18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 144 (145):8-9, 15-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21
Picture: By Kitera Dent on Unsplash
My dear friends, can anyone help us complete the following well-known saying?… When the wise person points to the moon… What comes next? Many of us know this, right? When the wise person points to the moon… all the fool sees is the finger… So the difference between the wise and the foolish lies in the ability to see beyond the obvious finger, to ponder the more important moon. Simple enough to understand in the abstract, but not always easy to apply in the concrete. Especially if the finger is either too attractive, or not attractive enough. Such as the one we find in our scriptures today.
As we’ve probably already noticed, today, the word food appears in all our readings. The first reading and the gospel speak specifically of the provision of food in abundance. And not only in abundance, but free of charge. Food in abundance, free of charge. If this is truly a finger pointing to the moon, don’t these characteristics make it hard for us to look beyond it? For on the one hand, we live in Singapore. And we know the lengths to which Singaporeans will go, not just for delicious food, but for a good deal. Isn’t it hard for us not to fixate on such an attractive finger? And don’t we find an example of such fixation in the so-called Prosperity Gospel? The idea that, if only I profess Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour, and devote ever more of my time, talent and treasure to his cause, to his church, and, most of all, to his ministers, then I will be blessed with material wealth and success. Since God cannot be outdone in generosity. Never mind that the One I profess as Lord came as a homeless baby, laboured as a poor carpenter, was rejected as an outcaste, and executed a criminal… only to be raised on the Third Day.
On the other hand, our parish is located not just in Singapore, but also in District Ten. And how many of us can honestly say that we need free food? (T)hough you have no money, come! Buy corn without money… How many of us actually hear this generous invitation as addressed to ourselves? And if not addressed to us, aren’t we likely to ignore it? And if we ignore the finger that’s so close by, how to ponder the faraway moon to which it points? How to experience the real benefits, the deep peace and hope and joy that it might bring? Aren’t we more likely to remain bored and indifferent, even here at Mass, as we go through the motions of what may feel like no more than a routine weekly obligation?
Fixation and indifference. If these are among the tendencies that prevent us from following the finger to ponder the moon, then how to avoid them? One way is to deepen our understanding of the scriptures, by posing the following five questions: where, why, who, what, and how… First, consider where food is being promised and provided… The gospel begins by telling us that Jesus withdrew… to a lonely place… The word lonely can also be translated as wilderness. In other words, Jesus enters the same kind of place to which the Spirit had led him at the start of his public ministry, where he was tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1). And this place is not just a geographical location, but also a spiritual one. For consider why Jesus goes there. He does so as a response to a devastating piece of news. His cousin, and fellow proclaimer of the Good News, has just been killed. Beheaded for doing what Jesus himself is doing, speaking truth to power. It’s a dangerous time for prophets. Can we not at least begin to imagine the likely state of the Lord’s heart at this point? The interior wilderness mirroring the one outside?
But even as Jesus seeks solitude in the wilderness, he is not alone. Others follow him there. Who are they? The gospel identifies two distinct groups. The first it calls the crowd. Those whose daily lives already regularly feel like a wilderness. And who come to Jesus needing and seeking his ministry. Much like how the people addressed in the first reading need ministry. People experiencing exile, feeling separated, and far away from God. The second group the gospel labels disciples. Those who have already experienced the Lord’s ministry, and now remain close to him, and share his mission. They too follow their Master into the wilderness. And this group includes not only those mentioned in the gospel, but also those for whom the gospel was likely written. The early Jewish-Christian community, experiencing persecution for its belief in Jesus. In a very real way, they too have followed their Lord into the wilderness.
And it’s helpful for us to consider what Jesus does for each of these groups. To the crowd, he offers healing, and an abundance of free food. Satisfaction, of not just their empty stomachs, but their restless hearts. Not just their superficial appetites, but their deepest desires. And for his disciples, he does the same, but in a different way. How? By giving them a share in his mission and ministry. Letting them participate in his ministerial actions, of taking and blessing, breaking and giving. The same four actions we ourselves perform at every Mass. Through which we are again given a taste of the consoling conviction, so movingly expressed in the second reading: Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food…
Sisters and brothers, if this is truly the moon to which we are pointed, then how shall we help one another to keep pondering and drawing strength from its serene splendour today?
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