Sermons from St Faith's
Reading the Signs
Fr Mark Waters, July 29th, 2012
A large crowd kept following him, because they were impressed by
the signs that he gave by curing the sick . (John 6.
1-21)
We live in a society full of signs.
Just think of the opening Olympic ceremony on Friday night, which
I guess most of us watched on TV. Almost an overdose of signs!
Think of the internet, with its texts, tweets, and facebook
messages. So many signs. And advertising hoardings
absolutely everywhere; logos on everything – especially the
clothes and shoes many younger people wear.But our problem is
that, just like the people in Jesus’s time – we are always in
danger of misinterpreting the signs.
A large crowd kept following him, because they were impressed by
the signs that he gave by curing the sick.
I wonder what sort of people they were that followed him? And what
they were hoping for? People with infections of all sorts; those
with disturbing mental illnesses; children who weren’t thriving,
possibly with rickets and polio. We get a clue from the gospels
about some of the health issues – people who were
‘possessed’ – maybe suffering from epilepsy, or schizophrenia;
people with skin diseases; all sorts. But clearly desperate
people.
Like us, but with much more reason, the people of Jesus’s time
were pretty obsessed with cures for illness. It must have been a
much bigger concern for many, especially the poor. Their health
service was limited. The mortality rate was probably pretty high.
Illnesses and diseases which can be routinely cured today, were
fatal then. So they had every reason to follow someone who seemed
to be able to effect instant cures.
We have no such excuse, but we have some strange obsessions about
our health. As a society, we jump at quack remedies. We
misinterpret the signs. Despite scientific evidence to the
contrary, we still believe that vitamin pills, and all sorts of
other pills and potions, and copper bracelets, and colonic
irrigation, and reflexology, will make or keep us well. We flock
to buy the books outlining the latest diet fad, particularly if it
comes endorsed by someone slightly famous. We swoon over popular
self-help gurus who promise us stress free lives, endless
intellectual potential, successful businesses, or whatever other
lie they’re peddling today. We misinterpret the signs.
What sort of crowd would be following Jesus today because they’d
seen the signs?: cancer sufferers – lots of them I guess; those
with incurable, uncommon, fatal illnesses; those with neurological
diseases: people with real medical issues.
But others too: people wanting a gastric band to stop them eating;
people addicted to different substances; those wanting a bit of
botox, or a ‘nip and tuck’; young girls with anorexia; lots of
emotional and psychiatric problems. A different range of issues
for a different society.
A large crowd kept following him, because they were impressed by
the signs that he gave by curing the sick.
Let’s shift to the second story in this morning’s gospel for a
moment. The disciples are rowing across the lake, trying to get to
Capernaum. A storm sets in, with a strong wind. They have been
rowing for three or four miles and apparently getting nowhere.
They are terrified. Then they see Jesus. They want him to calm the
storm and save them. Jesus simply says to them, ‘it’s me, don’t be
afraid’. And then the story ends with these words – ‘immediately
the boat reached the land towards which they were going’.
What is really interesting about both stories in the gospel this
morning, both the feeding story, and the story of the storm on the
lake, is that in neither of them does Jesus give the people what
they want or are hoping for. In the first story people are wanting
healing, instead Jesus gives them a meal. In the second story, the
disciples are wanting the storm to be stilled, but Jesus doesn’t
do this. What is going on?
In order to interpret the signs we need to pay some close
attention to some of the smaller details in the story. So, for
example, in the feeding story we are told, ‘now the Passover was
near’. Passover was the annual feast which commemorated the
Exodus, the liberation story of the Jews. Freed from slavery they
searched in the wilderness, and were given manna – bread – in the
wilderness. So the writer of John is asking us to somehow connect
this story to that more ancient story of liberation.
Secondly, we hear that Jesus took the loaves, and when he had
given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. Remind
you of anything? It’s a reference to the eucharist – take, bless,
break and share!
And then In the story of the storm on the lake, we are told at the
end ‘immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were
going’. A group of people making a dangerous journey through
water to get to reach safety. Remind you of anything? It’s a
reference to the escape from slavery, the Israelites crossing the
Red Sea on their way from slavery to freedom.
These stories point backwards to the founding, liberation stories
of God’s people – manna in the desert and salvation from the sea.
And then they point forward to the new exodus, the new liberation
which will come about through the cross, and which we commemorate
in the eucharist.
The gospel writer is asking us to look for a deeper significance
in the signs. To go deeper than our concern with our own
individual pre-occupations, our preoccupation with own personal
difficulties, and to catch the vision of the salvation which God
has in mind for the whole world, the whole creation. More than
that, he invites us to join with him in that process, that journey
of liberation, and to be partners in the struggle. To stop being
victims in our lives, and to be co-creators of a new reality.
Do you remember the words of the old hymn – ‘Jesus calls us o’er
the tumult, of our life’s wild, restless sea’. He calls us beyond
our own self-concern.
Like the crowds in this story, we have been fed with God’s grace,
fed with God’s mercy and care and steadfast love; but like them we
often fail to see what God is doing among us. We look for the
wrong kind of Jesus, one who will simply serve our own narrow
interests and desires.
And like the disciples in trouble in the boat on the lake in the
storm Jesus comes to us across the lonely, empty, threatening
times and places and says ‘I am!’. The great ‘I am’ has come to be
with us and bring us the goal God has intended. But the storm is
not stilled. Instead, the glory of God is revealed in Jesus
through the storm, just as that glory will be revealed through the
cross. And in fact the storm is never stilled. We live in a world
which is in the process of being redeemed, but is never fully
redeemed.
We are invited to participate in Jesus’s passion for a different
kind of world. But we are told, on this journey with Jesus, the
cross cannot be avoided. If we want to be fed with the living
bread which comes down from heaven, the food which really
satisfies, to live lives that are really fulfilling and
meaningful, then we too must make that journey to Jerusalem. We
must eat the right food for the journey too – in himself Jesus
satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst. He prepares us for a
new exodus, a new liberation. And the meal of the eucharist which
we will shortly share, is a foretaste of that kingdom, when we
will eat and drink of love in the promised land.
So these two, connected, stories from John this morning remind us
that God is up to something far greater than we usually imagine.
Jesus comes to us as God in the flesh, the one who reveals to us
the Father and draws us into the Father's love. Jesus comes across
the fearful, lonely, empty, threatening times and places, and says
"I am." The "I am" has come to be with us and bring us to the goal
God has intended. Jesus is food and drink for our souls. He
satisfies our deepest hunger and quenches our driest thirst. As
manna in the wilderness he is food for the journey. We are
to eat lest the journey be too great for us.
But most of all these stories invite us to participate in Jesus’
passion for a different kind of world. They present us with a
challenge – do we spend our lives as a member of the crowd,
following whatever fashions and trends our society sets for us.
Or, instead, do we allow ourselves to catch a glimpse of the
bigger picture, in which we are leaders, not followers,
co-creators, not victims, joined with God in the task of building
new heavens and a new earth.
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