Sunday Homily 7-26-09; 17th Ordinary Time
Readings: 2 Kings 4, 42-44; Psalm 145, The Hand of the Lord feeds Us; He answers all Our Needs; Ephesians 4, 1-6; John 6, 1-15
Kings: 4 observations–
Subject Matter: The Kings, naturally. Especially Solomon after the death of his father, David. But also treated:
1. The temple. Solomon builds it.
2. The death of Solomon who held the nation together.
3. Division: Israel in the north breaks away from Judah in the south.
4. Israel destroyed completely by the Assyrians, ca. 720.
5. Fall of Jerusalem & destruction of the Temple; Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 585 BCE.
6. Cyrus of Persia releases the Jews to return to Jerusalem after defeating the Babylonians (remember Babylon was near present day Bagdhad).
Date: from 900 – ca. 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus
Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.
Our Selection: There are 2 significant prophets, Elijah & Elisha, his son. In this piece, Elisha it telling a man with 20 loaves of bread to feed a crowd. This is a lead into the Gospel of John about feeding the multitude.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Judaism, Wikipedia
The Miracle of Sharing My Food
I hate to do this to you folks, but every time I read this story about 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding a crowd of 5,000 men (to say nothing of the women), I am reminded of my days in Tanzania, East Africa. You who have heard these stories, please forgive me. They just clarify so much. Here we go.
I was on an overnight train. I was traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the capitol, to Moshi, a town near Kilimanjaro, where the Jesuits had a small one to three person house, which I used as a base when I was not traveling around Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda giving seminars and retreats.
I had arrived in Dar es Salaam late for some reason and could not make an advance reservation for a first class cabin, which was the only way to go. You shared a little compartment with another guy. Because I was without reservation, I had to buy a coach ticket. These trains are marvelous old antiques from the colonial age, but travel by coach is mayhem. They are packed. Don't dream of getting a seat. Just be grateful that you can get inside. Which I did, sitting on my one small suitcase, expecting to be awake all night listening to the kids, chickens, ducks, and snores of the few who had a seat and the ability to sleep through it all.
You board this train for a 7:00 P.M. departure. You expect to arrive Moshi around 5:00 A.M. This particular night the train came to a halt at about 1:00 in the middle of nowhere. Naturally, nobody knew why we stopped and for how long. We stayed in that spot all the rest of the night and all the following day until about 6:00 P.M.
Everyone on that train had food & water hidden away, except one gringo, who tried to sleep on the rocks on the edge of the roadbed, knowing he would hear the train move and could get up and get back in.
I was actually rescued from dying of thirst in the heat of the day by a young German couple in the first class compartments, the only other white folks on the whole train. I was afraid to drink the water of the Tanzanians because they often did not purify it.
I tell this story because the Tanzanian people on the train I suspect would be similar to the Jews listening to Jesus in that crowd of 5,000 men. People like these do not go away from their base unprepared. Not only do they carry food & water, they hide it so as to not have to share with someone too stupid to bring his own. The women, especially, can hide in their robes lots of things. Hoarding in the cultures we are talking about is no sign of inferiority. It is survival.
What Jesus did that was confounding is that he got these country folks to share their cache. He takes some of the bread & fish and passes it on. The person who receives it takes some, but feels uncomfortable only taking. So the person puts a portion of his or her own in the basket. What do they end up with? Twelve wicker baskets of leftover food.
This interpretation of the 5 loaves & 2 fishes is as old as when I got ordained back in 1971, and before that. I find it fascinating because we can go and do likewise. You & I cannot multiply bread & fish, but we can share treasures. We can share and we can invite others to feel secure enough to share.
I finally arrived home to Moshi in the middle of the next night. I even caught a thief with his hand in my right pocket at a little kiosk lit with a kerosene lamp. The train had stopped at some tiny station and a lady was selling little pieces of rice bread or something. I pulled that man's hand out of my pocket, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him back. If I had yelled "thief!", he might have been killed on the spot. I knew the custom and the language, and he knew I knew. He ran.
I also got to know the German couple, even climbing Kilimanjaro with them one of my 5 times. So, folks, sorry for repeating a favorite story of mine. The question, too, is the same.
How am I overcoming my temptation to hoard & sharing my food?
Picture 1: Mass with T.J.
Picture 2: Bill Carey & Ron Kovatis
Picture 3: Ron donating $2000 to CCAC with Claire & Ray, Jackie & Cathy
Picture 4: Barb & her sister Evie from Germany
