August 3, 2014 Pentecost 8/Proper 13 Matthew 14:13-21 13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. 16 But Jesus said, They need not go away; you give them something to eat. 17 They said to him, We have only five loaves here and two fish. 18 And he said, Bring them here to me. 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (ESV) A Tale of Two Feasts In Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities, he centers it around the two great capitals of London and Paris. He begins the book with these words: It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness. It was the season of Light; it was the season of Darkness. We might well use the same words to describe the first 21 verses of Matthew 14. But we would not call the stories they narrate A Tale of Two Cities but A Tale of Two Feasts. The first is the adulterous feast of King Herod which ended with the death of John the Baptist. 1 The second is the feeding of the 5000 which ended with all eyes focused on Christ. The contrast between the two is stark. Let s take a look at Herod s feast. It was his birthday. Time for a great banquet! And so he invited all the important men of Galilee. 2 At his side was Herodias, his brother s wife whom he had taken to be his own. But John the Baptist spoke to Herod plainly and said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her. 3 Herodias wanted to have John killed. But Herod feared the fiery preacher because he knew John to be a righteous and holy man. 4 The people also held him to be a great prophet. So the King took the middle course and put John put in prison. Herod s birthday feast was a drunken and sensuous affair. In due time the daughter of Herodias, Salome by name, 5 danced for the pleasure of Herod. Her dancing so pleased him that he promised to grant her anything--up to half his kingdom. Salome, following her mother s wicked bidding, asked for the head of John the Baptist. The execution was carried out at once. And John s head was put on a platter and immediately brought to Salome, the seductress. 6 That ought to shut up the obnoxious preacher! Yes, do away with preachers who tell you what you don t want to hear! Page 1 of 5
Herod s birthday feast included the wealthy, powerful, and beautiful people of his day. It was a wicked feast of sinful pride, lust, and sex. Go to any inauguration party and you ll find some of the same kinds of people on the guest list. You could probably say the same thing about some company parties, and all-night prom bashes. It s always the rich, powerful and beautiful who make the best lists. You ll usually find booze, drugs, and promiscuity at such affairs. We don t usually call these things feasts, but my guess is that more than food gets consumed at these things. And we, in our own way, cook up selfserving feasts in our own hearts. The most powerful preachers in our day don t fill pulpits. They preach to us by demand via TV, radio, and the Internet. There we see, hear, and consume the morality of our culture. We get intoxicated with what they deliver, for we are too easily bored with whatever does not entertain us, especially God and his Word. Not that long ago, people truly repented when their pastors denounced sin. And I mean they feared the wrath of God. You see... When the Law made them squirm, they knew they had to change their ways. Not so in today s culture. Jesus is just another voice that gets drowned out in the cultural rot. You know it and I know it! So are you going to go with the flow? Or will you be repentantly hungry for God s forgiveness in Christ? I pray that it is the latter! We move now to the feeding of the 5000. Those who came to this feast were not unlike the cultural groupies of today. They did not follow Jesus because of their spiritual need but because of his notoriety and miracles. 7 Although Jesus and his disciples had come to a quiet place to get some much-needed rest, the Savior s rest was brief. His heart was moved to help the great flock before him. We read, [Jesus] had compassion on them and healed their sick. 8 His compassion extended even further. There would be a great feast. Because it was getting dark, the people couldn t go to town and buy food. So the compassionate Christ determined to supply their need for daily bread. The feast was not earned or deserved, but it was provided anyway. Thus, we see that Jesus motives were infinitely higher than Herod s. Lust and power drove Herod s feast. Compassion and grace drove Christ s. Taking the five barley loaves and two fish, he raised his eyes to heaven and gave thanks. Then he began to distribute it through the hands of his disciples. When he did so, the food appeared, and appeared, and kept on appearing. What began as a few loaves and a couple of fish kept Page 2 of 5
multiplying until everyone was fed! But Jesus did not feed only 5,000. He fed 5,000 men, not counting women and children. 9 Thus, the multitude could have easily been 20,000 or more! What was the reaction of the multitude? St. John tells us. He says, The people wanted to seize him and make him a king. 10 Yes, they wanted to make him an earthly king but not the King of heaven who came to give them mercy, forgiveness, and life. They understood the miracle well enough. If Jesus could heal the sick and multiply the fish, he could give them whatever they wanted. Perhaps, we feel like saying to them: You hard-hearted fools! You held the wonder bread in your hands, didn t you? You ate it with your mouths, didn t you? But you didn t get it, did you? You didn t ask yourselves who Jesus was, did you? Oh, how blind can you be! As blind, I suppose, as we can sometimes be. In this miracle, we learn something about Jesus. Even though he is sinless and omnipotent, he uses his sinful and ordinary disciples to distribute his abundance to other equally sinful and ordinary people. Thus, we see that he is the friend of sinners. The rich and powerful of this world will hardly rub elbows with the dirty and destitute. Or with people like you and me. But Jesus is different. He loves sinners, even sinners like you and me who struggle daily in the battle against unfairness, anger, jealousy, and worry. Indeed, he says of himself, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. This is stunning! He who created the universe wants to serve sinners by dying for them! The world says, That s stupid! Any god worthy of the name insists on submission and homage. But not Jesus. He turns the world s wisdom upside down, for he reveals that the heart of God is like the heart of a loving father who will sacrifice anything to bring his wayward child to his side. Yes, and the cross is the revelation of the heart of God. Indeed, in Romans 5:8, we read, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The heart of God is like the heart of a loving father who will sacrifice anything to bring his wayward child to his side. Yes, and the cross is the revelation of the heart of God. Finally, just as Jesus used his disciples to distribute the fish and loaves, so, today, he distributes his saving gifts to us through those whom he has called. He uses pastors to teach his Word and to administer the Sacraments according to his own words of institution. Page 3 of 5
Jesus gave the 5,000 their daily bread on that day. Do we trust God to provide all our needs? Most of us would say yes. But we are often fearful about our financial security. Financial fears often consume us. They consume our lives and the lives of our congregations. But daily bread includes all the needs of this life. And God will provide. About our daily bread, Jesus says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 11 And Jesus always makes good on his promises! Herod s feast was a feast of lust, power, and death. Jesus feast was--and still is--a feast of compassion, forgiveness, and life. He gives us his Word the Word that bestows life. He gives us his body and blood to dispense his forgiveness to you and me. Two feasts, Herod s and Christ s. Which one do you attend? Don t be shy. Out with it! Which one? You and I attend both, don t we, for we are simultaneously saints and sinners? That makes it all the more important that we attend Christ s forgiving feast in Word and Sacrament as often as possible! In the name of Jesus: Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! Endnotes 1 This is Herod Antipas. 2 See parallel account in Mark 6:17-29. See especially v. 21. 3 See Matthew 14:4 and Mark 6:18. 4 See Mark 6:20. 5 Salome is not mentioned by name in the Gospels. But the Jewish historian Josephus identifies her. See http://www.josephus.org/johntbaptist.htm#herodias (Antiquities 18.5.3 136). 6 In accord with Roman feast tradition, it is almost a certainty that Salome s dance was erotic in nature. Marcus says of the dance, that it was probably meant to be understood as sexually provocative in nature. See, Joel Markus, Mark 1-8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, the Anchor Bible Series, Vol. 27 (New York: Doubleday, 1999), p. 401. William Lane says, The dance was unquestionably lascivious, designed to captivate and Page 4 of 5
further the ends of the dancer. See William L. Lane, The Gospel According to Mark, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974) p. 221. 7 In the parallel account in John s Gospel, the evangelist writes, A great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 8 See Matthew 14:14. 9 See Matthew 14:21. 10 See John 6:15. 11 See Matthew 6:33. Page 5 of 5