St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Year B/Proper 11: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
July 18, 2021
If you have ever had the privilege of feeding a brother or sister in a homeless shelter, you know first-hand that feeding someone is one of the most loving and compassionate acts that one can do.
St. Paul’s supports the vibrant feeding ministry of Atonement Lutheran down the street by contributing food and ministers to their food pantry. These dedicated ministers know that the feeding exchange is a mutual blessing, which is much deeper than tangible food. There is also a spiritual exchange where souls recognize each other in the shared human experience of need and fulfillment. There are, of course, many iterations of feeding and how people experience being fed.
But, why the focus on food and feeding when our gospel passage in the sixth chapter of Mark neither mentions feeding nor food—other than noting that the apostles were so busy that they had no time to rest or even eat. Today’s lectionary passage is one that provides us with the narrative’s beginning and ending, with a whole chunk of text sandwiched in between which has been left out.
It strikes me that in order to begin to make meaning of the text that we have been given, we must explore the excluded text. Our first clue for understanding is that our scriptures verses are situated within a passage entitled, “Feeding the Five Thousand” (6:30-44)—a miracle. The narrative then moves to another miracle—Jesus’ walking on the sea (6:45-52). Again, the gospel reading for today mentioned nothing of those sensational miracles. Perhaps these sensational miracles were excluded to allow appreciation for the other less-sensational miracles embedded in the text which might easily be overshadowed.
Our passage begins with the uneventful homecoming of the 12 apostles reporting to Jesus about the ministry he had commissioned them to do amongst the people. Noticing that his friends were in need of rest, Jesus invited them to come with him to a deserted place rest and renewal. Because this return of the disciples is so uneventful, for us, the readers, we must dig deeper. Such an invitation from the Son of God, to be alone with the Son of God could easily be dismissed by the scripture reader, but it was nonetheless a miracle.
As the scene unfolds, Jesus and his apostles found that the crowds seeking them were inescapable, for when their boat arrived at the shore, the people were already there to meet them, having hurried ahead of their arrival. The people were hungry for Jesus. Jesus’ response was compassion because he saw that the people were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34). This reference to the shepherd and the sheep gives us another clue for understanding. I am reminded of the resurrected Jesus’ intimate conversation with Peter on the beach in John 21. Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. When Peter responded, “Yes,” each time, Jesus responded “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15-17). Paramount for the shepherd is feeding and protecting his sheep. This exchange makes clear for us that loving Jesus is the active caring for and feeding of his sheep. The crowd on the shore, those sheep without a shepherd, had found one—the compassionate, good shepherd who taught them many things. In this way, Jesus fed the people’s hunger for him with his divine presence and his divine knowledge.
Consider also, that the 12, those with whom Jesus had a special relationship, those whom he had given authority to preach the message of repentance, cast out demons and cure the sick, had also been like sheep without a shepherd. Afterall, Jesus sent them into the towns without him and without the necessities of food, money, and extra clothing for their day-to-day survival, relying on the charity of strangers. I suspect that the 12 were not unlike the crowd that craved to be with Jesus. Jesus fed them by modeling for them how to feed his sheep, through compassion and his teaching. Jesus fed his apostles by equipping them to imitate his example of responding to human need with loving service.
Over the years, I have encountered people who have expressed feelings of not being fed by a particular clergy person or in a particular congregation. Some could, with great clarity, describe what that sense of lack was for them, and others could not. Nevertheless, their experiences of not feeling fed is a state of the soul, not the stomach. Like the crowd who took the initiative to go to Jesus, hoping to just be able to touch him, the spiritually hungry and starved must seek out Jesus, not passively spectate. Unlike the food needed by the stomach to keep the human body alive, the holy food that Jesus offers—and the bread of life that Jesus is—is not spoon-fed. The kind of feeding that Jesus offers requires the human initiative of digging into scripture like it is your favorite dessert, and then going out into the world to offer that same delicious dessert to those who have no idea that such divine deliciousness exists. By your presence and your proclamation of the Good News of God in Christ, the 21st century shepherd-less crowds on the shores of the places where we live, work, learn and play will want to taste and see, for themselves, that the Lord is good.
Brothers and sisters, we are the sheep who solely rely on the compassionate tending and feeding of Christ our Good Shepherd, the One who is himself the bread of heaven. We are, by virtue of our baptism, the one empowered by the Holy Spirit to tend and feed the souls in this spiritually-starved world with the life-saving knowledge of our Savior. And, we are the Church. The Church which is the sacred food bank; the Church which is the feeding ministry of the soul. The Church which is uniquely equipped, and which solely exists to respond to respond to humankind’s spiritual food insecurity.
May we, as Christ’s disciples, take the initiative to come to the holy table, to be fed and to be strengthened, in order to tend and feed the souls of Jesus’ sheep with courage and deep compassion. Amen.
