Friday, 26th Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 14:13-21
The Daily Office

Reading the Bible daily as a story allows us to make connections that are much more difficult to make from Sunday to Sunday.  Coming after yesterday’s report of John the Baptist’s execution, we can see why the people were so desperate to hear from Jesus that they ran on land ahead of Jesus’s boat to meet him when he landed.  John the Baptist had foretold of God’s coming: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight” (Matt 3:3).  John had promised Israel that her God was coming; now he was dead.  Could Jesus fulfill that promise of liberation and redemption?

More than anything, the Jews of that time and place needed hope.  I’m reminded of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the refrain he used to lead with, “Keep hope alive.”  I remember seeing the crowds joining in that chant with enthusiasm.  Often, Jackson was speaking to people in the inner cities who had little reason to hope.  But the more he shouted it in rhythm – “Keep. hope. alive.  Keep. hope. alive…” – the louder they repeated, almost willing themselves to hope.

Of course, none of us can will ourselves to hope forever.  So Jesus, in his feeding of the thousands, gave them hope.  There was, of course, more to what Jesus was doing than providing a food line to the poor.  Eventually, by his death and resurrection, he would show people how to keep hope alive no matter what.  But before taking his disciples deeper into the darkness of true hope, Jesus had to give them more practical reasons to hope.  So must we, as Jesus’s hands and arms, give the suffering in our midst concrete reasons for hope.  Then we call go together into the darkness in hope, for Jesus is already there.