Immediately afterward, getting into the boat with his disciples, Jesus went to the district of Dalmanutha.
and away we go
to a place once known
but lost o’er timewe can almost hear
4,000 echoes still asking
who was that masked manin its anonymous state
we might imagine all places
filled with post-feast leftoversenough for seven sea crossings
bringing all shores together
mingling solids liquids and gasesout of excess seed plantings
continue 3 days to 33 years
night dreams to lived change
Destination: unknown.
Not only is it unknown, in and of itself, there is also no way to connect it with Matthew’s report of a feeding 4,000 and Jesus’ subsequent journey to Magadon or Magdala or Magdalon.
LaVerdiere211, raises the possibility of Dalmanutha being “a popular corruption of Tiberiadaamathous, a combination of Tiberias, the Roman city built as the capital of Galilee, and Am(m)a thous, the ancient town that was replaced by Tiberias.”
In the face of what is not known, what is known is that lives, hearts and minds will continue to be challenged/expanded and there will be an openness to those on the edge. Rhoads, in Anderson/173, puts it well, “The narrative explicitly rejects guarding boundaries by excluding people.”
What is harder to fathom in this rushed story of the Jeopardy of Jesus, an ancestor of the perils of Paul/Pauline, is why there is not a parallel danger on the sea. Surely there is still another revelation of Jesus that could have been brought into the story line to heighten the tension after another wonder-full recounting of feeding 4,000 with seven loaves and a few “little” fishes that mimic the “little” dogs who gather crumbs.
As it stands we have to await what danger is to be found on another shore rather than at sea.
This transition passage can give us pause to consider our own journey and where we are with the ancient Irish song, “I know where I’m going and I know who’s going with me” [https:// youtu.be/toTxKrVlCdM]. May you be steady as you go into every good wilderness and return retreat-ready for what is next.