We are invited to give our live
03. August 2014
There are those moments when we just want to pull our blanket over our head. When we just want to close and to lock all doors behind us. When we just want to be for ourselves. Far away from everything.
There might be quite good reasons for doing so: Maybe we had an argument with somebody. Maybe we have made a mistake. Maybe we received bad news.
Obviously, it's not that different for Jesus: When he learns about the death of John the Baptist he heads for a silent and lonely place to be for himself. And he reaches our place here. What does he want? - Praying and reflecting, mourning and maybe talking to his disciples. And for this he wanted a suitable and simple place where there are not too many things which could distract.
But we know that this is just the beginning of our story. Because when Jesus arrives here the crowds have arrived already before him. And of course he cares about them, he cures the sick and he speaks to them. - But then it becomes night and his disciples think that the people should leave now. - Blankets and doors: Dismiss the crowds!
That sounds quite reasonable because from where should all those people get food here in the wilderness. And it is also reasonable as Jesus himself wanted to go to a lonely and silent place. Thus, dismiss them!
We know how the story will continue. And already the pure numbers two and five, five thousand and finally twelve tell us that something nearly incredible has happened here. There is only very little food but many, many people, but in the end there is much more left.
We can't really describe and understand God's mercy. This is one of the deep and strong messages of this holy pilgrims' site at the lake below the sea.
God's mercy does not care about limits and boundaries but approaches everybody. This, too, belongs to the grounding of our place which is from ancient times a place at the borders of religions, languages and cultures and where we welcome today especially on our meeting place Beit Noah Muslim, Jewish and Christian guests from the Holy Land and from abroad. - God's mercy and lovingness blast the boundaries and walls of our ideas and thoughts.
We try to give structures and rules to our little world. That's true for us as monks in a special way. - But everyone seems to be eager to assure one's life and surroundings, to control them, to avoid sources of irritation. That's true for our own life with all its obstacles and adversities. But it is also true for the big issues of politics and society. Especially all the violence we see in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Syria and in so many other places tells us that humankind always tries to control and to rule, that they try to delete ugly obstacles. That they want to be on their own. If necessary even with violence. Blanket pulled over. Door closed. - And my nice little world is safe again and easy to deal with.
But there is more wisdom in the narration of the Miracle of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes: In the sight and face of God there are no such blankets and such doors. Our little world is never that little and small as we would like it to be in order to be able to deal with it. No, it is always bigger and wider. And with today's gospel there is much evidence and good reason for this!
With all our irritations, our breaches and woundings, with our suffering and our lamentation we might be able to see just the five loaves and the two fish whereas life itself presents us again and again with the crowds of the five thousand. - But in the sight and face of God these five loaves and two fish will suffice. And 'in the sight and face of God' means: to be beheld from God and to view at the world as if we would view it with God's eyes.
Today's gospel is not only one of the most beautiful and most concrete narrations about God's mercy and lovingness. Furthermore it is an invitation for us to view our lives and our world in a wider way and to think of them in a bigger way. It is an encouragement to be open for God's miracles also in our lives:
If we dare to present the two fish and the five loaves also to the crowd of the five thousand then we might get back in the end twelve full baskets. If we dare to leave the doors open in the face of God and to pull back our blankets then we might learn once more to see the world with God's eyes.
The gospel of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes wants to encourage us to live in the fullest way as children of God. In the face of God it wants us to open our eyes and ears, our hands and hearts. Our life in this world is not at all to be anxious guards and watchmen for the two fish and the five loaves.
The famous mosaic in our church has only four loaves in the basket. I think it is a good explanation when we say that the missing fifth bread is the one which is on the altar. It is our Lord Jesus Christ who gives himself in this bread of the Holy Eucharist, he is the bread which is broken so that there is enough for all, that the new and true life might reach everybody.
With this message of Tabgha we all are invited, too, to give our life. To put our little worlds today in the plate with the bread so that they too may be broken and cracked and shared.