“Compassion and Communion”

August 6, 2023       
St. Andrew Church
Communion Sunday
Rev. Anne McAnelly

First Lesson:                                                        Matthew 14:1-12

At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; ² and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” ³ For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, ⁴ because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. ⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod ⁷ so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” ⁹ The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; ¹⁰ he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. ¹² His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

Second Lesson:                                                  Matthew 14:13-21

¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted 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 for them and cured their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” ¹⁷ They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

We just heard John the Baptist was beheaded, because he dared to criticize the fact that Herod had married his half brother’s wife, Herodias. Something forbidden by Jewish law. Herodias was so angry, by way of dancing, intrigue, and saving face, she tricked Herod into beheading John. John the forerunner to Jesus. John Jesus’ cousin. John the baptizer of Jesus. His violent death set’s the stage for our second reading casting a pall over it. READ Continuing Don stopped by on Monday, and we talked about the hymns for Sunday, and I mentioned my surprise in realizing that John’s beheading provoked Jesus to withdraw, set the mood for this entire story of the feeding of 5,000. How had I missed this? This miracle appears in all four gospels. The only miracle that does and is recounted slightly differently two more times. Yet Matthew is the only one who connects it to John’s death and Jesus’ response. His grief. I would assume the grief of many of the disciples as well, since some of them had been followers of John before becoming Jesus’ disciples. God’s abundance, Jeus’ healing, people connecting all happen while these servants of God are missing, grieving, John. In addition, the feeding harkens back to the exodus and foreshadows the Lords’ Supper. Jesus withdrawing to a “deserted place” recalls the wilderness of the exodus. Then Jesus feeding the multitudes reminds us of the Mosaic manna and God’s provision to those escaping the Pharoah before reaching the Promised Land. Jesus feeding the 5,000 affirms God’s generous provision just like the manna. From scarcity God creates abundance. One commentator writes, “How often it is that we do not seek God from the fullness of our lives, but from the dearth. We are regularly reminded that as Christians, we do best when we live out of our ‘theology of abundance’ rather than scarcity. However, the reality is we more clearly see our need for God from our times and places of pain. Even Jesus took time to go “to a deserted place by himself”” (Wanda Copeland, Reflection on Matthew 14:13-21). He grieved the loss of John, he felt the pain of this violent act, he knew this moment prefigures his own destiny. So he withdraws. Yet Jesus sees the crowd and felt compassion for them. Jesus feeling his own loss, relates to the hurt and sickness of the people and heals them. Even in the face of John’s death, Jesus carries on, engaging life-giving practices of healing and feeding. That is the essence of compassion, which literally means, “to suffer with.” Jesus suffers with us as well, has compassion for us when we are hurting. When we share that pain, God finds a way to generously provide for us. “A man named Al Wiener survived the Nazi concentration camps. He entered a labor camp when he was 15. Years in those camps took their toll. Over time his weight dropped to 80 pounds and he was weak and always hungry. He was slowly starving to death. In one labor camp he worked in a textile factory. There were German women who worked in the textile factory. They were forbidden from speaking to prisoners like Al. They were not even allowed to look them in the eye. One day a German woman pointed, motioning for Al to go to another part of the room. Al waited until no one was looking and he went to the spot she had picked out. She pointed to a crate and walked away. Al lifted the crate and found a sandwich. A precious, precious sandwich. How we take such riches for granted. Al ate the sandwich quickly while no one was looking. Every day for two months the woman left a sandwich under that crate for him. She risked her life for him. Al says her sandwiches probably saved his life.”Al believes that God used this woman’s charitable and compassionate acts to save him. What would the world be without compassionate people, people who are willing to feel the pain of those less fortunate than themselves?” (Sermons.com, King Duncan). Jesus had compassion for the crowd, first by healing them, and then by feeding them. Jesus had five loaves and two fish. From this humble amount, Jesus feeds over 5,000 men plus the women and children. Yet before he does this, he tells the disciples to feed them. He charges them, “You give then something to eat”. Can you imagine that? How are they to feed thousands in the middle of a deserted place? Of course, Jesus helps with that. He takes the bread and fish, foreshadowing the Last Supper, looks up to heaven, and blessed, broke and gave it to his disciples. Sound familiar? That is because those are the words Jesus used at the Last Supper when he shared his final meal with his disciples. The same words we hear when we come to Christ’s table. Soon we will be coming to Christ’s table, hearing Jesus’ words, feeling Jesus’ compassion, sharing in Christ’s abundant feast, just like the 5,000. I pray this brings you a sense of connectedness to this miracle and the generous nature of our God. Communion is a place of generous compassion, community and forgiveness. As I thought more about Jesus feeding all these people while he is dealing with his own pain, I thought of two things. First how Jesus was able to use the hurt he was feeling and channel that into helping others, feeding others. When we hurt, we tend to turn inward, and our world gets small. Our pain isolates us and can cut us off from support. Yet sometimes what we need to do is to turn outward, to see where we can be of service in the world. When we are hurting, dealing with our own problems one of the best ways to get new perspective is to help someone else. Reach out to a person in need and offer hope. Jesus withdrew first to have some time to himself, to feel his grief. But then he got outside of himself, had compassion for the crowd and shared God’s abundance with them, feeding over 5,000 people. Bring your hurt, your pain, to the communion table today. Ask God to share abundant mercy, healing and hope with you as you taste this meal that Christ has so graciously prepared. Secondly, I discovered another understanding of what transpired. Maybe Jesus, hurting for John, did not need to be alone in his grief, but rather chose to be in community, fellowship, in his time of need. One commentator writes, “The crowd found (Jesus) in mourning and would not let him be alone. They remained with him. This meal almost serves as a funeral repast. Maybe, Jesus did not really need solitude. He needed community, and what better manifestation of it than at this colossal meal. This moment serves as antithesis to the murder of John, an act of evil, avarice, and depravity. The feeding of the five thousand demonstrates the kindom of God, including generosity, abundance, and flourishing” (The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-for-compassion/). Here the community of Jesus, the kingdom of God, shared in the grief, shared a meal, broke bread together, much like a wake after a loss. They came together to share the light of love even when facing real darkness. That is true compassion – to suffer with. The crowd suffered with Jesus and the disciples in their hurt. But from that moment God’s abundant love, mercy, provision and care miraculously feeds the multitudes! Christ’s table is a table of compassion, bring your hurt and leave it here. Christ’s table is a table of healing, bring your pain and leave it here. Christ’s table is a table of abundance, generosity and hope. You will find that here! Amen.