Leftovers

Proper 12

28 July 2018
Gospel John 6:1-21

When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

“Leftovers” that is what we have here. The official definition is “remnant or an unused portion.” In today’s Gospel reading there is quite a lot to “chew” on, forgive me the bad pun: the high cost of food for the multitude, corralling the young entrepreneur who is looking to sell his five barely loaves a few fish to make some money for himself and probably his family, the miraculous feeding itself, the stormy seas…we can relate to that after the rain, hail, thunder and lightning we expierence this past week, and Jesus walking on the water and calming the turbulent seas….all fodder for the preacher.  But what caught my eye?  What about those leftovers?  What exactly happened to them? What is the symbolism, if any, of these remnants, these unused portions?

In my home growing up in the Bronx with four siblings, my parents, grandmother and a bachelor uncle, who had the good sense to get married and move out as soon as possible, leftovers were a rarity for most meals, but when they occurred, they were used wisely. Having a mother who came of age at the end of the Great Depression and who was a newly married woman during World War II, made her a genius at stretching a family’s food budget. She could take a chicken, roast it for Monday dinner, make her vision of chicken chow mein for Tuesday night, make chicken soup out of the carcass, gizzards and heart and leftover vegetables, and, finally, whip up a chopped liver spread to have with cheese and crackers on Saturday evening while watching “The Lawrence Welk Show” with my father.  To this day, the smell of chopped liver reminds me of “champagne music”.

My favorite kind of leftovers are the remaining portions of the Thanksgiving dinner that can be re-purposed into some old favorites and some new culinary creations.  I have had an interesting turkey stuffing hash, pureed vegetable soup, turkey tetrazzini and turkey/stuffing croquettes.  My all-time favorite, though, is a turkey sandwich on Pepperidge Farm white bread with cranberry sauce and stuffing…. I dream of that sandwich every year as I squirrel away the necessary ingredients during preparation for the meal, hiding them in the refrigerator before the feast is done.

For many years I worked in a Soup Kitchen on Saturday in Stapleton.  One of the weekly concerns was would we have enough to feed everyone? We usually did.  One of our cooks called this “The Soup Kitchen Miracle”.  And we usually had leftovers. We had strict rules about how to handle leftovers. We would always try to give a generous portion (“Give them a plate like the one you would give to your 17 year old nephew”, I would say). The Board of Health prevented us from giving people plates of food to take home….There always was the possibility of spoilage or food poisoning from mishandling. But we had an arrangement with the outreach center of Project Hospitality; they could take the leftovers and serve them to folks at the drop-in center, many of whom had lunch with us…so they got fed twice! Not such a bad deal.

Did you know that here was a television series on HBO that ran for three seasons called, “The Leftovers”? It told the sorry story of the people left behind after 2% of the world’s population is taken up after the “Rapture” referred to as the “Sudden Departure”. It ran for three years and celebrates the emerging cult of the leftover folks called the “Guilty Remnant” …. sounds interesting. I have to admit, I did not watch it, but think the premise is theologically interesting. Maybe it will be on Netflix.

But I digress, I was still wondering what exactly is Jesus to do with the 12 baskets of leftover fish and bread from this feeding? Well, I could think of several things to do with them: some nice fish salad sandwiches the next day, or fish and toast with eggs for breakfast, perhaps make some bread crumbs or stuffing or even a nice bread pudding with the remnants. 

But I sincerely doubt that this was the purpose for noting this overabundance of bread and fish. Perhaps the meaning is a more personal one. Might it symbolize the spiritual overabundance of God’s love and concern for the health and wellbeing of his creatures whom God loves unconditionally? God is providing the extra stuff we need to grow in our spiritual understanding of the all-encompassing and over flowing love of God for us as God provides us with the extra nourishment we need to journey on in our spiritual journey, a journey that will lead us to knowledge and love of God in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Saving Face

July 15, 2018

As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.

Saving face, the practice of affording someone an opportunity to avoid embarrassment, humiliation, or shame, is a subtle sub-text in two recent old and new testament readings. In 2 Samuel we have an image of King David gleefully and ebulliently dancing before the ark of the Covenant as it is carried into the holy city of Jerusalem.  It appears he is scantily attired and his wife, Michal, herself the daughter of an Israelite King, Saul, is mortified that her husband is flaunting his joy in front of all the residents of the city, in particular the other women.  His actions, in her estimation, are unkingly.  Please note, she defied her father in marrying David and pledged her loyalty to him over her father.  She had burnt her bridges and hitched her wagon to David's rising star. And David, for his part, became angry at his wife. He struck out at her because he could, later actually banishing her from his court. She never bore him any children. He held her in contempt for the rest of her life; he moved on to other women.  You might remember King David's obsession with Bathsheba. 

Mikael felt David's actions were causing him and by extension, her to lose face among the common people.  He, lashed out at her, to save face for himself in an action that reminds us of those in authority who want to make sure the underlings know who is boss. I bet all of us here have witnessed someone we have encountered in our work, professional or even church life, who used her/his position in such a way that allows them to avoid personal confrontation, shame or humiliation while demeaning another.  It is not pretty to witness; and it certainly is not the moral thing to do. David went on to become a great leader, ancestor of Our Lord, Jesus, and man of faith who struggled with his humanity at many levels. But his dismissive treatment of his first wife still rankles me. David overacts to the criticism of his wife...I actually think she had a point, but maybe went about expressing it too hastily; David's reaction was swift and done to make everyone aware of who was the power broker in this royal relationship. He might have cut off his nose despite his face.

In today's Gospel we have another King with a different situation of saving face. Herod has John the Baptist in custody.  The King understands that he is not in a position to alienate the people under his jurisdiction who are followers of John.  He just wants John to be on ice, so to speak, because John is making noise about the fact that the King took his brother's wife as his own, in spite of Hebraic law that labels this kind of union as "incest" since his brother, although divorced from said wife, was still alive and kicking. When Herodias' daughter, otherwise known as Salome, pleases the king who was probably "in his cups" during a night of drinking and reveling, he announces to the gathered crowd that he would give the girl anything she wanted as a reward for her entertainment, she consulted with her mother who had her own agenda.  Herodias was tired of John and his pronouncements against her relationship with husband number 2 who was the brother of husband number 1. She saw a way to rid herself of this thorn in her side, so she encouraged her daughter to make a request of the King that he could not refuse because he made an unwise and foolish promise.  When he heard it, I am sure he regretted his words, but like so many others that we read of in the pages of both the Old and New testament, Herod was indeed between the preverbal rock and hard place.  He could not go back on his word...he had made a vow, and he had to go through with it, or he would look the fool in front of the entire royal court. He took the coward's way out and condemned a man to death to make good on a boasting promise. He let his ego get in the way of doing the right thing.

Is there something to learn from the experiences of these two Israelite Kings? There certainly is. Human pride and ego can often get in the way of our relationship with other humans, but more importantly, they can get in between our personal relationship with our God. Our very human desire to appear competent and in charge of our lives can often become a stumbling block to our more important relationship with our Creator. We may seek to save face and appear competent and in charge in front of the people with whom we live and work, but this very human 

tactic of self-defense and preservation can stand between an open and honest relationship with the God who loves us unconditionally and does not care if we make snap judgements and empty promises to others as long as we can be honest and stand before our God with integrity. That is what matters...not saving face, but waling in integrity. However, we can take solace in the fact that we are all in spiritual formation and on our own spiritual journey, and walking humbly with our God is an important piece of the journey.