Year A

Matthew 14:13-21

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Eat And Be Full

Who doesn’t love a covered dish supper? I guess there are those who don’t but I always enjoy them and I am looking forward to the day when we can once again resume our fellowship dinners in the parish hall. What I find so satisfying about church suppers is all are invited and the only hitch is you have to bring a dish to pass and of course, after a good meal, most leave full and satisfied. Now mind you, I have been to several covered dish suppers where there were a lot of desserts and few main dishes but for the most part, all ate and were satisfied. Satisfied, because our stomachs are full, but even more than just the physical satisfaction, there is just something about spending time together breaking bread in a loving atmosphere that satisfies us physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Matthew tells us today that “They all ate and were full-satisfied.” His statement in the text today suggests more than the physical satisfaction of a full tummy. Food alone cannot totally satisfy the human heart and the scriptures affirm this when they say, “Man does not live by bread alone.” There is a hunger of the soul that causes people to pursue Jesus even after their stomachs start to growl. We see that in the text today as the people longing for the presence and healing and wisdom of God followed Jesus out into the wilderness. They forgot their practical and physical needs as they focused their attention on Jesus who represents a different kind of fullness.

Seeing their longing and attentiveness, divine love overflowed in Jesus’ heart. As Matthew says, “He had compassion on them”; he healed them, fed them and most of all rejoiced with them in affirming the presence of God. They were satisfied to the very core of their beings. Yet, before Jesus feeds the crowd physically and spiritually we hear the disciples say to him “send the crowds away…so they can buy food for themselves. They make it sound as if they are not concerned enough to get involved. But, can you blame them. Think about it! There is definitely a tension here. They of course would feel overwhelmed with the big crowd with unmet needs. If there had been six people following Jesus at dinner time, then I ‘m sure a disciple could do something about it, but a whole crowd is overwhelming. They don’t really want the responsibility to care for all those hungry people all around them.

Yet, Jesus calls them to action. He says to the disciples, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” Jesus uses this opportunity to teach his disciples a lesson in compassion and action. His disciples are responsible for feeding the hungry, even if the size of the task is overwhelming. They missed an opportunity to serve and demonstrate compassion but Jesus will not allow the need of the people to remain unsatisfied. He provides for those who hunger until they have eaten their fill. In many ways this miracle is very much in keeping with a recurring theme in Matthew: Jesus’ actions flow out of compassion. Here and elsewhere in the gospels he sees the people’s need for health, for truth, for nourishment, for peace of mind, for meaning and a connection to God, and he is deeply moved.

Here is where the hunger found in Matthew’s story connects with us. We are the people who go out into the wilderness seeking something to give us meaning. We are looking for that connection to God. And like the crowd’s in Jesus’ day, we lack the resources to take with us anything of lasting value. We would die in the wilderness, left to our own devices. As with the crowds around Jesus, there is no food to keep us alive unless God does a miracle. Desire leads us on the quest, but only a miracle of grace will keep us from dying there. Our search is for meaning beyond the drudgery and repetition of our daily activities. It is the spiritual need or hunger of each person to know that she or he is not alone in this sometimes unkind maze of life.

Hunger is what the writer of Ecclesiastes meant when he said that God has “set eternity in the hearts of men.” Hunger is the pilgrimage of the soul. In other words, the old adage is true: “You are what you eat.” Yet, so often, life beckons us to follow the latest fad, to search for the newest fulfillment, to seek the richest treasure. We consume and devour until we are fed up with life, so to speak, and still we want more. Isaiah today cries out, “Why do you spend your money for that which does not satisfy?” “Come, receive wine and milk.” All are invited to the water. Remember where you have come from.

We are hungry. The cravings of our souls will not be stilled. A meal will keep our hungry body going. But what are we feeding our souls? Isaiah says, eat what is good and what matters, this is what God reminds God’s people. St. Augustine spoke to this spiritual hunger. He says, “Lord, man is one of your creatures, and his instinct is to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you have made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” There is a hunger of the soul that causes us to pursue Jesus even after our stomachs start to growl.

Just as Jesus fed the crowds with five loves and two fish, he feeds our souls and bids us to be a vehicle for the overflowing compassion of God. God can feed many with our small offered gifts. We hear God say to us “Let me feed their deepest hungers, though you and God feeds and fulfill us when we seek the food that satisfies our souls. May we eat and be satisfied, for we are what we eat and only what Jesus offers will satisfy us physically, emotionally and spiritually.