Reading: Matthew 14:13-21 – From our Reading: Do we send them away or do we feed them? Here is a profound moral question that Jesus addressed, and which we must now face with Climate Change impacting our globalised world. How might this be you ask?

Last month I was in Indonesia to review the satellite detection of illegal fires destroying rainforests. Most of the fires are to establish palm oil plantations. Not only are vital ecosystems being destroyed, it is also causing significant increases in atmospheric CO2. To combat Climate Change, this project is part of the Indonesian-Australian Forest Carbon Partnership signed by the President of Indonesia and Prime Minister of Australia in 2008.

On my business card I list “Eco-theology” as one of my passions and I was quizzed as to its relevance to the project. My answer was “The practise of Hope in the face of Adversity”. I will explain with these four symbols and our Gospel reading of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. (Symbols: an Orangutan, a Dyak artefact, Tim Tams and African figurines)..

The Forest Fire Service of Indonesia in Borneo and Sumatra combats these illegal rainforest fires which destroy the habitat of the Orangutan. The Orangutan feeds largely on the fruit of the forest canopy, distributing the seeds widely so that the rainforest continually regenerates. The Fire Service have adopted as their logo the Orangutan, which means “Man of the Forest” as it represents the Divine wisdom of the rainforest. Wisdom, which Christians recognise in human form in Jesus of Nazareth..

The Dyaks are the indigenous people of Borneo who depend on these same rainforests, tapping raw latex from the trunks of the trees, forming it into 20kg blocks. I saw them roped together into rafts that had been floated down the river to be sold. Artefacts are made from the latex. Like this one, given to me by my Dyak colleague. Dyaks and Orangutans have lived together in harmony for 1000s of years, sustained by an ecological system rich in species diversity. The latex is a gift of the earth represented in our reading today by the loaves and fishes..

Rainforest replacement by palm oil plantations is to meet our demand for a cheap vegetable oil for products such as Tim Tams, many other confectionary products, cosmetics, soaps and biodiesel. To support our lavish lifestyle the Orangutan is being driven to extinction and the Dyaks made into day labours not longer in control of their destiny. .

Jesus lived in a similar situation, where the Roman Empire sought to remake the world in its own image, taking from the vulnerable to grow the wealth of their Empire, displacing many from their land.

All life is inter-connected as we share the same great Arial Ocean, from which we breathe oxygen provided free by the plants of the earth and into which we return our waste CO2. The plants of the earth reabsorb some of this CO2 giving us the gifts of food and natural materials. However the Industrial Economies are dumping up to 100x more CO2 per capita into our Atmosphere than the poor, overwhelming this re-absorption. A consequence is Climate Change. One effect is warming and declining rainfall in our own South West and in other regions as far away as Somalia. We the rich, counter this by importing food, buying air conditioners, building swimming pools and de-salination plants. No such luxury in Somalia. Australia`s Foreign Minister is this week seeking major international aid to avoid mass starvation. But this is a Band Aid. We have to address the underlying cause which presents us with the “greatest moral challenge of our time”..

Jesus faced a parallel challenge in the Feeding of the Five Thousand a theme echoed in the Lords Prayer`s “Give us this day our daily bread” with the poor always living on the verge of starvation. The difference now is not 5000 but 5 billion people plus the enormous Carbon waste of the Industrial Economies..

Recapping the symbolism. First we have the 5000 people hungry and in need (pointing to the African figurines). Secondly we have our modern Industrial Economy with all the intellectual and material resources needed, not only to provide food aid but also to solve the fundamental causes of Climate Change (pointing to the Tim Tams). Thirdly we have God`s gifts that sustains all life on earth (pointing to the latex artefact) represented in our reading by the loaves and fishes. Fourthly we have the wisdom of creation revealed in the teaching and life of Jesus and God`s gift of scientific knowledge (pointing to the Orangutan)..

The Feeding of the Five Thousand can now be understood in the context of this “great moral crisis”..

The disciples` response to the impending need of the 5000 was “Send them away”..... “Send them away”, back to Indonesia back to Afghanistan or down to MacDonald`s to fend for themselves. A common response we hear and read daily..

“Sit them down” was the response from Jesus. “Sit them down” and with what little he had, he “Takes, Blesses, Breaks and Shares”. All are fed and there is a surplus from the Miracle that comes from an equitable sharing of the gifts from God`s earth. .

In the Church today where do we re-enact the actions of Jesus, of “ Taking, Blessing, Breaking and Sharing”?. Yes the Eucharist. From this perspective the bread symbolises our commitment to the sharing of God`s earth. The wine our commitment to the sacrifice required of us for this sharing to be a reality. We remember that in such sharing Jesus confronted the vested interests of the Industrial Economy. He died because he threatened their profits. The empty Cross now confronts the domination systems that oppress the vulnerable and the Resurrection is the transformation that results from our sacrificial sharing. .

Ecclesiastes, somewhat a pessimist of the Old Testament, had these words to say: You have now heard it all. Stand in awe of Nature and do what it requires of you, for this is the whole duty of humankind. For everything we do, Nature will bring to judgement, even everything hidden, whether it be good or evil. .

Yes, the atmosphere has a long memory of that which has long been hidden and is now being visited upon us. But God in Nature has an even longer memory, which when its gifts are equitably shared, the “greatest moral crisis of our time” can be resolved. Only then does Eco-theology become the “Practise of Hope in the Face of the Adversity”. AMEN

References:
Lloyd Geering, 2010, Such is Life! A close encounter with Ecclesiastes. p.194
Michael S. Northcut, 2007, A Moral Climate: the ethics of global warming. pp. 336