Tenth Tuesday after Pentecost, Proper 12, Miracle Out of Silence Waiting

Lessons: Psalm 61, 62; 2 Samuel 3:6-21; Acts 16:6-15; Mark 6:30-46

For God alone my soul in silence waits; *
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, *
my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.  Psalm 62:1-2

Today the twelve return from their mission to invite others to notice the reign of God come.  They are delighted it seems with their progress. The first thing Jesus does is take them away. "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." Mark 6:31 They will not sustain the quiet long, but they do enter it together.  It strikes me that we do not know what Jesus was up to while the 12 were on their teaching mission.  I assume he dealt with the John the Baptist question of yesterday’s reading.  Perhaps he had his own quiet spaces.  What we do know is that after so active and vibrant a time as the disciples report, Jesus is clear they need a quiet break, a reflective break.  Psalm 62 is our invitation.

For God alone my soul in silence waits; *
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, *
my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.  Psalm 62:1-2

It is in such spaces that we find the silent energy to hear our lives, see our paths, note our growth, taste our hopes, release our regrets, notice the tug of others on our hearts, find the still small voice of God which troubles, enlightens and soothes, restore, see the road of reentry.

The crowds press then in upon them and Jesus’ teaching begins again.  The next challenge of compassion sets in naturally.

When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat." Mark 6:35-36

This is a double moment of care.  There is the care for Jesus. “Take a break.”  There is the care for the crowd.  They need a meal and rest and relief from the coming dark.

But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." Mark 6:37

The disciples do not see the option here.  It is drawn from them an awareness of but one picnic here of five loaves and two fish.  Then the miracle that puzzles occurs.  Offered to the God who waits in silence, shared with the crowd, all are not only fed but abundance occurs.  The Five thousand leave behind twelve baskets full.  Is this manna in the wilderness found again at God’s hand?  Is it generosity materialized by the crowd?  Is it an instruction that when we take seriously that we are well resourced people we find a generous response either in us or in God? Whatever lies in this miraculous moment of care, there remains a message of compassionate generosity.

Our potential to care, to see abundance, to bring it to heart and mind is never achieved by sending each other away.  We may need moments to withdraw and find God’s lurking generosity in our silent core and to open to its creativity. Yet we find it only to be turned back to one another, to notice we are ever a hungry crowd seeking that which may seem surface but can open our depth.

What miracle are we to be part of this day?  Is it to go into our place of work or leisure and listen to another life?  Is it to hear our own life next to another’s?  Is it to create a listening meal of food, emotion, laughter?  Is there a task we can do that will add quality to our work or play or another’s hope?  It can be folding laundry with care, putting focus on an insurance policy, an architectural plan, selecting correct or caring language as we write, placing an appropriate gentle hand on a forearm. It can be looking at our local or larger politic and shifting our awareness from my need to some larger caring way.  Miracle is often a small noticing of the too few loaves and bread of our lives, offering what we have, being open to its rootedness in the Creator, Redeemer, Lover of humankind, and then acting from this generous center.

It helps though to begin this way.

For God alone my soul in silence waits; *
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, *
my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.  Psalm 62:1-2

Now let us be miracle…and then return and listen anew.