This week’s readings can be found here. Please note: in some traditions, the Feast of the Transfiguration is observed this Sunday. Since, two out of three of the readings for this feast were present in the lectionary the the Last Sunday after Epiphany, I have opted to look at “Proper 13” this week in the Revised Common Lectionary. If you are looking for the Transfiguration notes, you can find the free version here and the paid version here.
Our God is the one who meets people in the desert—in struggle, in anguish, in hunger—with blessing. In our Old Testament story (Genesis 32:21-31), Jacob is wandering in a desert place and a mysterious figure shows up, wrestling with him and ultimately blessing him. Jacob says of his experience in the desert, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”
When the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, God miraculously provided manna from heaven. Elijah was fed by the ravens in his season of wilderness. This is what our God does! He feeds people, nourishes them in desert places.
Yet, it comes about by wrestling. We wrestle with ourselves, with those whom we love and those whom we have run away from; we wrestle with God. And, there are many times when it is confusing as to who has the upper hand! We often emerge from our wrestling limping and blessed. God’s people are defined as those who wrestle with God (that’s what “Israel” means), and that is a beautiful thing in which to be invited. This week, it is appropriate to give people permission to wrestle with God and with the struggles in our own hearts. It is good news that God wrestles with us, meets us in our pain, blesses us, and reminds us of our true identity.
Our Romans reading speaks of a different kind of wrestling (9:1-5) as Paul carries great sorrow and anguish over the fact that many in his ethnic family do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. The key to this reading is found exactly in Paul’s anguish. God’s people are wrestling, but God will not give up on them. They have been adopted! Theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and the Messiah himself has come from them! Over the next couple of chapters, Paul will insist that God has not given up on Israel, and that even their unbelief does not have the final word. This is the reminder that God is faithful. He does not let go.
Our gospel reading (Matthew 14:13-21) opens with Jesus himself in a “desert” place, after he learns of the death of John the Baptist. His friend was killed at the hands of King Herod, an insecure leader, afraid of losing his power. In the proceeding verses, the kingship of Jesus is shown in bright contrast to Herod. Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of love, not a kingdom of fear. There is so much to be fearful about in the world today, and there are so many “kingdoms of fear” built on fleeting influence, grasping on to power. Christians can live free of such fear because of the liberating love of God.
In this story, we hear that God invites us to take the meager things that we have and place them in his hands. Just like with the bread and the fish, to give it is costly (what if we don’t have enough for ourselves?!); and, on its own, what we have is never enough to meet the needs of the world. That is precisely the point. The Message translation of Romans 12:1 says, "So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”
As preachers, we have the opportunity to invite our congregations to take their “not-enough,” life and trust what will happen to it in the hands of Jesus. You are blessed. You will be broken (This means that your expectations will need to shift, your plans may be disordered, because it’s not about you; you will walk with a limp); And you will be shared.
In the end, there are 12 baskets left over. It is likely that they represent the 12 tribes of Israel. In Christ, Israel is restored; the broken pieces for the life of the world. We are the broken pieces, blessed and shared by God!
As a Christian, you do not have to live a life of scarcity. Our God is more than enough. We can trust him. We can be open-handed. Because he knows our needs.
This is easy to say, but what about when we feel like our peer’s success means that there is not enough of the good life available for us? Or we think that elevating the other person’s voice means a loss of my own voice? These are the questions of our world today. Who gets the influence? Who gets the power? Who is valued and loved?
The kingdom of God does not operate on scarcity. We serve the God of abundance. There is enough love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and healing for the entire world. You can trust Jesus, the one who blesses, the one who breaks, the one who gives.