Pentecost 12A, 2008
Matthew 14:13-21
ON COUNTING THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN...
Some stories stick in your memory!
Being a former journalist, one which I always recall concerns a conversation
between a veteran broadcast journalist and a fledging reporter.
Edwin Diamond, a scholar of the media, tells it this way:
"I'm going to tell you a story and after I tell it, you will know all there is to know about television news...
"The executives of this station were watching all three news shows one night.
There had been a fire in a Roman Catholic orphanage.
One executive complained that a rival station had better film coverage.
'Their flames are higher than ours', he said.
But another executive countered: 'Yes, but our nun is crying harder than theirs...’”
Likewise, Matthew’s so-called story of the 'Feeding of the 5,000' is, for me,
another one of those stories which have stayed with me.
Primarily because it is incorrectly named.
You can bet your socks on it there were many more people present.
Indeed, in the NRSV translation of this story there is the phrase:
‘And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children...’
Which in lost in the Inclusive Text which we read this morning.
Besides women and children...
Not counting women and children...
Thanks to Megan McKenna’s suggestions I have heard this phrase in such a way
it always makes an impression on me.
Being astute people I am sure you noticed that in many cases
within our biblical tradition, the so-called 'unnamed people' are women?
Men... well they are carefully named: Matthew, John, Peter, James, Thomas.
But when it comes to women,
the biblical storytellers are not so careful
in getting all their names.
In fact sometimes this carelessness is very obvious.
On the other hand, if we were to read a couple of stories from the Gospel of Mary,
we would find the echos of a rather modern approach:
Peter is speaking to the group about Mary…
'Has the Saviour spoken secretly to a woman and not openly so that we would all hear? Surely he did not wish to indicate that she is more worthy than we are?'
Not a ‘carelessness’ this time, but a total questioning of integrity!
Bringing it very much closer to home, feminist theologian
Rosemary Radford Ruether suggests the women get no credit
because their work in providing this food is also not counted:
“...the reason there was so much food was that all the women, as women are wont to do, brought picnic baskets, food enough for themselves, their children and one or two neighbours. So of course there was more than enough for all. But since the women and children were not counted, the gospel writer did not know where the food came from and presumed it was a miracle performed by Jesus” (Ruether 1996/www.looksmart.com).
In our time people react to the phrase - ‘besides’ or ‘not counting’ - the women and children in different ways.
Some with laughter.
Others with anger, sadness, or disgust.
But if you are a woman - one of those whose efforts don't always count -
neat theological justifications or interpretations are of little help.
oo0oo
Megan McKenna, whom I have already mentioned, is a catholic laywoman who has written on this story.
Let me share some of her suggestions...
She says such a phrase “besides” or “not counting” women and children
can mean literally that... But it can also mean the sick,
the elderly,
the prostitutes,
the separated and divorced,
lepers,
tax collectors,
the strangers,
Gentiles and outcasts within Jewish society.
"It means," she writes, "the bulk of the crowd, the majority of the throng of people who are the followers of Jesus, desperately in need of good news, of caring, and of being fed and given attention, love, dignity, understanding, and hope for the future" (McKenna 1994:16).
Notice how they are all people who have little hope!
Well, how can we, members of a religious community, the majority of whom are women,
connect with a story which does not ‘count’ the women and children?
Learning much from Megan McKenna, I offer two comments.
You may wish to consider them.
• As a church community may I suggest we need to look at priorities:
in budgets,
in ethical decisions,
in politics and programs.
We must start not with the 5,000 who make sure they are counted, heard from,
and included... those already 'in the club'.
Rather we must look to the vast majority
not counted,
not numbered,
not remembered.
And that may mean speaking out against government policies
in all the contentious areas decision making.
• And as a local congregation may I suggest
we need to look for those who are not included:
the unemployed,
those with mental illness,
the overseas adult student,
the religious ‘exile’…
oo0oo
That is what the 'good news' is about.
What this story is about.
What Matthew’s Jesus is about.
What ministry is about.
But perhaps the last word deserves to be given to Megan McKenna:
McKenna says:
“...there are all kinds of levels in understanding (this story). But it is an adage that the one that is most true is the one that calls a person to a more radical following of Jesus” (McKenna 1994:28).
Notes:
McKenna, M. 1994. Not counting the women. and children. Neglected stories from the bible. GtB: Tunbridge Wells. Burns & Oates.