Given by Hughes McGlone, Youth Pastor
Church of the Holy Comforter, Martinez
Readings: Genesis 22-31, Matthew 14:13-21
“And your name shall be Israel which means strives with God”. This should just be the unspoken middle name for all of humanity. We strive with God, we wrestle with God. We fight mentally and emotionally with the idea of God, with the thought that the rules over us all, and is ultimately the one in control. When I was sixteen years old and a brand new summer camp counselor, I began turning these same thoughts over in my heart and mind. I finally asked the priest at camp if this was a bad thing or if this made me a bad person. The older priest looked me in the eye and told me “Hughes, I’d be more concerned and worried if you didn’t.” He said it’s who we are, to fight and question God. It scares us to let anyone other than ourselves be in control. It is human to wrestle with God. It is very human and very Christian to search for answers.
Hughes McGlone, at right, with acolytes
This Sunday’s lesson is almost a cautionary tale, warning us that to give in to God, to let God win is life changing. Jacob’s name the very description of his being is changed after his encounter with God. So too are we forever changed by taking on an active role in our relation with God. We become lifelong students, all of us constantly searching, constantly learning more. Throughout this journey of growing faith we share our experiences – our trials, troubles, setbacks, failures, lessons learned, break through, and triumphs. Sharing them with pilgrims we meet along the way. By being students of God and growing relations with others, we become the Teachers as well. We teach all who we come in contact with. Again as a camp counselor one of the most important lessons I ever learned was about being a teacher. I was told campers observe everything, they learn most from what we do not say, they learn from our actions. What will they learn from us?
As teachers in the world our students become our siblings, family members, friends, coworkers, strangers in the grocery line at six o’clock on a Tuesday when all we’d like to do is go home. We often ask children what they learned today; an equally important question to ask of ourselves “What did we teach today?”
Sunday’s Gospel finds Jesus on a boat in a deserted place searching for rest. Christ in desperate need of rest sees a teaching opportunity on shore, and instead of passing it up, seizes the opportunity, to teach and grow a relation with a crowd. He feeds 5,000 with food that wouldn’t even feed a young man.
Students and youth today hear all too often how little they have to offer, how little they bring to the table. Young and old alike hear more often how they lack enough (life experience, qualifications, education). Yet here is Christ clearly saying no matter the amount, so much can be done with your gifts when they are given to God. So much can be done through us when we quit wrestling with God, and begin instead to walk with him.
So let us keep our hearts and minds open to see we are all students. Let us continue to share our lives and experiences and realize we too are all teachers. Help us to know that it is okay to wrestle with God, yet be prepared to be forever changed when we let Him into our lives. Amen.
