Jesus is the master of contrasts. In his parables he often contrasts a human approach with the divine approach. This can be seen in the parables of the Unjust Judge who gives in to the importunate woman not because he cares for her but to stop her driving him crazy or of the Friend at Midnight who threatens to break down the door. Jesus says in both cases that God’s way is so different. Today in Matthew’s Gospel we have another contrast in the text although it is not included in the Gospel reading. In fact until I was looking at this passage this week I had never noticed it. It is only when you look at the location of the Feeding of the 5000 in the text and realize that it follows directly from the account of the Beheading of John the Baptist that you see that Matthew the editor has provided a dramatic contrast in the text. The clue for us is in the opening words of today’s gospel: “Now when Jesus heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” What had Jesus heard? He had heard according to the text immediately preceding today’s passage that Herod was out to get Jesus because he thought he was John the Baptist whom he had had killed, raised from the dead. The text then outlines the story of Herod’s birthday party at which the daughter of Herodias danced for him. She becomes in popular telling of this event, Salome, around whom plays and Strauss’ opera of that name have been written. There in a classic Middle Eastern feast come orgy Herod offers the dancing daughter of Herodias whatever she wishes. What she asks for of course is the head of John the Baptist who is languishing in Herod’s prison because of his public criticism of Herodias’ sexual liaisons. This meal with all its sensuality and horror provides the context and the dramatic contrast to what is to follow as well as explaining Jesus need to get away to a quieter, safer place.

What we find of course is that the second meal described could not have been more different from Herod’s Feast. The latter was an indulgent occasion for a corrupt, proud, cruel and fearful ruler, who cared nothing for God’s prophet. But in the Gospel text today we see Jesus who “had compassion for the crowd” and “cured their sick”. Jesus reached out to the vast, nameless multitude, who had followed him out into the desert place. The disciples shared that compassion by expressing their concern for the need for these people to eat. “Send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages to buy food”. This is logical suggestion. But Jesus contradicted their practical solution and suggested the disciples become part of the answer. “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” What the disciples discovered is that the food resources were few: 5 loaves and 2 fish. But Jesus commanded them “bring them here to me”. It is only through the hands of Jesus supported by the disciples that the miracle will take place. And what a miracle it is. Here we see reflected in the compassion and ministry of Jesus the qualities and activities of God described by the prophet, Nehemiah, in the first reading. “But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them”. “You gave your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and gave them water for their thirst.”

The loaves and the fishes, these small resources, become in Jesus’ hands the food of abundance with which all are fed and there are leftovers. Sometimes when faced with a challenge we bewail our small resources and use them as an excuse not to act. But this miraculous feeding reminds us that our small beginnings in God’s hands can achieve great ends. Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen is a good example of that.

But there is so much more to this text. First of all it reminds us of other biblical feedings as alluded to in the Nehemiah passage. “Feed us now O Son of God as you fed us long ago” we sing. The Feeding of the 5000 stands in a tradition of God’s feeding his people in the desert place. Our God cares for us as a Father cares for his children, feeding and nurturing us; showing his steadfast love and mercy for us.

But as we hear this text read today we find a familiarity with some of the language Matthew employs: “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.” This is the language of the Last Supper, of the Institution of the Eucharist. For the Matthean community there would have been no doubt of the eucharistic reference here in the Feeding narrative because that is what they did Sunday by Sunday as they fulfilled the Lord’s command to “do this”. What we forget too easily is that the New Testament was formed in a liturgical context. The scriptures are the product of a worshipping community not the other way round. Matthew’s community was as familiar with the eucharist as we are. So the eucharist itself is seen in the context of the compassionate God who cares for and feeds his people as he has throughout religious history. This reminds us also that the spiritual and the physical stand together. If the eucharist is a sign of the compassionate God so it is also a sign for us to be a compassionate community reaching out to the poor and needy as Jesus did in the Galilean wilderness long ago. The hospitality we receive at this altar needs to be evident in our life as a parish. What we do here is reflected in what we do in Coffee Hour and beyond. They are all of a piece.

But last but not least I started with two banquets, Herod’s and Jesus’. Both are royal banquets but how different they are! Herod is the model of royal power abused and distorted to selfish ends while that of Jesus is for the good of all. It is in the Feeding of the 5000 in the wilderness that we glimpse the compassionate, loving God at work. And it is this model which becomes the foretaste of the Messianic Banquet, that wonderful image for heaven.

But harking back to the eucharistic reference in the passage there is a final parallel with Herod’s banquet. John the Baptist is put to death as a result of Herod’s pride and foolishness; the four fold action of the eucharist imprinted on Jesus’ feeding of the 5000 reminds us of the death of Jesus who was himself taken and broken on the cross. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians that as we break eucharistic bread together “so we show forth the death of Christ until he comes.” It is his death that becomes through the Resurrection the source of new life and hope from which again in Paul’s words “nothing can separate us”.   Amen

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