Have you seen the transfiguration or feeding the 4,000?

Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Have you the reader ever seen the transfiguration? How great would it have been to have been present when Jesus fed the 4,000? The next time you attend Mass, you will see the transfiguration. You will be among the 4,000. “Jesus took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, giving them to the disciples who gave them to the crowd.” The priest takes the loaves, gives the words of institution, blesses the loaves and in the person of Christ, gives the loaves to the Ministers who give the loaves to the crowd.

To truly partake of the Eucharistic feast there is one minor qualification. ”Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see.” You have to be part of those crowds, with the mute, the deformed, the lame and the blind. There is no pledge of allegiance that is required. There is no need for a statement that you love Jesus, or will follow him. There is only the need to realize that you were among the deformed, the lame, and the blind and that you have been rescued.

You are six feet four inches, weigh 250 pounds, pick up cars for a hobby and had a GPA of 4.0 in college where you studied law and became a high powered New York lawyer. When people try to cause problems you use their head as a basketball, then sue them in court for the trauma to your psyche caused by the blood they left on the floor. Are you Jewish, German, Irish, French, Italian, African American, or Hispanic? If so, you were rescued from these things, through your ancestors before you were born. If you are Jewish there is no need to explain Deuteronomy 5: 1-7. If you are Polish you need to be reminded of the Cadet Revolution of 1830-31. If you are French, German, Polish or Russian you need to be reminded ofthe Plague, and theFrench Revolutions of 1789-99, 1830, and 1848 the failed revolutions of 1846 and1848, and 1863. If you are Irish you need to be reminded of the Great Famine of 1740-1741 and1845-1852.
 

I have been to the mountain top

Deuteronomy 5: 1-7: Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "Hear, Israel, the customs and judicial precedents which I proclaim in your hearing today, that you may learn them guard them. The Personal Name, our Mighty Judge, made a covenant with us at Horeb Mt. Sword; not with our fathers did he make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive, here, today… I stood between the Personal Name and you at that time, to announce to you these words of the Personal Name: Remember 'I, the Personal Name, am your savior, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Oppression), that place of menial labor. You will attribute your salvation to nobody but me.

If you were not personally rescued from Egypt, the Ten Commandments do not apply to you. “The Personal Name, our Mighty Judge, made a covenant with us at Horeb Mt. Sword; not with our fathers did he make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive, here, today.” At Passover, in Jewish Seder, they have four sons. The evil son asks, “Why do you do these things?” The answer is “I was rescued.” “I personally was rescued.” The event is relived, for the first time, in present time. The Eucharist is the Passover of the Christian community. Christ dies for us, in present time, through the host. Through the narrative, we relive the Passion, again, for the first time in present time.

We relive the Passion through the suffering of Messiah Jesus and we remember our heritage as a people rescued from over there, wherever over there might be. For those of us of European descent, our rescue is from the chaos of early Nineteenth Century Europe as related above. We even have our reminded on the lady in the harbor in New York:

Therefore I guard my heritage

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command. The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

We are part of the 4,000 fed by Jesus in the reading today, if we identify with the deformed, the mute, the lame and the blind. Jesus never asks for a pledge. Jesus does not hand us the Eucharist in person. Jesus hands the bread to his disciples who hand it to the crowd. The Hebrew word for King, Melech, is the same as the Hebrew word for a messenger and therefore an angel. It is also the Hebrew word for salt or seasoning. It is not the role of the people to season the king, in public or private enterprise with large salaries, gold, silver, and large armies. It is the role of the Melech, the messenger of God to the people, our priests, and leaders in public and private enterprise to season the people, in the feeding of the 4,000 with bread. The role is a privilege. Receiving the reward from the Melech is not a privilege. It is the job of Melech, leader, in public and private enterprise. For the rescued and who remember their rescue, there is a response.

The bad news is that if you are not rescued, the rewards of the rescue do not apply to you either. There is a response of gratitude. We do not attribute our rescue to anyone but God. There is no room for rugged individualism here. The Ten Commandments are addressed to a community, not individuals. Jesus feeds a crowd, not individuals. Matthew 25: 31-36 is addressed to nations, not individuals. The Jewish Creed, the Great Commandment of Jesus, is addressed to a community, not individuals. There is no room for a protestant work ethic that says reward only goes to those who work. Jesus feeds all then asks for gratitude to propel people forward, to work, as a community.

It shames me to see a majority of church goers voting for the establishment party, the Grand Old Party of the establishment who keep the pomp of Europe, who chooses to forget their poverty and the trauma of Nineteenth Century Europe. They eat some bread and drink some wine, but the event, the remembrance of the event relived for the first time in present time is clearly absent. Let us not be like them. Let us partake of the body and blood of Messiah Jesus for the first time, every time, we partake of the Eucharist.

Today’s Reading: Matthew 15:29-37: At that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see. They attributed their salvation to the weight of the God of Israel. Jesus summoned his disciples saying, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd. They have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry. They may collapse on the way.” The disciples told him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?”

Jesus told them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Jesus took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.