Seventh Sunday After Pentecost - A (Matt. 14:13-21)

It’s been a commonplace over recent years to explain away the miraculous in this Sunday’s gospel text.  You know how it goes:  one person gives something they have stashed away and then another does the same.  Generosity begets generosity.  The real miracle according to this view is that the people shared what they had.  I am no critic of sharing.  A generous sharing of what we have with those who have not is, indeed, very important.  It’s just that in this instant, to emphasize human sharing misses the point.  The whole of the gospel message, including this pericope, is about what God does for us in Jesus Christ.  The answer to our chronic weariness and hunger is not to be found in our own striving but in God’s gracious gift.  This miraculous feeding becomes a type for the Eucharist.  In communion, we are given something we could never provide for ourselves, no matter how generous.  Christ gives us himself as food for those hungers that are too deep for words.  Christ gives himself to us as medicine, healing the weariness born of our bondage to sin.  God, in Christ Jesus, is the giver.