18th Sunday Week in Ordinary Time
Is 55: 1-3; Rom 8: 35, 37-39; Mt 14: 13-21
Dc. Larry Brockman
Why don’t we take a little pilgrimage together today in our minds. Imagine that you are the boy with the 5 loaves and two fish in the Gospel story. Together with your parents, you are going to see what this popular teacher, Jesus, has to say. A huge crowd of over 15,000 people are there with you on the shores of the lake at the village. Yes, 15,000, not just 5,000 because 5,000 was just the men. And 15,000 would have been an immense number of people in that day and age, one third of the population of Jerusalem . It fact, it was the largest crowd Jesus ever addressed in his three year career.
Back to you, now- the kid with the food. You were prepared for lunch; but most of the folks around you were not. After all they thought they could always visit the market close by if they got hungry. But now, the great crowd around you sees that Jesus is headed off in a boat with his disciples. Somebody shouts out “He’s headed towards Bethsaida”. And, in a frenzy, everyone moves out to try to beat Jesus there- about twice the distance by land than by boat. Imagine how enthusiastic the crowd must have been to walk, even trot most of the way. Nobody had time to stop and get food; and everybody was pretty well spent by the time they get there. But they were in luck, because they beat the boat there.
Moved with pity, Jesus proceeds to preach to the crowd. In a sense He was moved to feed them what they came for- His stories about the good news, the kingdom of God. And Jesus heals many of them for good measure.
As all this happens, time flies by, and now it is evening. You are in a deserted place, hours from any market or restaurant. Everyone is hungry; you hear the disciples and crowd talking about it. And you realize you’ve got some food- five little buns and two dried up fish. You go to the teacher’s disciples and offer to give up what you have so it can be shared with everyone else. Suddenly, you are being told to take them directly to Jesus. Jesus looks up to heaven, blesses the food, and asks the 15,000 people to recline. Bible scholars tell us that the words in Greek were like a request to be seated at a formal banquet. And so the 15,000 people recline in neat little circles, as at a banquet, in the lush green grass- no panic, no skepticism, no resistance to the Lord’s orders. And there is plenty of food for all 15,000 people!
Let me make a couple of observations here. First, this was the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels except for the Resurrection itself- the one and only. So, it must have been considered significant and important. Second, there are few if any books in antiquity that describe miracle workers and their deeds- so Jesus is unique. And lastly 12 large whicker baskets of remnants are both literally and symbolically huge. In first century Palestine, there was seldom enough food to totally satisfy 15,000 people at a time. But in fact, after they have had their fill, there were 12 large whicker hampers full of food left! Twelve symbolizes abundance; and so from five loaves and two fish, twelve baskets implies tremendous abundance.
What a miracle, what an experience. But what does it really all mean? Is the message summed up in the magnitude of the miracle? Was the message that Jesus was proven to be God because only God is capable of such miracles? Or was there a deeper message for us?
Well, consider this: Jesus was primarily concerned with feeding souls in this story. All day long he had told them of the Kingdom of God and had urged them to repent. He had told them that they could make a difference if they did that. Jesus first reaction to the disciple’s message that the people were hungry is one of surprise. He orders the disciples to feed them. It’s as if he is saying “I have been feeding them the bread of life all day long; you can take care of their temporal needs.” So, had his real message fallen on deaf ears? Because after all of that teaching, the people were now concerned about food, they were not fired up over His message.
Now if you truly played the role of the boy with the basket of food in this story, then you should recognize that you were loving and generous. In the face of impossible odds, you offered what little you had without hesitation for the good of all. The disciples in John’s Gospel accounts are sarcastic about it. “There is a boy with 5 barley loaves and two fish, but what is that among so many”? But the child, the boy, is an innocent, and offers his food unencumbered by those odds. And from that source of food, an abundance flows. How ironic that the young boy with the meager lunch would show them what could happen if they really listened to Jesus and lived his message of love.
Our Isaiah reading, today, emphasizes the abundance of blessings available from God. And so, perhaps this miracle is a message to all of us that no matter how small our contribution, If we offer it to God with humility, sincerity, and good intentions, as the boy with the five loaves did, then God will respond to us with abundance.
We are lacking much in today’s world. There are terrible things going on in the Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Palestine. We are still hampered by a sluggish economy at home; and we see moral decay all around us in the media. This can all seem overwhelming to us. And so we come here to Church each week hoping to hear something that will help, just like the 15,000 people on a deserted slope in Palestine did 2000 years ago. Perhaps, just perhaps, we need to be like the boy that offered his food. Rather than what you can get, what can you give. Whatever it is that you have in means, talent, or time, figure out how to do your part. Then offer something up sincerely and with humility. Not just one or two of you. But as Father Ennis says- “All of you”. And then watch the abundance flow from God because God can make a difference.
Tags: The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish; Offering what we have