18 th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY – A - 2011
Isaiah 55:1-5
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21
It was 1990 and I was on vacation in Alaska. We planned to visit Denali Park, near Mt. McKinley. You can travel through the Park, which is about the size of Connecticut, only by park buses which are old school busses. The Park has been left in its pristine, wild life state. So there are no concession stands, not even water. You bring your own food for the journey.
We were coming down from Fairbanks meeting friends coming from Anchorage. They were bringing the food. When they didn’t arrive, we got on the bus for a 14 hour ride in the old school bus over gravel roads.
Going without food for a day isn’t that difficult. However, having people eating all around you when you have hunger pains is very difficult. The man with the ham sandwich was just right there in the next row. The little girl with the mini cookies was in the row in front of us, tantalizing us, making our hunger pain more psychological than physical.
That is my experience of starving.
Today 1,500 people will die due to starvation, many of them children in Africa. 50% of the world’s population experience some hunger. Not the mild, passing sort of hunger I experience fasting for one day. I’m talking about emaciating hunger, the kind which produces sunken eyes and distended abdomens. This year, over one billion dollars will be spent for weight reduction products and programs.
It is into this experience that we hear today’s scripture readings. The gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves, the most frequently related story in the entire bible. I am sure you noticed the parallel description of this story with the narration at the Last Supper: give thanks, bless, break and give.
Jesus says to his disciples: Give them some food yourselves. “we don’t have any” they respond. And when they generously use what they have, there is more than enough left over.
John Paul Dejoria is a name probably not familiar to any of us, but his product is: John Paul Mitchell hair products. Sixty years ago, John and his brother were being raised by a single Greek immigrant mother in a very poor LA ghetto suburb. They had no money for Christmas gifts, but mother took the boys to a department store to look at the mechanical toy display. John Paul was five, and as they approached the store, his mother pointed out a woman in navy suit ringing a bell in front of the store.
“Boys,” she said to John & his seven year old brother, “I’m giving you a dime. Go and put it in that ladies bucket.” John Paul didn’t understand. John didn’t have any money, a dime was a lot, and he was being asked to give it away.
“That’s the Salvation Army,” his mother said. “They need it more than we do. In life, you will always run across people who need it more than you do. Always try and share. I know it’s a lot for us, but it means even more to them.”
John thought about what his mother said, and he and his brother put that dime in the bucket. He felt a thrill he would never forget. He worked hard as a young man, even sleeping in his car for a short period of time when they started hair products because he could not afford an apartment. As a business man, he retells the story of his mother’s teaching, how it affected his business ethics and his personal generosity. He encourages his employees, and his millions of customers to remember that others have greater needs than I do. According to Forbes, John Paul Dejoria has a net worth of more than $4 billion. Not bad for a guy who lived out of his car, and who always kept in mind that he needs to share with others whose needs are greater than his own.
God provides whatever we need. There is no way we can pay for it or earn it. We simply open our hearts to God’s gracious gifts, AND remember to share with those whose needs are greater than ours.
Let us do Eucharist, that is, giving thanks for all that God has given us. Mare than we need or can use.
Rev. Everett Hemann
RevEv@SaintPatrickcf.org