Joshua D. Walters
Proper 11-Year B
Mark 6:30–44
This time of year, in southwestern Indiana and I suppose the same is true in northern Illinois, is the beginning of the sweet-corn and tomato season. Growing up on my family farm, once these two things came into their full maturity, there was no end to them in sight; their dietary options are innumerable and their presence is interminable. Corn and fresh slices tomatoes at lunch, corn and tomatoes at supper, and yes, sometimes tomatoes for breakfast, corn never made it’s way to that meal, although I’m sure it could. One could never have too much. I confess that many meals went by where I ate the two vegetables until my mouth ached from both kernels and acid alike! I am firmly convinced that if Jesus were to come back and attempt to feed the five thousand again, he’s come back to the Midwest, at this time of year using corn and tomatoes instead of loaves and fishes, with no miracles necessary!
Psalm 78 recalls similar themes of abundance.
19
They railed against God and said, *
"Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20
True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies
overflowed; *
but is he able to give bread
or to provide meat for his people?"
21
When the LORD heard this, he was full of wrath; *
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and his anger mounted against Israel;
22
For they had no faith in God, *
nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
23
So he commanded the clouds above *
and opened the doors of heaven.
24
He rained down manna upon them to eat *
and gave them grain from heaven.
25
So mortals ate the bread of angels; *
he provided for them food enough.
26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens *
and led out the south wind by his might.
27
He rained down flesh upon them like dust *
and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
28
He let it fall in the midst of their camp *
and round about their dwellings.
29
So they ate and were well filled, *
for he gave them what they craved.
30
But they did not stop their craving, *
though the food was still in their mouths.
So the ancient Israelites asked the question of Yahweh while traveling on their journey of faith, “Can God set a table in the wilderness?” Can God show abundance when there is nothing but sweltering tribulation? Perhaps this very same question befell the lips of our faithful Twelve after they had so quickly rejected his offer. Could this Jesus, the man claiming to be God’s con, could he provide an abundant table in this isolated and deserted place. Could Jesus ‘set a table in the wilderness?’ The text resoundingly says YES! The Greek text of Mark describes the meal calls it a symposia symposium—literally a banquet of all banquets. Just as God the Father has done in the wilderness, so too, did Jesus perform the same miracle. Like Yahweh God, one cannot help but recognize that, this too was done just a little bit out of abundant frustration all of which results in frustrated abundance.
Like the Israelites before them, there seemed to be a faith-gap taking place in the minds and spirits of the disciples, these remedial apostles. Keep in mind that they had just returned from their first missionary work; their trip would in fact be a foretaste of what their lives would be in the days and years following the death and resurrection of Jesus later recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.
Earlier in the chapter, the Twelve Apostles, were sent on their way to preach peace repentance, and to cure the afflicting in the surrounding villages. With great gusto and with faith-filled stories they return to Jesus and with eagerness they regale him with the radical evangelism of Jesus’ Good News. Note the world used by Mark is that they are called apostles—a word far more appropriate for court officials, emissaries, and chancellors—and a word with great specificity that implies the direct authority of their Divine Leader, a word used sparingly by Mark. And then when asked, by Jesus to perform a seemingly impossible task, they balk. Jesus, vested with the divine virtue of hope, sought these remedial Twelve to use their new-found skills. He wished nothing more than for them to capitalize on the faith-filled works performed in the surrounding countrysides and to bring about an amazing God-Given act. And like the ancient Israelites in their own deserted place, the Apostles, who are now disciples again, began to crave more authority, even while their own Spirits were full. Instantly they begin to explain away the unlikelihood that this miracle was possible. They become stymied by their lack of wealth and they are crippled by their constraints of time and experience.
But we are also like the disciples, are we not? We have also been imbued by our ever-creating, ever redeeming and ever-sustaining God to bring about the kingdom in our midst. Our Baptisms make us Apostles. Like the abundant banquet prepared by our Lord in the deserted place, with amazing grace, we have been bestowed with abundant gifts to make that heavenly banquet, right here and now—it takes only a little faith.
With confident faith the size of a mustard seed, scratch that, with faith the size of a corn’s kernel or even the size of a tomato seed this is possible, when we realize the grace given to us. With one kind act, we can bring God’s loving presence that much closer. With one act of hospitality, our world becomes smaller. With one act of mercy, we show the world the light of Christ, one small miracle at a time. For a miracle is nothing more than an unexpected act of love.
With the ever-escalating conflicts in Lebanon, Iraq, India, Ethiopia,Afghanistan and elsewhere, the storms and torrents of the world rage in far away places. And we seek to cry to God for a miracle! But we, the disciples, we the innumerable faithful Twelve, must take the faith-filled steps, our mouths are abundantly full. We know that we possess the necessary tools and we have the faithful assurance of Jesus Christ that all things are possible in faith. Go, move forward with kernel-sized faith, feed at this abundant table that has no limits, and serve the innumerable five thousands in our world. One small act can mean a miracle for another child of God. May the grace-filled waters of our baptism ripple outward and heal our broken world.
