The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072824.cfm
O God, protector of those who hope in you,
without whom nothing has firm foundation,
nothing is holy, bestow in abundance your mercy
upon us and grant that,
with you as our ruler and guide,
we may use the good things that pass
in such a way as to hold fast even now
to those that ever endure,
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
(Collect of Sunday)
If you ever wonder about the generosity of
God, just think of today’s Gospel. The
miraculous feeding of more than 5000 hungry people, “as much as they wanted,”
must have been astonishing, not to mention all that was left over! This became
apparently more than just some for many but rather a feast of bread and fish
for they all ate and were satisfied. So impressive was this event that each of
the four Gospel writers relates, albeit in somewhat varied way, this miracle or
"sign" as John refers to the miracles of Jesus; an indication, a
sign, of who he is.
It is a rather popular interpretation of this
event to turn away from the miraculous nature of it to place a more relational
interpretation. In other words, some
have said that the real miracle was not that Jesus literally produced more food
from nowhere but that the throngs were moved by Jesus to share the food they
had with each other so that no one would to without. Hmm, don’t buy that.
John in our Gospel passage this day calls
this event a “sign” a miracle that reveled who Jesus is. He means exactly what it says, a miraculous
event that defied the natural order – Jesus produced more food. Secondly, he states that the fragments
gathered into 12 baskets, were fragments of bread from the five loaves that
Jesus was given, they were not scattered remnants of food that people shared
from their own supply. They had no food to share; they were tired and hungry,
so our Lord supplied food for the them from a meager amount out of compassion.
The parallels with Moses in the desert, God’s
miraculous manna “bread from heaven” that sustained the Hebrew band along their
way, and the fact that Jesus, like Moses, went up the mountain to teach are
clear in this. John presents Jesus as
the new Moses for his people who will lead them to the promised land.
And, importantly for us as well, as for the
early Christians, it was a memory, for some an experience, and for all a
foreshadow of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus, the Bread of Life which sustains us on
our journey.
There are multiple other examples that Jesus
always responded in a lavish, unexpected way to those who asked him. The ultimate example of course was the
sacrifice of his own life for the sake of restoring a broken humanity with God
and his promise of eternal life for those who believe. What more could he possibly have done that
would prove God will never be equaled in his giving?
This Sunday’s familiar Gospel story about
feeding thousands of hungry people is far more than an amazing tour de force.
Did Jesus do this to draw attention to himself and his power? The crowds saw the potential of what more
could be done by him as king. John states: “Jesus knew that they were going
to come and carry him off to make him king,” so “he withdrew again to the
mountain alone.” (Jn 6: 15).
The impoverished crowds, understandably,
wanted to make him their king. In doing
so he would release the bondage of Rome and create a nation in which prosperity
would reign, because he had the power to do so, or so the crowds assumed. For
that reason, Jesus ran away from them for he was not the kind of Messiah they
imagined.
As the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John
continues in the next weeks, we will see a deepening of this miraculous
event. That Jesus himself is the “bread
from heaven.” That the true bread he will give will bring eternal life; it will
be our food for the journey in this life as we look toward the next.
The sign is not centered only on what Jesus
can do but rather on who he is. In both word and action, he uncovers the truth
of God’s mystery. Faith in him will
bring abundance – not wealth and power but God’s grace and eternal life.
In our Mass, the “summit of the Christian
life,” we are on a mountain with the Lord as the crowds who shared in that
miraculous moment. Jesus created with them and now with us, a connection, a
sense of community with himself as the source of that event. So too in the liturgy, we come together as
brothers and sisters in the Lord and a sense of community is present. Our
liturgies since the reform of Vatican II have done this powerfully. St. Paul
reminds us today from Ephesians, that we “preserve the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace.” The Eucharist by its nature implies unity and
creates a unity of believers in Christ.
In the miracle story, Jesus “took the
loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them.” So too in the Mass, bread is
received, offered in thanksgiving, transformed to his presence, and then
distributed so that all can be fed. This bread is not like the bread they ate
or the manna in the desert we hear referred to by Elisha the prophet in the
first reading. This bread will satisfy
in a way unlike barely loaves and fish only give temporary relief.
Many are gathered, a sense of community, a
word is shared, food is offered then transformed, and we are fed and sent to
carry on his work. If that doesn’t
create a feeling of awe and wonder nothing will. When you attend Mass plug into
this great mystery and find a deeper respect.
Don’t ever take this for granted because there is nothing that will ever
equal what God has done and continues to do in and through his Church.
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