{"id":590,"date":"2014-08-03T08:18:48","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T13:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=590"},"modified":"2014-08-11T08:21:09","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T13:21:09","slug":"taking-a-pilgrimage-to-see-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=590","title":{"rendered":"Taking a Pilgrimage to see Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

18<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> Sunday Week in Ordinary Time<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Is 55: 1-3; Rom 8: 35, 37-39; Mt 14: 13-21<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t we take a little pilgrimage together today in our minds. Imagine that you are the boy with the 5 loaves and two fish in the Gospel story.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Together with your parents, you are going to see what this popular teacher, Jesus, has to say.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>A huge crowd of over 15,000 people are there with you on the shores of the lake at the village.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, 15,000, not just 5,000 because 5,000 was just the men.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And 15,000 would have been an immense number of people in that day and age, one third of the population of Jerusalem .<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It fact, it was the largest crowd Jesus ever addressed in his three year career.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Back to you, now- the kid with the food.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You were prepared for lunch; but most of the folks around you were not.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>After all they thought they could always visit the market close by if they got hungry.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But now, the great crowd around you sees that Jesus is headed off in a boat with his disciples.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Somebody shouts out \u201cHe\u2019s headed towards Bethsaida\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And, in a frenzy, everyone moves out to try to beat Jesus there- about twice the distance by land than by boat.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Imagine how enthusiastic the crowd must have been to walk, even trot most of the way.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Nobody had time to stop and get food; and everybody was pretty well spent by the time they get there.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But they were in luck, because they beat the boat there.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moved with pity, Jesus proceeds to preach to the crowd. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In a sense He was moved to feed them what they came for-<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His stories about the good news, the kingdom of God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And Jesus heals many of them for good measure.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As all this happens, time flies by, and now it is evening.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You are in a deserted place, hours from any market or restaurant.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Everyone is hungry; you hear the disciples and crowd talking about it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And you realize you\u2019ve got some food- five little buns and two dried up fish.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You go to the teacher\u2019s disciples and offer to give up what you have so it can be shared with everyone else.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Suddenly, you are being told to take them directly to Jesus.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus looks up to heaven, blesses the food, and asks the 15,000 people to recline.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Bible scholars tell us that the words in Greek were like a request to be seated at a formal banquet.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And so the 15,000 people recline in neat little circles, as at a banquet, in the lush green grass- <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>no panic, no skepticism, no resistance to the Lord\u2019s orders.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And there is plenty of food for all 15,000 people!<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let me make a couple of observations here.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>First, this was the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels except for the Resurrection itself- the one and only.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So, it must have been considered significant and important.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Second, there are few if any books in antiquity that describe miracle workers and their deeds- so Jesus is unique.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And lastly 12 large whicker baskets of remnants are both literally and symbolically huge.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In first century Palestine, there was seldom enough food to totally satisfy 15,000 people at a time.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But in fact, after they have had their fill, there were 12 large whicker hampers full of food left!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Twelve symbolizes abundance; and so from five loaves and two fish, twelve baskets implies tremendous abundance.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What a miracle, what an experience.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But what does it really all mean?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Is the message summed up in the magnitude of the miracle? <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Was the message that Jesus was proven to be God<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>because only God is capable of such miracles?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Or was there a deeper message for us?<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, consider this:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus was primarily concerned with feeding souls in this story.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>All day long he had told them of the Kingdom of God and had urged them to repent.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He had told them that they could make a difference if they did that.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus first reaction to the disciple\u2019s message that the people were hungry is one of surprise.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He orders the disciples to feed them.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s as if he is saying \u201cI have been feeding them the bread of life all day long; you can take care of their temporal needs.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>So, had his real message fallen on deaf ears?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Because after all of that teaching, the people were now concerned about food, they were not fired up over His message.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now if you truly played the role of the boy with the basket of food in this story, then you should recognize that you were loving and generous.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In the face of impossible odds, you offered what little you had without hesitation for the good of all.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The disciples in John\u2019s Gospel accounts are sarcastic about it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThere is a boy with 5 barley loaves and two fish, but what is that among so many\u201d?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But the child, the boy, is an innocent, and offers his food unencumbered by those odds.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And from that source of food, an abundance flows. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>How ironic that the young boy with the meager lunch would show them what could happen if they really listened to Jesus and lived his message of love.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our Isaiah reading, today, emphasizes the abundance of blessings available from God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And so, perhaps this miracle is a message to all of us that no matter how small our contribution,<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>If we offer it to God with humility, sincerity, and good intentions, as the boy with the five loaves did, then God will respond to us with abundance.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We are lacking much in today\u2019s world.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>There are terrible things going on in the Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Palestine.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We are still hampered by a sluggish economy at home; and we see moral decay all around us in the media.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This can all seem overwhelming to us.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And so we come here to Church each week hoping to hear something that will help, just like the 15,000 people on a deserted slope in Palestine did 2000 years ago.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps, just perhaps, we need to be like the boy that offered his food.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Rather than what you can get, what can you give.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Whatever it is that you have in means, talent, or time, figure out how to do your part.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Then offer something up sincerely and with humility.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Not just one or two of you.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But as Father Ennis says- \u201cAll of you\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And then watch the abundance flow from God because God can make a difference. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18th Sunday Week in Ordinary Time Is 55: 1-3; Rom 8: 35, 37-39; Mt 14: 13-21 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 Why don\u2019t we take a little pilgrimage together today in our minds. Imagine that you are the boy with the 5 loaves and two fish in the Gospel story.\u00a0 Together with your parents, you are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[297],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}