In a hyper-technical age, which brings blessings and challenges, it is good to remember that we are defined by embodied lives. We cannot transcend our bodies. Embodied, we experience the fullness of life through our senses, thoughts, emotions, relationships, aging, and the ever-present reality that we need food and water day in and day out.
Jesus has been teaching, offering us a vision of God through parables centered in abundance, wisdom, complexity, hiddenness, surprise, and wonder. This weekend we turn the page in Matthew’s Gospel and enter deeply embodied moments. What is more embodied than the lesson on the feeding of more than 5,000 hungry people?
There are many ways to read and interpret the miracle of the feeding of more than 5,000 people. One possible word can help our pondering: mercy. Jesus has compassion on the crowd. He is moved to mercy, a word that is connected to the biblical theme of steadfast love at work in Jesus’ heart.
Pope Francis famously taught about embodied, spiritual mercy when he said it begins in feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty. Here in the Gospel, exhausted after weeks of ministry, Jesus reveals the core of God’s steadfast love through embodied mercy. Bread is passed hand to hand, and more than 5,000 people are filled.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Peter