Saturday 31 March 2012

Matthew 14 – And the time is now past


Wikipedia has a good page on “Midlife Crisis”.  It talks about the way sufferers tend to “reassess their achievements in terms of their dreams”, and the way they tend to feel “a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-life_crisis).

Yes, Wikipedia certainly has a good page on “Midlife Crisis”, but I think I’ve found a better one…

14:15 …This is a desert place, and the time is now past…

Whatever your attitude toward midlife crises, or the theories of modern psychology in general, whether you think it’s all just a load of meaningless psychobabble, or whether you’re too busy trying to find a way out of your own personal “desert place” to worry about what labels some shrink might want to hang on you… whatever your attitude toward midlife crises, I think everyone, whether they’re at the beginning, middle or end of life, knows that feeling of “powerlessness” described in Wikipedia, that feeling of coming to a place where there’s no road back, and no obvious way forward, where so many opportunities have passed you by, and though the dreams remain, you have no power to make them a reality, and no realistic hope that they can ever be achieved.

And in just such a “desert place”, at just such a lateness of hour, the disciples came to Jesus and said…

14:15 …the time is now past: send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

Jesus’ characteristically impractical, completely unworkable, and totally unrealistic response was simply…

14:16 They need not depart: give ye them to eat.

The disciples, exasperated by the toe-curling naivety of the man, and perhaps wanting to rub his nose in the absurdity of what he appeared to be suggesting, plucked out a lad from the crowd (verse 17)…

Feed this lot?!  You must be joking!  With what – this kid’s packed lunch?!

Hadn’t there been opportunity enough, in the freshness of morning and the brightness of midday, for the people to “take thought for what they would eat and what they would drink”? (Matthew 6:25).  But now the “time was past”, evening was upon them, and here they all were – too late to go back, no way to go forward; plenty of big ideas, but no power to make any of them a reality.

And as the disciples stood there, waving the “loaves and fishes” in his face, Jesus just smiled and said…

14:18 …Bring them hither to me.

What the disciples did, might well have been done flippantly, but it seems that for once, they actually managed to do the right thing, the only thing, under the circumstances, they could do – they brought to Jesus what they had.

Even God can do nothing with water under the bridge.  The water that flowed by yesterday is irretrievable, even to him.  And the right thing to do – the only thing to do – is to take your two cupped hands, and plunge them deep into today’s stream – whether it be a torrent or a trickle – then scoop up a good brimming handful of what you have, and bring it to Jesus.

All the disciples had were five loaves and two fishes, but in the hands of Jesus, it became a feast for five thousand.

In Jesus’ hands, what little we have, is always more than enough.

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I wake in the traffic on Curzon Street
Washed up alive on the commuter tide
This town is covered in one-way signs
I wonder why I’ve never wondered why?

(From “Planning Our Escape From Middleton” by I. Same)

Do you remember the dreams of youth?

Do you remember what you said about the “rush-hour clones” – the identical commuters, with their identical suits, their identical jobs, their identical mortgages, and their identical 2.4 children?

Do you remember how you always said that wasn’t the life for you?

There’s a special plan and purpose for everyone,” you said, “a ‘road less travelled’ for everyone to take.

All you need is the guts and imagination to go out and find it!

Do you remember the glorious dreams of youth?

Perhaps Peter was young enough to remember those dreams, as he stepped over the side of the boat, and suddenly, ridiculously! gloriously! found himself walking on the water to Jesus.

We don’t know how far Peter got before reality started to set in, but somewhere between the end of verse 29 and the beginning of verse 30, it seems the precariousness of his situation came home to roost with a vengeance, and there he was – too late to go back, no way to go forward; plenty of big ideas, but no power to make them a reality.

14:30 …when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid: and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

What Peter did, might well have been done out of panic and desperation, but it seems that for once,  he actually managed to do the right thing, the only thing, under the circumstances, he could do – he brought to Jesus what he had.

What he had was a classic case of powerlessness in the face of his dreams.  And though that was all he had to offer, in the hands of Jesus, apparently that was more than enough…

14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him…

Even God can do nothing about the road we’ve travelled thus far – whether we turned onto it by accident or by design, whether we chose our path or it chose us – water under the bridge is irretrievable even to him.  And the right thing to do – the only thing to do – is to reach out your hand, get a good firm hold on the hand of Jesus, and walk with him down today’s road – whether it be humdrum or “boisterous” – walk with him, and let his presence transform every road into a “road less travelled”, a road of endless possibilities, just waiting to be discovered at the end of every “Curzon Street”.

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