Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Isaiah 55.1–5 Romans 9.1–5 Matthew 14.13–21
You have had a busy day. Everything has been piled upon you. The pressure has been relentless with barely time for a cup of tea. The traffic on the drive home was slow with road works. All you want to do is get home, sit down, and relax for a short while.
But life is not always fair. As you park the car you see that the lawn needs cutting as it is standing out from your neighbours. You walk through the door and the children demand time from you. Your partner is standing in the corner waiting to be acknowledged. Things continue to pile up on your shoulders.
At time like these we find those adverts on the television offering you the chance to escape and get away from it all for ridiculously cheap prices. Sail away to exotic locations or fly to the sun, all promising you relaxation and rest.
Jesus was in Galilee, a very densely crowded area. In size it was about twice the size of the Isle of Wight yet contained 204 towns none of which had a population of less that 15,000 people. Not a place to escape from the crowds and that is just what Jesus wished to do. He needed rest, just as we all do, and he needed to avoid danger lest he should end up as John the Baptist did. The Cross was ahead of him, coming nearer, and he knew that he must meet up with God before he faced men. Rest for his body and soil were important. Refreshment could be sought on the other side of the lake.
People saw his boat sail and it would not be difficult to work out to where he was going. They raced around the lake ready to meet him as he landed on the far shore. Tired and exhausted it would have been quite natural for someone else to tell the crowd to return back to their homes. But Jesus showed them his true compassion. He continued to heal the sick and, before sending them back home around the lake he fed them.
We have a message here. In the actions of Jesus we see how God cares. It is a message that we, as Christians, can show to the world. Jesus, in all of the business of his life still found time to care for the people clamouring around him. There is an important point here. If we are so busy that we cannot spare just a few moments to a person who is asking for a short period of our time than there is a reasonably good chance that the person will not try again and we will have lost them.
If, as a Christian, someone asks us a question about our faith, or about the Church, or asks us if we can do something that would be a good neighbourly thing to do (remember that we should love our neighbour as ourselves), and we turn round and say that we do not have the time, or send them away, then we will have lost that person. They may have been using us to be a way forward to beginning a relationship with God. We will have lost them. We will have turned away from God one of his children.
To live life with one eye on the nice comfortable armchair in front of the television, or with that eye watching the clock as it races around the clock face, neither is the best way to spend our time. To show others that we are anxious to send them on their way is not the best way to set an example of the compassion that Our Lord had. But Jesus went one step further than healing the crowd, even though he was exhausted. He fed them.
Gathering all the food that the crowd had, five loaves and two fish, he gave thanks to God and gave the food to the disciples to feed the crowd. They were fed and satisfied. In doing this Jesus showed that it is God’s gifts which he brings to mankind. More so he showed that it is through his disciples that the miracle was worked.
Today, again as Christians, we are the disciples of Jesus. It is through us that Jesus continues to work. As he gave his disciples the bread and fish to feed the crowd so he gives us his teaching to go out and deliver to all people. He needs people like us to go out and to act, to be the medium through which he can speak. It is through us that he can draw others to himself.
Collect for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.