Saving feasts, crossings on troubled seas, bread and crumbs from heaven, cornerstones and fountain rocks: There is a shared poetry of details between the passages in Exodus and those in the gospel of Matthew. All of the gospels link God's deliverance as told in the Hebrew Bible (especially Passover) and the revelation in Jesus Christ. The author of Matthew, who was most likely from a conservative Jewish background, especially stresses this theme of "fulfillment"--the community that formed around Jesus' teaching, death, and resurrection were people of a "new covenant" that was entered through faith.
The scriptures tell of experiments in faith, of the many ways to walk the path. Included (thank God) are failed trials and wrong turns and the promise of grace to try again.
August 1: Servants of Bounty
Exodus 12:1-14, Romans 8:31-39, Matthew 14:13-21, Psalm 143:1-10
The execution of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12) marks a new stage of life and ministry for Jesus, and an intensified focus on him. Who is this Jesus, really? What does he stand for? There is wisdom for us in Jesus' withdrawal to a "lonely place" in response to the heightened public attention, in his seeking space for reflection and rest in the company of trusted friends (Mark 6:31). Also evident is the true ring of real life in how fleeting this space is.
Jesus responds with grace and compassion to the crowds that come, healing their sick. As the day draws to a close, the disciples make a pragmatic suggestion: There is no food here, and the people must eat. Send them away to fend for themselves. Jesus' response is to make the disciples waiters of the Spirit.
While the natural focus here is the miracle part--the multiplication of the loaves and fishes--notice the other, more subtle works. The disciples are not rebuffed for thinking practically, but are given a hands-on role in the feeding, moving among the crowd they would have sent away. While the gospel writer goes to the trouble to distinguish between those who were fed who counted (men) and those who were fed who didn't (women and children), as the scene is described Jesus made no distinctions--"all ate and were satisfied."
The "lonely place apart" in the end does become a place of rest, healing, and nourishment for the larger group, not just Jesus and the disciples. This is not a rejection of time spent alone with God--after the crowd is dispersed, Jesus goes into the mountains to pray alone (Matthew 14:22-23).
But in this case the mystery being shown isn't that of the solitary seeker meeting God, spirit to Spirit. It is God shown through the humble, holy work of hospitality: The simple and the scarce become a feast, the reluctant become servants of bounty, and the people, all the people, taste, eat, and are filled.
August 8: Sinking Doubt
Exodus 14:19-31, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22-33, Psalm 106:4-12
Jesus seems nonchalant in the description of him walking on the water. He's finished praying, is ready to be with his friends in this hour just before dawn, and is just getting to them in the most convenient way--by foot.
We can empathize with the disciples if they don't react calmly. Their night has been spent buffeted by waves, the whole universe seems to be one endless turbulence. And here someone--or some spirit--approaches as though it's a still evening on a flat plain. It's not just miraculous, and terrifying, it's a touch mocking.
Jesus' first response to the disciples' fear is not to still the wind or otherwise make the situation less stressful; he simply announces his presence and tells them not to be afraid. It is this presence in which they are to have faith, not any external change in circumstance. The disciples, we can imagine, would rather have the latter.
Peter takes a step out of fear into faith and/or foolishness--he proposes to check Jesus' identity by risking his own neck with a stroll on the waves. In a classic display of human nature, Peter asserts his belief in who Jesus is--"Lord, save me"--in the same moment that he falters because of doubt.
Even though Jesus chastises Peter for this, it seems that this moment of sinking doubt is what strips away Peter's illusions and allows him truly to see Jesus. Without this doubt would Peter and the rest, now worshiping at Jesus' feet, believe so deeply?
August 15: Faith Breaks Through
Exodus 16:2-15, Romans 11:13-16, Matthew 15:21-28, Psalm 78:1-3, 10-20
The Canaanite woman stakes a claim on what she needs--healing for her daughter--and won't budge. Jesus just ignores her at first. The disciples want him to send her away--she is annoying them. Their common sense tells them to deal with her as they wanted to deal with the hungry crowd in need of food; let her find a solution elsewhere. Besides, as a woman and a Gentile, to these Jewish men she is all but non-existent. Who is she even to come near them, much less ask mercy from Jesus?
When Jesus does speak to her, they are hard words. He is the Messiah promised for Israel; he isn't for her or her people. The woman persists, argues. She is not part of Jesus' mission plan, but she shoves her faith in his face and refuses to be dismissed. Faith, ultimately, is what he cannot ignore.
Reread the passage, taking on a role. Are you one of the disciples, brushing off a nuisance? Are you the woman, taking the Holy One by the lapels and not letting go? Are you Jesus, playing by the rules of your calling until confronted by a faith that turns over your standards and demands to be heard?
Faith is often stereotyped as a source of passivity. What would be different in our churches and in our world if faith was known as the energy source for wrestling with God?
August 22: God's Living Water
Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20, Psalm 95
"Is the Lord among us or not?" ask the grumbling children of Israel. "Who do people say the Human One is?" asks Jesus. Between these two questions stretches a long, thirsty history. The wandering in the wilderness desert has become a settled life under occupation, but the people still feel lost, and parched. They look for a prophet, some old-time religion, a rainmaker, a holy well-digger.
Peter's recognition that Jesus is the Messiah will not bring living water to Israel in the way that Peter might have thought in the moment. But his basic statement of faith has tapped into a deep, wetter-than-wet spiritual truth. God is among us.
Jesus reacts by granting a type of leadership within the faith community to Peter. ("Church" here doesn't mean an institution with buildings and committees, but rather a group of people waiting with faith and longing for the end times.) "Binding and loosing" refers to rabbinical interpretation of the law to determine when a given action is forbidden or permitted. In Matthew 18:18-20 Jesus grants this authority to all the disciples.
A traditional gospel hymn goes, "Where are the keys to the kingdom? I'm standing at the door and I want to come in." How do the presence of God's living water and questions of authority come together in your faith community?
August 29: Saving Substitutes
Exodus 19:1-9, Romans 12:1-13, Matthew 16:21-28, Psalm 114
Peter's statement of faith--"You are the Christ, the child of the living God" (16:16)--is the turning point in Matthew's gospel. Once he sees that the disciples believe this, Jesus begins to share the rest of the story: All roads lead to Jerusalem, to suffering, to death, and to resurrection.
There is something heartening in how, within a few short verses, Peter goes from rock of the church to stumbling block. His faith, like ours, doesn't give him preternatural insight into God's ways. Whether out of a sense of decorum or fear for his friend and teacher, Peter's initial instinct is to reject the future that Jesus describes.
How does Jesus' strange math of saving to lose and losing to save work? It can be interpreted in terms of material goods; it is perhaps too easy to look at an inside trader or a savings-and-loan president and assume they are in danger of losing their life since they own a big chunk of the world. But there are countless other things that people try to save that can become a substitute for true life: control, dignity, status as a victim, status as a savior, even righteousness.
"Everyone has a cross to bear," goes the old saying. The trick is not letting it become dead wood.
Julie Polter is associate editor of Sojourners.
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