This gospel begins by giving us a
glimpse of how Jesus encountered the crowd.
He taught them. He healed
them. And he did ever so much more. He no doubt noticed that they were weary—
weary of following him all day; weary of suffering; weary of being hungry;
weary of listening; weary, perhaps, even of life itself. Jesus is ever the compassionate One. Rather than dismissing the crowd to fend for
themselves and their needs, as the Twelve suggest, Jesus has them “sit
down.” He invites them to rest. He probably instilled in them a new kind of
expectation. Would the teaching and
healing continue, but now with them sitting and more comfortable? Yes, the teaching and healing would continue,
but not at all in the way they might have expected.
Something new was to unfold. Something entirely new was to happen.
We
are that crowd today. Jesus encounters
us in the same way as the crowd so long ago:
he teaches us, he heals us. And
he does so much more for us, too. Like
the crowd in the gospel, we, too, are weary—weary of terror and violence; weary
of nature’s storms and destruction; weary of illness and suffering; weary of
broken relationships and unkept promises; weary, perhaps, even of life
itself. Jesus invites us to come
together to “sit down” and rest. His
teaching and healing continue today as we proclaim the word and present our
needs to this Jesus who is ever the compassionate One. And, just like with the crowd long ago,
something entirely new is happening here, too.
Jesus
describes himself as the bread of life for a hungry world. Jesus fed the hungry and tired crowd with the
few meager loaves and fishes, and “all ate and were satisfied” and “the
leftover fragments . . . filled twelve wicker baskets.”
The twelve baskets of leftovers
indicate that in God’s kingdom there would be plenty, there would be abundance,
there would be fullness. All would be
fed. This kingdom is among us in Jesus’
Person and ministry. The miracle here
goes beyond the multiplication of food for weary, hungry people; the miracle is
really about Jesus’ self-giving, his continuing care, his divine Presence
freely given to people hungry and who are invited to eat and drink the heavenly
Food that only Jesus can provide. The
miracle told in this gospel is a foreshadowing of what he would do at the Last
Supper, what he would do with the two disciples at Emmaus after the
Resurrection. In all three instances of
eating, Jesus uses very similar words:
take, bless, break, and give.
These are the same actions we do today in our celebration of
Eucharist. Jesus today is feeding
us. But now not with multiplied loaves
and fishes, but with his very Self, his very Body and Blood.
Jesus
is ever the compassionate One. Each time
we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus continues to give himself to us as
our nourishment, as our heavenly Food.
He notices our needs, our weariness, our hungers and feeds us with his
very Body and Blood. No longer mere
bread and wine, what we receive through the action of the Holy Spirit is the
real Presence of the risen Christ.
Ordinary bread and wine are changed by the Holy Spirit into the truly
extraordinary Gift of His very Body and Blood.
The Blessed Sacrament has been
reserved beyond the celebration of the Eucharist from the earliest times. The primary purpose of this reservation is to
have the Bread from Heaven available for the sick and those who are dying. Jesus is ever the compassionate One. In our gravest need, he is there to
strengthen and nourish us. A second
purpose for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament is to have an extended
time for adoration outside of Mass. Here
we can take as much time as we want to adore the risen Christ present to us in
the reserved Blessed Sacrament.
Additionally, the multiplication of the loaves and the fish
in today’s Gospel is a lesson in sharing.
Jesus receives the gift of a few fish and five barley loaves and multiplies
these to feed more than five thousand.
Christ challenges us to offer the little we have – either time, talent,
or treasure – and trust that God can multiply our gift. In John’s account of the multiplication of
the loaves and fish, it is a young boy who gave his lunch away, risking to go
hungry.
The apostles want Jesus to dismiss the crows to take care of
themselves. This is practical advice,
but it does not reflect the values of the kingdom that Jesus wants to
teach. In the kingdom of God, people
look after one another; they do not push each other away the moment the needs
arise.
Just as Jesus asked the Twelve to distribute the bread and
the fish, he asks us to distribute ourselves as well as the goods of the earth
so that all may be fed, clothed, housed and rescued from chaos into peace. If we do this, the world will be realigned to
God’s will and the original design for creation. It will also cost us everything. Our willingness to do this, to allow this to
happen to us, is part of our response to God’s covenant with us.
Recognizing Jesus in the Eucharist demands that we recognize
Jesus also in the hungry crowd. Adoring Jesus
present in the Eucharist requires that we serve Jesus present in our neighbor. In the words of the dismissal rite at Mass, “go in peace
glorifying the lord by our lives,” this
is not a throw-away statement at the end of the Mass. Rather, this is the mission given to us as a
Eucharistic people, recognizing Jesus in the Eucharist demands that we
recognize Jesus also in the hungry crowd.
We are to be a Eucharistic people 24 hours a day in the ways we serve Jesus
present in our neighbor.
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