Sunday Homily, June 10, Corpus Christi
Readings: Genesis 14, 18-20; Psalm 110; 1 Corinthians 11, 23-26; Luke 9, 11-17.
The Miracle of Sharing
Years ago when I lived in Tanzania, East Africa, I suddenly one evening had to take the overnight train from the capital, Dar es Salaam (Harbor of Peace, on the Indian Ocean) to our Jesuit house near Kilimanjaro. Since I was late in getting a reservation, I had to simply pile into one of the 3rd class cars with lots of people, their kids, their luggage, and even chickens. I planned to sit up all night on my suitcase or on the floor.
Suddenly about 1:00 in the morning the train stopped in the middle of a scrub nowhere and we were eventually told the train had broken down. We sat on that track until about 5:00 the next afternoon. I even tried to sleep on the rocks of the train bed. Trouble was, thinking I would be home in the early morning, I had no food &, more importantly, no water. This was just stupidity on my part. I had been around too long to neglect this. Breakdowns were common on train and buses. And there was nothing to buy anywhere.
The Tanzanians all seemed to have come prepared and I would have been given at least a drink by various people, because I could speak with them. They had little stores of food and drink tucked into the folds of their robes or in baskets. But, I did not want to drink their water. It was possibly not purified. Of course all the time I am thinking the train will start any moment.
Late in the morning I noticed an young white couple in the forward part of the train. We got talking and they shared with me their water.They were Germans and later I was going to climb Kilimajaro with them on one of my 5 trips.
Later that afternoon I was really able to help them out because the guy, a real big guy in the German army, took a picture of a baby lying near us under a shade tree. Someone saw him, told the mother on the train, who told the husband, who told the whole train. They circled him and us and wanted to take him to the police, wherever that might have been.
Instead I was able to get everyone to sit down and talk. Finally the family agreed to let the German cut off the piece of film. Naturally he just clipped the lead and gave it to them.
I talk about this because I often think about this event when I hear the story about Jesus passing around the bread & fish. I propose an alternative miracle to the more obvious. I base it on my experience with people who would not likely go out for the day without taking provisions. There were no McDonald’s. Moreover, normally the people would hide their food and hoard it. Who knows when they might need it?
What Jesus does it take the 5 loaves & fishes and share them with the nearest people. Picture the scene.The first person gets the food, takes a little, feels guilty because he or she has more hidden away, then pulls out of a hiding place a bit of bread, and passes it on. The process continues all over the huge crowd and at the end there is food left over.
The miracle is sharing.
I also read recently that strict observance Jews would have been among the crowd and they did not believe in eating with unclean people. Morever, they would eat only ritually cleaned food. According to the story, everyone ate.
When I was on that dead train I would have been helped by the Africans. They respect white folks, especially when they speak the language, and many were probably Catholics. Fortunately, I did not need their generosity because the Germans had purified water (this was before the bottled water fad). They had no trouble sharing and I still remember how good their water tasted.
How are you being challenged to share more?