Enough already and more than enough

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Enough already - and more than enough!

31 July 2011: am The Revd Jenny Wilkens

• Psalm 17
• Genesis 32:22-31
• Romans 9:1-5,
• Matthew 14:13-21

http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons

What a week of contrasts! And that's not just talking about the weather, where we've pendulumed from beautiful clear days to snow and freezing cold. There's also been the wheeling and dealing in the US juggling their $14.3 trillion debt, while in Africa yet again the spectre of famine stalks the land. Perhaps this was epitomised yesterday in the paper's World section where on one page the huge eyes of a severely malnourished half-dead, half-alive Somali refugee child stared out at us, but if you turned the page to get away from that, the headline blared out 'Super-rich ride a holiday merry-go-round'. The contrast was obscene.

But just as shocking last week was the contrast between an idyllic island summer camp for young people, full of vitality and energy and commitment to change the world, transformed into a horror scene of massacre and devastation in Norway. How right it seemed that the funeral procession for a young Muslim girl killed in the tragedy was led by both an imam and a priest, walking together, saying Enough already - there has to be another way. Death can only be turned around by a commitment to walk into life together.

Our Gospel reading today is set in the context of another shocking contrast, but we very nearly miss it! Our reading begins 'When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there to a deserted place by himself.' Just what is this? This, in fact, is the tawdry tale of King Herod's birthday banquet which degenerates into a horrific murder scene, as the head of John the Baptist is paraded around on a platter. What should have been a life-affirming celebration, becomes a death-dealing conniving façade.

No wonder Jesus withdrew from there to grieve, and no doubt to ponder in his turn the cost of being a prophet, of speaking truth to power. As so often Jesus needed and chose to take time alone, to talk to his Father God, to draw strength, to feed his spirit so he might have the resources to feed others.

But he is not given long to do this - the crowds follow him, and from the comfort he has received from God, he in turn has compassion for the crowds and heals their sick. No doubt the disciples looked on in awe, but come the end of the day, it's their turn to say Enough already, let's send them off into town to the nearest McDonalds. Perhaps they thought they were being helpful, showing common sense, concern for the crowds, but I love the way Jesus neatly turns the tables on them, teases them almost: You give them something to eat …

Now they back-pedal fast, cave in, we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish, surely that will be their let-out clause. But Jesus takes control of the situation, gives it into God's hands - and we know the result: abundant, extravagant, overflowing provision of all that was needed, and with leftovers! Enough already - and more than enough! All ate and were filled…about five thousand men, besides women and children. One of my favourite books about the behind-the-scenes stories of women in the Scriptures is called just that, 'Not counting women and children'. [Megan McKenna, Not counting women and children: neglected stories from the Bible. Orbis, New York, 1994.]

Here Jesus shows us a God who has a concern for all, the hungry, the sick, men, women and children. As we proclaimed in our liturgy this morning, 'In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, in Christ there is no discrimination of gender, class or race. In Christ the poor are blessed, the simple receive truth hidden from the wise.' (NZPB p. 478)

Perhaps that is the lesson we have to constantly stand up for in our world which so easily tends to narrow down, to focus in on self, to clutch and grasp, to hold on to what we've got. It is when we are willing to share, to give away, to include and reach out, to trust, that we find that God honours that trust, and provides enough for all, and some left over for good measure!

It's a message that takes courage to trust in, in an election year when our country is struggling with recession, job retrenchments and earthquake bills on top of that. But some of the most encouraging stories from Christchurch were those of people who under duress themselves, yet got baking, got the barbeques out, and shared what they had around the city - and that was repeated around the country as Kiwis got in behind their red and black neighbours.

I was delighted to read in our Cathedral News about the experiences of some of our young people who shared in the recent Diocesan Camp to Nowhere, based here in our Loaves & Fishes Hall. They went out from here to look at some of the social service agencies linked with our Diocese, including the City Mission, the Night Shelter, the Mission to Seafarers, and the Urban Vision community who over the last fifteen years have committed themselves to living in our inner city alongside those on the margins of our society. If you'd like to read about this Urban Vision community, a book has just been published and is available at the Anglican Resource Centre up the hill from here, telling their story. [Jenny & Justin Duckworth, Against the Tide, Towards the Kingdom, $23]

Jamie commented: 'I really enjoyed seeing the Urban Vision house because it was really interesting seeing that a family could choose to live with the disadvantaged people.' Tim said 'My favourite part was walking across town with my group with $20.Each group was given $20 to do the best they could with it. We bought some food for the Night Shelter.'

This is the stuff of faith, of learning to trust God's abundant provision and life-giving intent, and to share that with others in very down-to-earth ways. It's putting into practice the wonderful quote that Dean Peter Beck included in his recent letter to us (also in our August Cathedral News): 'All that separates and injures and destroys is overcome by all that unites and heals and creates.' [Harry Williams, True Resurrection]

And oh yes, there is a cost to this. We say cynically there is no such thing as a free lunch, yet in God's kingdom economy there is, but the cost is borne by God himself. Jacob learned this lesson the hard way too in his amazing encounter with God which gave him a new name, a new identity, a new character to live into, a new role as leader of God's people, but also left him scarred, with a permanent reminder of his woundedness.

Over recent weeks we've been tracing some of the story of Jacob, a maverick trickster character, always out for the main chance, a fighter from the womb with his brother Esau, always looking out for number one. And yet last week we heard how, a manipulator himself, he ended up being manipulated by his father-in-law Laban into gaining two wives instead of one…pay-back time, he got a little more than he'd bargained for, no doubt…

But in our story today, Jacob is on the way back to meet up with his brother Esau, terrified he will wreak revenge. Jacob still tries to manipulate the situation, trying an appeasement policy, hoping to placate Esau.

And so he is left alone - poignant words - and now he faces his personal demons as he wrestles till daybreak, with whom? A human being? Or more than a human being, one whom Jacob senses he cannot manipulate, one who can wound but also heal. As St Augustine 9Sermon 185)would later say, Do not cast aside the One who both corrects and encourages you, terrifies and consoles you, strikes you and heals you. This is One who will bring him blessing, a new name, a name which will become the eponymous name of his descendants, Israel.

Jacob has one last go at controlling this being, 'tell me your name'. In biblical understanding, to know someone's name is to have control over them, to possess them. And that is not granted to him. Jacob realises the mystery of the one who has blessed him - 'for I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved'.

Perhaps this is part of Jacob's healing, but I believe his healing is completed when his brother Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they both wept (Gen 33:4). Don't you hear Jesus telling this story again as he tells of the forgiving father welcoming home the prodigal son?

Jacob then says a wonderful thing to his brother Esau, 'truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God' (Gen 33:10). Don't you long to be able to say this to someone with whom you have fallen out, with whom you have a difficult relationship? Say it before it's too late, or say it to God in prayer for that person. Don't you long for this to be said by the warring factions in any of the multiplicity of conflicts and divisions of our world?

'Truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God'. It has to start with each one of us. Think of those words as you share the Peace today. Think of those words as we come together to the table of the Eucharist : 'taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled'…enough already, and more than enough! Thanks be to God! Amen.