Jesus’ Amazing Deeds & God’s Character
After three Sundays of exploring parables, we move on to miracles. To be honest, discussions of Jesus’ amazing deeds are challenging and frustrating. Challenging because people often want to know what really happened, how it happened, and why God isn’t doing those kinds of miracles anymore. Frustrating because these are not questions that anyone has completely satisfactory answers for. Frustrating because when we get stuck on these questions we miss the deeper, spiritual realities that are revealed in these stories.
Jesus and his first followers lived in a world where miracle workers, faith healers, exorcists, magicians, prophets, and visionaries were a fact of life. It can be a shock for us to learn that Jesus was not the only person in the first century to do amazing deeds. Nor was Jesus the only person hailed as a messiah, savior, or the son of God — these were titles claimed by many a king and emperor. What distinguishes the amazing deeds of Jesus from all these others is not what he did or how he did it, but for whom and why he acted as he did.
This morning’s gospel reading begins: “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself” (14:13). What had Jesus heard? The news of John the Baptist’s murder — John’s head served up on a platter at Herod’s birthday party as requested by the king’s step-daughter, enacting her mother’s revenge. In response to this news Jesus seeks a quiet, lonely place to mourn, reflect, and re-energize. Crowds of people to flee into the wilderness on foot, following Jesus. When they meet up, Jesus heals all who are sick and weak, and feeds the malnourished and starving crowds. Why? Because Jesus has compassion on them.
The compassion of Jesus — God with us — was a really big deal for the first Christians. By way of contrast, Greek and Roman deities used their super powers for their own pleasure and revenge. Their actions mirrored and sanctioned the lifestyles of the rich and shameless (like Herod). Ancient philosophers proposed a single supreme deity to whom they gave names like “First Cause” and “Unmoved Mover” indicating god was totally without emotions of any kind. In this religious climate, Jesus revealed God’s compassion.
Compassion literally means to “suffer together with.” Ancient cultures rooted this emotion in the gut. As one commentator puts it, Jesus sees, hears and touches the dispirited, hurting, exhausted people and is gut-wrenched. Jesus feels the crowd’s exhaustion, pain, grief, confusion and fear to the very depths of his body, mind and soul and is moved to alleviate their suffering. Jesus heals them, and organizes food for them. For first century people, a God who not only sees the suffering of poor, sick and starving peasants, but is gut-wrenched to the point of actively doing something about it is a miracle. Here is a God of compassion, grace and mercy who acts for the benefit of people whom the powers that be could care less about.
Jesus — God with us — could easily have fed the crowds by making the five loaves and two fish multiply themselves. But would that really be a miracle? After all, this is the God who made the world out nothing, separated light from darkness, and so forth. Remember how the devil challenged Jesus to prove he was God’s Son by turning stones into loaves of bread? Jesus could have done that but didn’t, insisting that, “One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:3-4). A compassionate God does not show off super powers just to prove they are divine. That was not what the crowd needed. It was not what the disciples needed either.
On this day, the disciples were very definitely not at their best. As evening closes in, they urge Jesus to send the crowds away to the surrounding villages to buy food. This is perhaps one of the most unrealistic, ridiculous, and even insulting proposals the disciples ever came up with. First of all they are in a deserted place. How far is it to the nearest villages? Even if the crowds found some villages, there would be no stores. Would they find farmers’ markets operating after dark? Would anyone in this crowd of suffering peasants have any money or things to trade for food? Most villages were home to a couple-few hundred people living near or below subsistence level. Food insecurity was the norm for the vast majority of people. The needs of 5000 men plus their women and children would have far exceeded what would have been available. The disciples themselves had only 5 loaves of bread and two fish to feed Jesus’ own entourage. Nevertheless, Jesus commanded them, “you give them something to eat.”
“Which,” to borrow the words of Professor David Lose, “brings us to the second miracle of the story: Jesus uses the disciples, even when they would rather look after themselves, to tend the needs of these thousands of men, women, and children.” This miracle is in the transformation of the disciples mindset from scarcity — “we have nothing here but five loaves and two fishes,” to abundance — “thank you, God, for these five loaves and fishes.” The disciples shared the food they had, everyone ate, was filled, and there were 12 baskets of pieces leftover. Transforming the hearts, minds and attitudes of people, empowering them to overcome their fears so they can make a positive difference in the communities in which they live and work and play is no small miracle.
When we explore the so-called “miracles” stories in the gospels, we are invited to ask why Jesus engages in these activities, and to interpret them as signs pointing to the character of God. Today we learn that we are created, redeemed and sustained by a God who experiences compassion. A God who is gut-wrenched by human suffering. As persons, created in God’s image that means compassion is an essential part of our nature too. To borrow the words of Father Richard Rohr, “Compassion is the love that recognizes and goes forth to identify with the preciousness of all that is lost and broken within ourselves and others.” In today’s Gospel reading Christ reminds us that God is relying on us to grow in compassion, and to act with compassion for the sake of all whom God loves. Our compassionate God heals and nourishes people in body, mind and spirit through our compassion. That’s why miracles happen.
Let us pray together “Remembering Compassion,” a prayer of the Assembly of Rabbis of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (published in Powerful Prayers for Everyday Living by Mark Linden O’Meara, 2009).
O God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry.
When I have work, help me to remember the jobless.
When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all.
When I am without pain. help me to remember those who suffer.
And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency.
Bestir my compassion, to be concerned enough to help,
by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted. Amen.
