Scriptures: Genesis
32:6-12, 22-31; 33:1-11; Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21
It’s no secret to anyone that, as a nation, America has a
weight problem. There has been a
dramatic increase in both childhood and adult obesity since 1990 – the
definition of “obese” being 20% over one’s ideal weight. According to the Centers of Disease Control,
slightly over 1/3 of American adults are obese and roughly 1/6 of children and
teens are obese.[1] Now, this is not a problem for Pastor
Dave. Believe it or not, I’m at my ideal
weight. The problem is my height…..250
pounds would be my ideal weight, if my height were 7 feet 5 inches. [2] It’s true – you can look it up online. Unfortunately, it seems that I stopped
growing prematurely – I’m a bit under 6 feet, so I’m a foot and a half short -
so I have a height problem.
Of course, I jest.
Like many of us, I weigh too much, considerably too much, even
dangerously too much. My ideal weight is around 175 pounds, and I
weigh 250 pounds – you can do the math. I
often tell people that when I consider Psalm 51, verse 3: “My sin is ever before me” – in my case this
is literally true – my sin is right there, hanging off my waistline, blocking
my view of my shoes.
Many people may blame America’s obesity problem on
individual factors – gluttony, lack of discipline, and so forth. Many
pundits, particularly on the conservative end of the political spectrum,
dismiss worries about increasing poverty by stating that only in America are
poor people overweight – ignoring the fact that in stretching limited funds,
lower income families are more or less forced to load up on cheap, processed, high
fat, high salt, high calorie food; healthier options such as fruits and
vegetables are more expensive, unless you can grow them yourself. And in general, at any economic level, our
culture strongly encourages overeating.
Food portions have increased significantly over the past 25 years.[3] And when most of us were growing up, our
mothers made us clean our plates…..mom always said it had something to do with
starving children in India. McDonald’s
encourages us to “super-size it”. If we like soda, the sugary stuff is of course
loaded with calories, and increasingly it’s believed that even diet soda, while
not loaded with sugar, still has the potential to mess up our metabolism and
cause weight gain. Now, of course, some
very expensive restaurants are notorious for charging an arm and a leg and then
bringing out a plate with a few tiny dabs of food on it. But in today’s economy, few of us can afford
to throw our money away on places like that.
So instead, we go to the Chinese buffet and go back for seconds, thirds,
and maybe fourths….. And when we get
home we say, in the words of the old Alka Seltzer commercial, “I can’t believe
I ate the whole thing.” When is
enough, enough.
Today’s Scripture readings give us several pictures of what
“enough” looks like. Our Gospel reading
from Matthew tells about Jesus feeding the multitudes. And our reading from Genesis gives us a
picture of a moment of reconciliation – tentative, incomplete, fleeting, but
still reconciliation – between Jacob and his long-estranged brother Esau, in
which there was plenty to go around.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has been having a run of
discouraging news. Jesus had gone to his
home town to preach, and all but got laughed out of town. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus was
amazed at their unbelief. And then there
was another banquet, to which Jesus was not invited – thank goodness. Matthew tells us that Herod had thrown a
birthday party – a banquet to which he invited all of his officials. At this time John the Baptist had been
imprisoned for condemning Herod’s desertion of his wife to marry his brother’s
wife. The daughter of Herod’s new wife
danced before the guests, and Herod promised the daughter anything she wanted –
to which the daughter replied, ‘I want the head of John the Baptist on a
platter’. And what daddy’s girl asked
for, daddy’s girl got. Remember that
John the Baptist had baptized Jesus and perhaps had been a mentor to him.
So after his rejection in his hometown and the murder of his
mentor, Jesus needed some down time and went away to a deserted place. Unfortunately, the crowds didn’t get the
memo, and so they followed him. Matthew
tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them – probably
heaved a deep sigh and waded into the crowd, curing their sick. Evening came, and the disciples thought it
was time to send folks home for supper.
Jesus, recognizing a teaching moment, told them, “they don’t have to go
home; you feed them”. The disciples
said, “with what? All we have are five
loaves and two fish” – and John’s gospel tells us that it was a little boy that
had volunteered that. Matthew tells us
that Jesus had everyone sit down, and then took the loaves and fish - the boy’s
lunch - blessed it, broke the loaves, and fed the 5000, and there were twelve
baskets left over.
While we didn’t read both stories today, Matthew’s Gospel
sets side by side two banquet stories; that of Herod’s birthday party with his
invited guests, to which only Herod’s friends were invited and which ended in
the murder of John the Baptist, and Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000, to which all
were invited and from a boy’s lunch all were fed, and there was food to spare.
What are we to make of Jesus’ feeding of the 5000. There was an explanation, popular some years
ago, that the boy’s generosity in offering his lunch shamed everyone else into
sharing the food they had brought. But
I’m wary of trying to explain away what’s presented as a miracle .
I do think the back-to-back stories of Herod’s banquet and
Jesus’ banquet invite us to re-examine our notions of hospitality. In the church, and in our lives, who’s
invited, who’s excluded. Clearly Jesus’
feeding of the 5,000 is giving us a vision of the heavenly banquet, which is
open to many, not only a few. His story
also invites us to look at our notions of when is enough, enough. We tend to think in terms of scarcity – it
seems like there’s never enough money, never enough food, never enough time,
never enough volunteers….never enough.
And here at Emanuel, I can certainly get sucked into that kind of
thinking. It’s easy to look around at
our church, look at the small attendance and smaller offerings, the long list
of building repairs that need done, the small number of folks to get everything
done – and throw up our hands. But
Matthew’s Gospel reminds us that what we have and what we are can be enough –
if we’re willing to offer it to God. I’m
quite sure the little boy who volunteered his lunch didn’t think he’d be
feeding 5000 people that day. But in his
naïve, generous faith, he wanted to do what he could….and a miracle took
place. It’s a generous faith to which
I’d invite us. We may hold back in
offering our resources – time, talent, treasure – to the church, thinking it’s
too little to make a difference. What difference can the little I can give
make? But Matthew’s gospel tells us that
it’s enough, that we’re enough – enough to do miracles, if – if – IF - we’re
willing to put our resources and our lives into God’s hands.
The stories we’ve read about Jacob also speak about feelings
of scarcity and abundance. Today we have
a reunion of Jacob with his estranged brother Esau. Remember how they became estranged – Jacob,
the “grabber” who was literally born grabbing at Esau’s heel, also grabbed
Esau’s birthright and blessing. Jacob
had this overwhelming sense that he never had enough, he needed more…..so he
grabbed what belonged to his brother.
Jacob was anything but a role model, and just didn’t play well in the
sandbox with others. But, through his
long stay with his uncle Laban – who was basically an older version of Jacob,
just as big a cheat as Jacob – and various encounters with God along the way,
Esau’s heart was changed. In our reading
today, Jacob even grabbed at what we understand to be a divine apparition, not
letting go until he got a blessing.
Jacob was wrestled to a draw.
After that, Jacob hears that his brother Esau is on the way, and gets
scared – and in that moment becomes generous, offering many gifts to his
brother. (He also sends his women and
children to Esau ahead of him – again, not especially admirable given that he
thought Esau might have wanted to kill him.
Even at his best, Jacob was a mixed bag.) It
was Jacob’s greed that led to the break with Esau, and Jacob’s generosity –
however self-serving – that led to at least a brief reconciliation.
How about us? In our lives and in world affairs, isn’t it
often people’s desire for more than they need that causes struggle? To quote James chapter 4: “These conflicts
and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your
cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it, so
you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage
in disputes and conflicts….” We see this
among individuals, and we see it among countries, in the many conflicts around
the world. It is in knowing when enough
is enough – and in offering that “enough” back to God and to our neighbors, that
reconciliation happens. May Emanuel
Church continue to be a place of generous giving and faithful living. Amen.
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