain, seeing what we are going through in the pandemic year of 2020, Jesus is moved.  He is not cold, calculating, narcissistic.  He is not trying to figure out how could work this situation to his advantage.  No, Jesus is capable of being moved by the pain of human beings.  So, he stands before the crowds, and he doesn’t want them to leave and neither does He want us to succumb to our desolation.

 

Jesus’s compassion was foretold with the Call of Moses, in which Yahweh reveals that “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are  suffering. Therefore, I have come down to rescue them from the lands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:7-8).   What this passage tells us is that God just doesn’t have pity on us, but hears our cry and understands what we are going through. God in the person of Jesus, suffers with us.  He even takes the suffering of others to the point of taking it upon himself.

Is that enough, or do we want a God who will wave a magic wand and make the pandemic go away?  There is something in us that wants a God like that: a super-natural Mr. Fix-it.  But, Jesus reveals that God is not like that, but is one who joins our suffering, who suffers with us, who suffers for us.  And, the sign of his compassion is the healing of countless people who are hurting.

This is where Jesus challenges us to reach out to the poor in the midst of our loss and suffering.  Jesus placed the needs of the broken and wounded before his own.  Yes, we are hurting, but there are others who are suffering so much more. We don’t want to minimize our own needs, but for many of us they are not as urgent of those of the poor, who lack the basic necessities even before the pandemic spread throughout the world.

The second message embedded in this Gospel is sharing, a correlative of compassion. The reaction of the disciples is one of practicality: they think it would be better if the crowds wander away and secure their own food.  What does Jesus say?  “You give them something to eat.”  These are two drastically different outlooks: the disciples are coming from a calculating zero-sum game, by which each person looks after himself.  They reason that “I didn’t cause your plight; you figure it out for yourself.”  But, Jesus comes from a different logic that comes from God’s nature, which is Love.  God is for-giving of Himself; God is eternally generous as he is always giving himself away.  That’s why Jesus’s first instinct is to come from sharing.  How many times when we look at our brothers and sisters in need, whether it is in the inner city or in what used to be called 3^rd world countries, do we say, “I’ve got problems of my own.  Sort it out yourselves.”  But, this is not Jesus’s way.  We cannot follow Jesus and be self-centered at the same time.  Had he sent the crowds away empty, they would have been left with nothing to eat.  Instead, from a few loaves and fishes that were blessed and shared by God, there was enough for everyone.

Compassion and sharing…both come together in the Eucharist.  In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus just doesn’t give away ordinary bread, but he gives us the Bread of Eternal Life: he gives himself, offering himself to his Father out of love for us and our salvation.  So, when we go to Eucharist we are making a commitment to do the same.  As we receive him, we are also embracing His compassion and sharing.  We, in turn, become the Bread of Life to the world: we share with others what we have received in such abundance.

So, let us be generous.  Despite our uncertainty, let us not hoard our material possessions, lest they rob us of our soul.  Amen.