Year A
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7,16
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the last several weeks\u2026 we\u2019ve heard about how God\u2019s Word\u2026 sown in good soil\u2026 can bear much fruit\u2026 up to one-hundred fold\u2026 we\u2019ve heard about bad weeds sown among good wheat\u2026 and how it\u2019s decided to deal with that later on\u2026 we\u2019ve heard about what the Kingdom of Heaven is like\u2026 like mustard seeds and yeast which increase beyond imagination\u2026 and treasure and pearls so valuable\u2026 they\u2019re worth selling everything you have in order to own them\u2026 kind of reminds me of what Jesus told the rich young man\u2026 to sell all he had\u2026 and give the money to the poor\u2026 and THEN come follow Jesus\u2026 to follow the Living Word\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But just before the Gospel\u2019s opening verses\u2026 Jesus found out that the man he followed\u2026 his cousin\u2026 John the Baptist\u2026 to some degree his mentor\u2026 had been killed\u2026 beheaded\u2026 John\u2019s disciples had just buried John\u2019s body\u2026 and then came to tell Jesus\u2026 and it\u2019s in this state of mind\u2026 in this state of emotion\u2026 that he goes by boat to a deserted place to grieve\u2026 but the crowds who were seeking him out\u2026 must have followed around the edge of the lake\u2026 to where he was headed\u2026 and when he went ashore\u2026 he saw them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus is in-between his darkest moment\u2026 and the dawn of a new movement\u2026 of God\u2019s healing work\u2026 the text says that Jesus had compassion for them\u2026 but this was not simply a feeling of empathy\u2026 this word is not simply a noun\u2026 a thing that Jesus had\u2026 the Greek word allows us to understand\u2026 that Jesus compassioned\u2026 he felt and he acted\u2026 and as v. 14 says\u2026 he healed the sick\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Gospel tells another story about God\u2019s abundance\u2026 and abundant giving\u2026 how five loaves and two fish\u2026 fed not only five-thousand men\u2026 and the perhaps six-thousand women and children those men brought along\u2026 and they were all fed and filled\u2026 and still\u2026 they collected twelve baskets of leftovers\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one level\u2026 we understand that thousands of people were fed\u2026 we can\u2019t get our heads around how that could be\u2026 we marvel at how at-odds that is\u2026 with what we think is possible\u2026 we marvel at its largeness\u2026 but do we marvel enough\u2026 do we also remember\u2026 on a deeper level\u2026 what Jesus said in Matthew 4:4\u2026 that one does not live by bread alone\u2026 but by every word that comes from the mouth of God<\/em>\u2026 that God\u2019s Word is life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And did you notice\u2026 it was getting late\u2026 it was getting dark\u2026 and instead of allowing the disciples to send everyone away\u2026 instead of letting them go away hungry\u2026 did you notice\u2026 that what Jesus did with the five loaves and two fish\u2026 was take\u2026 bless\u2026 break\u2026 and give\u2026 Jesus fed them with God\u2019s abundance\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was also getting dark in our Jewish scripture story\u2026 and I think we can understand a certain fear of the dark\u2026 popular culture recognizes this\u2026 when it hints that the night is dark and full of terrors<\/em>\u2026 night brings it\u2019s own dangers\u2026 if you can\u2019t see where you\u2019re going\u2026 you can fall into a hole\u2026 and Jacob is afraid\u2026 he\u2019s on his way home to make amends with his brother Esau\u2026 Jacob is seeking reconciliation for stealing his birthright and his blessing\u2026 but he\u2019s afraid of not being forgiven\u2026 and so Jacob is prepared to offer Esau a gift of 550 animals\u2026 and that night\u2026 before they meet\u2026 in his apprehension\u2026 he wrestles with God\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retired Presbyterian Pastor Patrick Willson\u2026 explains that the Greek word for a wrestling match\u2026 is ag\u014dn<\/em>\u2026 and it\u2019s from this word\u2026 that we get ag\u014dny\u2026 and antag\u014dnist\u2026 the one with whom we struggle\u2026 Willson wrote that if we take this story seriously\u2026 we understand that God sometimes appears\u2026 as our antagonist\u2026 not necessarily an enemy\u2026 but one whom we must wrestle nonetheless\u2026 and as a result\u2026 Jacob is renamed Yisra-El<\/em>\u2026 one who has striven with God and prevailed\u2026 and although he walks away with a limp\u2026 he is blessed\u2026 although he is wounded physically\u2026 he is being made whole spiritually\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But why would God wrestle with Jacob\u2026 as Psalm 8 asks\u2026 what are human beings that God is mindful of us\u2026 mortals that God cares for us<\/em>\u2026 you might ask why the potter shapes the clay\u2026 you might ask why we read scripture\u2026 you might ask why we teach our children\u2026 this wrestling\u2026 this contending\u2026 is part of our formation\u2026 and God wrestles with us\u2026 because God loves us\u2026 God sets the rules for us\u2026 but in the same breath God offers forgiveness and grace\u2026 and when we\u2019re so busy\u2026 and perhaps so scared that we can\u2019t move towards God<\/em>\u2026 then God moves towards us\u2026 God wrestles away our insecurities\u2026 so we too can be faithful to the Word we hear\u2026 and act on it with fidelity\u2026 God antagonizes us into being named anew\u2026 and we may have our own unique limps\u2026 but we are blessed and being made whole\u2026 not like a light switch\u2026 not going from completely off to completely on\u2026 but more like a rheostat\u2026 allowing increasing amounts of power through\u2026 so our light can shine more brightly\u2026 so we can put it on a lamp stand\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jacob is afraid of seeing his brother\u2026 of coming face-to-face with him\u2026 his gift is a peace offering\u2026 intended to assuage Esau\u2019s anger\u2026 Jacob would have been more afraid of coming face-to-face with God\u2026 because to do so would mean death\u2026 but afterwards\u2026 Jacob names the place Peniel\u2026 saying\u2026 for I have seen God face to face\u2026 and yet my life is preserved<\/em>\u2026 and the next morning\u2026 when the two brothers meet\u2026 instead of being angry\u2026 Esau ran to meet him\u2026 and embraced him\u2026 and fell on his neck and kissed him\u2026 and they wept\u2026 and Jacob said\u2026 if I find favor with you\u2026 then accept these gifts from my hand\u2026 for truly to see your face\u2026 is like seeing the face of God\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of us think God is only in this building\u2026 in this Temple\u2026 but over these last few months\u2026 our notions about place have been turned upside down\u2026 haven\u2019t they\u2026 and it seems as though we\u2019ve been in one long wrestling match with God too\u2026 doesn\u2019t it\u2026 and for so many of us\u2026 this time has been agonizing\u2026 but we have begun to experience that God is wherever we are\u2026 and is also in the faces of exhausted health care workers\u2026 and distraught family members\u2026 and those advocating for the public health\u2026 and those whom we fear may be angry with us\u2026 and when our many notions of normal\u2026 don\u2019t line up with God\u2019s one notion of normal\u2026 when they don\u2019t reflect enough of God\u2019s light\u2026 then God will wrestle with us a little bit more\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s because of this wrestling\u2026 that we become able to express more fidelity and faithfulness\u2026 because if we\u2019re going to be a part of God\u2019s Kingdom\u2026 then there\u2019s some action we need to take\u2026 if we\u2019re going to move closer and closer to the Heavenly Banquet\u2026 then we need to get out of our spectator seats\u2026 and get into the ring\u2026 because sometimes\u2026 our opponents are ourselves\u2026 and we need to stop fighting each other\u2026 and wrestle more against our own shortsightedness\u2026 and embrace our limps\u2026 our imperfections\u2026 our humanity\u2026 because when God looks at us\u2026 God does compassion to us\u2026 and we are fed so abundantly with the life inherent in God\u2019s Word\u2026 that there are basketfuls left over\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Genesis 32:22-31 Psalm 17:1-7,16 Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:13-21 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 For the last several weeks\u2026 we\u2019ve heard about how God\u2019s Word\u2026 sown in good soil\u2026 can bear much fruit\u2026 up to one-hundred fold\u2026 we\u2019ve heard about bad weeds sown among good wheat\u2026 and how it\u2019s decided to deal with that later on\u2026 we\u2019ve heard about what the Kingdom of Heaven is like\u2026 like mustard seeds and yeast which increase beyond imagination\u2026 and treasure and pearls so valuable\u2026 they\u2019re worth selling everything you have in order to own them\u2026 kind of reminds me of what Jesus told the rich young man\u2026 to sell all he had\u2026 and give the money to the poor\u2026 and THEN come follow Jesus\u2026 to follow the Living Word\u2026 But just before the Gospel\u2019s opening verses\u2026 Jesus found out that the man he followed\u2026 his cousin\u2026 John the Baptist\u2026 to some degree his mentor\u2026 had been killed\u2026 beheaded\u2026 John\u2019s disciples had just buried John\u2019s body\u2026 and then came to tell Jesus\u2026 and it\u2019s in this state of mind\u2026 in this state of emotion\u2026 that he goes by boat to a deserted place to grieve\u2026 but the crowds who were seeking him out\u2026 must have followed around the edge of the lake\u2026 to where he was headed\u2026 and when he went ashore\u2026 he saw them\u2026 Jesus is in-between his darkest moment\u2026 and the dawn of a new movement\u2026 of God\u2019s healing work\u2026 the text says that Jesus had compassion for them\u2026 but this was not simply a feeling of empathy\u2026 this word is not simply a noun\u2026 a thing that Jesus had\u2026 the Greek word allows us to understand\u2026 that Jesus compassioned\u2026 he felt and he acted\u2026 and as v. 14 says\u2026 he healed the sick\u2026 And the Gospel tells another story about God\u2019s abundance\u2026 and abundant giving\u2026 how five loaves and two fish\u2026 fed not only five-thousand men\u2026 and the perhaps six-thousand women and children those men brought along\u2026 and they were all fed and filled\u2026 and still\u2026 they collected twelve baskets of leftovers\u2026 On one level\u2026 we understand that thousands of people were fed\u2026 we can\u2019t get our heads around how that could be\u2026 we marvel at how at-odds that is\u2026 with what we think is possible\u2026 we marvel at its largeness\u2026 but do we marvel enough\u2026 do we also remember\u2026 on a deeper level\u2026 what Jesus said in Matthew 4:4\u2026 that one does not live by bread alone\u2026 but by every word that comes from the mouth of God\u2026 that God\u2019s Word is life\u2026 And did you notice\u2026 it was getting late\u2026 it was getting dark\u2026 and instead of allowing the disciples to send everyone away\u2026 instead of letting them go away hungry\u2026 did you notice\u2026 that what Jesus did with the five loaves and two fish\u2026 was take\u2026 bless\u2026 break\u2026 and give\u2026 Jesus fed them with God\u2019s abundance\u2026 It was also getting dark in our Jewish scripture story\u2026 and I think we can understand a certain fear of the dark\u2026 popular culture recognizes this\u2026 when it hints that the night is dark and full of terrors\u2026 night brings it\u2019s own dangers\u2026 if you can\u2019t see where you\u2019re going\u2026 you can fall into a hole\u2026 and Jacob is afraid\u2026 he\u2019s on his way home to make amends with his brother Esau\u2026 Jacob is seeking reconciliation for stealing his birthright and his blessing\u2026 but he\u2019s afraid of not being forgiven\u2026 and so Jacob is prepared to offer Esau a gift of 550 animals\u2026 and that night\u2026 before they meet\u2026 in his apprehension\u2026 he wrestles with God\u2026 Retired Presbyterian Pastor Patrick Willson\u2026 explains that the Greek word for a wrestling match\u2026 is ag\u014dn\u2026 and it\u2019s from this word\u2026 that we get ag\u014dny\u2026 and antag\u014dnist\u2026 the one with whom we struggle\u2026 Willson wrote that if we take this story seriously\u2026 we understand that God sometimes appears\u2026 as our antagonist\u2026 not necessarily an enemy\u2026 but one whom we must wrestle nonetheless\u2026 and as a result\u2026 Jacob is renamed Yisra-El\u2026 one who has striven with God and prevailed\u2026 and although he walks away with a limp\u2026 he is blessed\u2026 although he is wounded physically\u2026 he is being made whole spiritually\u2026 But why would God wrestle with Jacob\u2026 as Psalm 8 asks\u2026 what are human beings that God is mindful of us\u2026 mortals that God cares for us\u2026 you might ask why the potter shapes the clay\u2026 you might ask why we read scripture\u2026 you might ask why we teach our children\u2026 this wrestling\u2026 this contending\u2026 is part of our formation\u2026 and God wrestles with us\u2026 because God loves us\u2026 God sets the rules for us\u2026 but in the same breath God offers forgiveness and grace\u2026 and when we\u2019re so busy\u2026 and perhaps so scared that we can\u2019t move towards God\u2026 then God moves towards us\u2026 God wrestles away our insecurities\u2026 so we too can be faithful to the Word we hear\u2026 and act on it with fidelity\u2026 God antagonizes us into being named anew\u2026 and we may have our own unique limps\u2026 but we are blessed and being made whole\u2026 not like a light switch\u2026 not going from completely off to completely on\u2026 but more like a rheostat\u2026 allowing increasing amounts of power through\u2026 so our light can shine more brightly\u2026 so we can put it on a lamp stand\u2026 Jacob is afraid of seeing his brother\u2026 of coming face-to-face with him\u2026 his gift is a peace offering\u2026 intended to assuage Esau\u2019s anger\u2026 Jacob would have been more afraid of coming face-to-face with God\u2026 because to do so would mean death\u2026 but afterwards\u2026 Jacob names the place Peniel\u2026 saying\u2026 for I have seen God face to face\u2026 and yet my life is preserved\u2026 and the next morning\u2026 when the two brothers meet\u2026 instead of being angry\u2026 Esau ran to meet him\u2026 and embraced him\u2026 and fell on his neck and kissed him\u2026 and they wept\u2026 and Jacob said\u2026 if I find favor with you\u2026 then accept these gifts from 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