Homily for August 2-3, 2008

Father Tom’s Homily
18th Sunday
August 3, 2008

Our gospel story tells about Jesus going off to a place of retreat when he heard that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed. Jesus’ place of retreat is called “a deserted place.”
It was probably Jesus’ favorite place to pray and rest away from the crowds that were constantly seeking him. People sought him out because he was a healer and a teacher like none other they had ever encountered.

From time to time, Jesus probably came down the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in a small borrowed boat from the town of Capernaum where he lived in the house of Peter to get away from the busyness and noise of his active ministry.
It’s about three miles from Capernaum to this deserted place. In today’s gospel story, word got around about Jesus’ place of retreat, so many people hurried down to meet him there.
Our gospel reading says, “when Jesus came ashore, he saw a vast crowd” waiting for him. “His heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.”
It was at this out-of-the-way place that the miracle of the loaves and fishes took place.

Besides being a place of quiet, this was also a very beautiful place. From the shore, there was a meadow that gradually swept up a hill.
A cave on this grassy hillside was the place where Jesus stayed while on a peaceful, quiet retreat. Outside this cave, Jesus could sit among the abundant growth of flowers by day and gaze out to the beautiful Sea of Galilee. At night he could look up to the sky filled with stars.
It was on this hillside that Jesus satisfied the hungry crowd with a meal of bread and fish. This miraculous meal remained one of the most memorable events in Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. It is one of the few events recorded in all four gospels.

How do we know that these events took place on this hill by the seashore?
During the first four centuries, a large community of Christians in Caphernaum passed on the memory of these event from generation to generation.
They spoke of three rock formations by this seashore that marked the places where these events took place. These rocks were considered to be sacred because of what took place on them. They came as pilgrims to pray at these sacred stones.

One rock was said to mark the place where today’s gospel story took place. This large flat rock served as a sort of table that Jesus used when he fed the hungry crowd.
A Spanish nun named Egeria kept a journal when she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the year 383. In her journal she reported that the rock on which Jesus had laid the loaves and fish had become an altar. Around this rock altar a small church had been built.
Today’s pilgrim can visit this rock altar. It is flat to the ground. Another church building has replaced the original one. It is called “The Church of the Feeding of the Crowd at Tabgha.” It’s a very beautiful church that is part of a Benedictine monastery.

“Tabgha” refers to a place that was well know to the ancients. There were seven springs along a well-traveled road that ran along the Sea of Galilee. This well-watered place was a rest stop for the caravans that traveled this ancient route that ran from Egypt in the south to Damascus in the north.
The Greek name for this place was “Heptapegon,” which means “seven springs.” The locals shortened this to “Tabgha.”
The name of the church of the multiplication of loaves and fishes includes the name “Tabgha,” as if to say, “The Church near the well known seven springs.”

One other holy place marked by a stone was at mouth of the cave. Perhaps Jesus sat on this stone at the mount of the cave as he looked out at the sea and gazed at the stars. It was on this same hill that Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount (mentioned earlier in Matthew chap 5-7).
The other stone is actually several stones down by the seashore that mark the place where, after his resurrection, Jesus fed the apostles breakfast of, yes you guessed it, bread and fish.

These holy stones invited today’s pilgrims to come ashore to rest awhile and to pray.
On the top of this hillside there is the Church of the Beatitudes. There is a retreat house next to the church. Today’s hungry pilgrims can meet Jesus at his favorite “deserted place.
Here Jesus feeds our hunger with his words (the Sermon on the Mount) and his bread (the Eucharist).

The great spiritual writer Henri Nouwen once called today’s gospel a story about the value of small things. It speaks of the great mystery of how God uses small things to accomplish big things.
Today’s gospel encourages us to offer our small contributions, like the few loaves of bread and a few fish that were given to feed the hungry thousands.
When Jesus challenges the apostles to feed the hungry crowd, they respond, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have.” That’s the way we often feel about what little we can give to the needs of others.

But God wishes to use our small gifts. If we place these gifts in the hands of the Lord, he will take whatever we offer and multiply them.
We do what we can and leave the results in the hands of God. It’s the miracle of small things.