During the month of August, the Sunday Gospel readings are extracts from chapters 14 to 16 of St Matthew’s Gospel. Many people see these chapters as Jesus laying down the foundation of the church. As we would expect Jesus is not doing this by giving his disciples a ready-made constitution a blue print mainly to satisfy bureaucrats of the Charity Commission or the managers of the Lambeth Conference. No – instead – Jesus takes his friends on a hectic journey through Northern Palestine. They are in and out of boats, up and down mountains, listening to sermons and witnessing miracles. He teaches them about who he really is. He warns them about hypocrisy. He performs numerous healings especially on people whom the disciples would rather have him ignore. He miraculously feeds thousands of followers. He walks on water (and encourages Peter also to do so!). And finally, he reveals that all this will lead to his own suffering and glorification. Yes, let us not forget his glorification (chapter 17, especially celebrated in August as the festival of the Transfiguration on 6 August this year transferred to 7 August). What emerges from these pages is not a picture of the church as an institution but the church as a band of people. People restlessly seeking a deeper understanding of Jesus as healer, teacher and saviour. A group of people being on the one hand coaxed and encouraged and on the other hand set on fire with enthusiasm. The church as a group of people that ultimately is to glow with the unspeakable glory of the cross.
Bernhard Schunemann
