Got it, got it, need it, need it

A homily for the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Aug. 2, 2020

Is 55:1-3, Rom 8:35, 37-39, Mt 14:13-21

On many Sundays, of our three Scripture passages, only the first reading and the Gospel are actually related. Often, if the first reading is from one of the prophets, our Gospel passage proclaims how Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. In those cases, the prophet foreshadows the work and message of Jesus, not precisely in a fortune-telling way, but in a way the recognizes how the people of God B.C. were not quite following his rules and spiritual guidance. And the Gospel makes clear how Jesus came to complete the Law, not destroy it.

On those Sundays, the second reading — usually a letter from St. Paul — gently or firmly steers a group of believers back onto The Way of Christ. We humans do slip back into bad habits sometimes. The letters were written to Christian flocks in far-off places, and they were written to us. Hence their value.

Today, all three readings center around receiving and paying forward, and that blesses every one of us mightily.

We’re blessed because we have some pocket-size takeaways that can be acted upon quickly, pondered for hours and days, and applied to our pandemic-shaken world.

First and foremost, God always has and always will fulfill our needs. We pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” and God does. God ensures we are nourished, physically and spiritually.

Now, if we’re expecting dinner to arrive like manna from the sky, we’re not recognizing God’s work and God’s presence in our lives — our lives that, themselves, are God’s primary and most profound gifts to us.

To give us our daily bread, God gives us skills so we can go to work. God gives us caregivers who bring food to us when we can’t get it ourselves. God gives us communities of charity and faith who feed us when we are in need.

God also gives us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to feel the needs of others. And so, God gives some of us the challenge to continue his sustaining work by finding those in need and serving them. Because we have life. Because we have talent. Because we believe in justice.

Because, in the end, fulfilling this challenge becomes a spiritual meal. Because the opportunity to be God’s hands on Earth is a gift in itself. Because acting on behalf of our Triune God, in God’s name and in the way God wants, brings us closer to God. When we recognize God in this way, and act upon any challenge God puts before us for the greater glory of God and the continuation of God’s Creation, then we share in a spiritual communion. God showers us with grace, and then asks us to use that grace again. To pay it forward, always.

Our next takeaway also comes from The Lord’s Prayer. We pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” not “Give me this day my daily bread.”

Nope. God reminds us that we’re all in this together.

The prophet Isaiah, speaking for the Almighty, says:
“Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water!”

All You.

God shares Creation with us. God makes sure there’s enough of it to go around. God does give us delivery jobs. God expects us to share Creation with each other.

We start with natural things: clean air and water, mineral resources, meat and vegetables. Respect them and repair them. Preserve them and defend them.

Share them.

Then we step up to manmade material things: Clothing and shelter. Transportation. Wealth in general. 

Sharing those gets a bit harder. Which means sharing them is all the more important as we work to bring God’s Kingdom.

Finally, we step up to the tangible intangibles: Respect. Tolerance. Halting cultural appropriation. Ending systemic racism and unconscious or conscious biases. Embracing and celebrating diversity.

Any human brother or sister who is on the wrong end of any of these knows what thirst is like. Knows what hunger is like. Knows what pain is like, a constant ache that racks the body and soul day and night.

But God says — God shows us — that we can fix all of these with five loaves and two fish if we trust in God.

A slogan on a T-shirt and on a bumper sticker (and you know about me and bumper stickers!) puts it succinctly:

Equal rights for others does not mean less rights for you. It’s not pie.

We can continue the miracle of the loaves and fishes by distributing our earthly goods and wealth more equally and equitably, through the power of God’s grace and in the name of our God, who is Love. By taking stock of what we want versus what we need, and obeying the Lord joyfully by giving someone not only our shirts but our coats as well.

We can continue the miracle of the loaves and fishes by sharing not only one meal but all meals, especially as the economic freefall caused by the COVID-19 pandemic leaves so, so many people with food insecurity.

We can continue the miracle of the loaves and fishes by sharing our Earth and its precious, limited resources in ways that guarantee life and health for everyone here now and everyone in millennia to come.

We can continue the miracle of the loaves and fishes by acting to ensure that everyone has a seat at the table, God’s table, a round table with God at the center. No one denied a place; no one pushed to the margins of this or any society. No one scrambling to be at the head of the table, only God’s presence in relationship with all.

A table set for a family celebration of Black, White, Blue, Red, old, young, gay, straight, trans, exceptional, average — all of God’s children. All created in God’s glorious image and likeness.

A family table where all are fed spiritually and materially to everyone’s heart’s content, and where there are leftovers.