Sunday 26th July 2009

The story of the feeding of the crowd had a central place in the early spoken tradition of stories about Jesus.  Uniquely, it appears in all four gospels…and, indeed, appears in two different forms in one gospel.  I wish to draw out several distinct emphases from the way in which it is recounted by John.

I

• V.4   ‘The Passover Feast was near’.  Interesting.  Immediately, this alerts us to fresh significance, new possibilities in the story.  John wants us to understand that we are not reading yet another nature miracle…  nor even a sign which points us to something special about Jesus.  The meal is imbued with spiritual significance, drawn out by teaching a little later on in which Jesus speaks of himself as the ‘bread of live’.  There is no Last Supper as such in John - and most commentators feel that this is the story which takes its place in John’s understanding.  Appropriate echoes abound throughout the story - and it is v. 4 that alerts us to some of these possibilities.  ‘The Passover Feast was near’.  Faith is not always about life at ‘surface value’; we are called upon to discern depths, to dig more deeply, to acknowledge that questions of meaning and value do not always yield to monochrome, one-dimensional answers.

• John’s version recounts the question to Philip about the purchase of food… and then v.6.  ‘He asks this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do’.  What is going on here?  Is Jesus being playful - deceitful?  Is the question unnecessary in the light of what follows?  Is Philip being shown up in a bad light without good reason?  We live in a world in which tests abound… and the skepticism which surrounds SATS in schools is typical of the attitude of society overall.  I take the use of the word ‘test’ here, however, as direct reference to the original meaning… as in the testing of metal.  Was something… was someone… fit for purpose, capable of a task?  This is not unacceptable trickery on the part of Jesus, but rather part of a process which was entirely necessary.  John documents much about empowerment, enablement, involvement - ideas with which we are very familiar - and the degree of involvement on the part of the disciples in this single story alone is significant.  Philip, then Andrew… and then Jesus’ request of the disciples,  ‘Make the people sit down’.  For testing, read training… and acknowledge again, that these are continuing concerns.

• V. 15   ‘Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself’.  Again, there is a lot going on here.  Many have posited that Zealots made up a large part of the crowd, those who believed that it was right to overthrow the Romans by force.  Maybe they had come to check out Jesus and claim him as a figurehead; interestingly, it seems that Jesus felt that this was a distinct possibility.  Some commentators have argued that the Sermon on the Mount also drew a large of crowd of Zealots… turned off almost immediately by Jesus’ statement that peacemakers were blessed by God.  One of the earliest unsubstantiated rumours  about Jesus which gained wide circulation was a belief that he did not die on the cross, that he aligned himself with the Zealots shortly afterwards and that he was killed in action in his 50s or 60s.  The debate about possible use of force was clearly a hot one on the early days… and it is interesting that this story from John tells us quite clearly what Jesus was not… what he did not want.  Our concern with the Kingdom does not mean we elevate him to kingship in any worldly sense; our concern with justice does not mean that we resort readily to worldly force… or other, more insidious weapons in the worldly armoury.

II

• V. 17   ‘Jesus had not yet joined them’.  An enigmatic phrase.  Are we offered these words by way of assurance, reassurance… in the future this would happen – or are we to interpret it as meaning that they should have waited for Jesus?  There is little doubt that the presence of Jesus meant security - and the gospels contain several examples of stories where the physical proximity of Christ meant that terror abated.  The earliest gospel writers wrote in the knowledge of the turbulent and challenging early history of the Church and needed to reassurance believers that ascended did not mean absent.  John notes that, ‘Now it was dark’ in this passage, however, which suggests that the departure of the disciples was not unreasonable; ‘not yet’ is offered as a way of saying that the presence of Christ is never in doubt.  The churches are variously stereotyped as empty shells, oversized tombs gathering dust, remnants bereft of the support which they most need… but I have never doubted the presence of Christ.  Thankfully, nor have I doubted the resolve of the people of God, whatever the world might say.

• Terror occurs in this passage - fear of the unknown, the unfamiliar, the initially unrecognizable is potent still - but after calming words comes v.21.  ‘Then they were willing to take him into the boat’.  Fear abated.  I accept the power of this passage in troubled times, but there has to be much more than ‘taking in’ Christ as some kind of ambulance service.  Here, it is offered as a necessary picture of comfort, for the troubles of the Early Church were many… but I suspect that for many today, the picture of taking in Christ spells potentially the disturbance of familiar ways, the renegotiating of boundaries which offer reassurance, the potential for a world turned upside down.  On the URC vacancy list, there is one among a number of churches which have been vacant for several years.  Pastorate profile summaries are now offered on the website for reading by anybody; they conclude with ‘Things to avoid…’ - and this church notes, ‘Anybody with high expectations of change’.  Should we commend the church for being honest… or do we sigh and say, ‘Little wonder that no minister appears to be looking at you’?  For myself, I cannot work through the implications of taking in’ Christ… and arrive at a conclusion which reads, ‘no change’.  Today’s gospel reading is all about transformation, enlargement, reassurance in the face of the unfamiliar… and such things cannot fail to offer necessary excitement and potential for fulfillment.