17th Sunday in Ordinary Time B – July 28, 2024
2 kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15
Theme:
“The Hand of the Lord Feeds Us; He Answers All Our Needs”
Last
Sunday’s Gospel, taken from chapter 6 of the Gospel of Mark, was the story of
the return of the Twelve apostles from their mission. To avoid people’s
disturbance, Jesus and his disciples went on a boat to a private place to rest.
However, a large crowd followed them on foot and arrived before them. Seeing their
determination and hunger for him, Jesus had compassion for them. The crowd was
portrayed as the sheep without a shepherd. Jesus, acting as the Good Shepherd, took
care of them, first, by teaching them the Word of God (Mark 6:30-34) and second,
by feeding them with physical food (see the story of the Feeding of the Five
Thousand, which immediately follows last Sunday’s Gospel [Mark 6:35-44].) Today,
we read the story of Jesus feeding Five thousand people, not from Mark’s Gospel but from John’s version. Note that for
the next five Sundays, the Church sets aside the reading of the Gospel of Mark
and suggests a meditation on the “Bread of Life” discourse found in chapter six
of the Gospel of John. The passage we heard today introduces us to this long
meditation. Jesus miraculously fed over five thousand people who followed him.
Elisha, in the first reading, fed a hundred people also miraculously. Paul
gives us ethical instruction from the prison, which summons us to a life
“worthy of the call [we] have received.” We sang with our Psalmist, "The
hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.”
What
the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) call “miracles’, John calls them
“signs.” He recorded seven of them in his Gospel. This one we read today is the
fourth sign and the only one found in all four Gospels (occurring twice in
Mattew and Mark and once in Luke.) John’s version differs from the Synoptics,
notably in the roles of Philip and Andrew, the proximity of the Passover (see
v. 4), the allusion to Elisha (see v. 9,) and the connotation of a new exodus. As
an introduction to chapter 6, our story serves as an entry point into the
discourse on Jesus, the Bread of Life that the sacred author develops in 6:22-71.
Today’s Gospel text is the “miracle” account with profound allegories. The
author first gives the setting: the sign took place across the Sea of Galilee
on an unnamed mountain, the Passover feast was near, and the crowd followed
Jesus because they saw the signs he performed on the sick (vv. 1-4). Then, he narrates
the details of the sign (vv. 5-14). He ends the story as he began it: Jesus returning
to the mountain. (v. 15).
The evangelist
commences our text with “After this,” which alludes to a tough debate between
Jesus and the Jews in chapter 5. Jesus cured a man at the pool on the Sabbath
(5:1-9); the Jews were against and began to persecute Jesus and even tried to
kill him because, according to them, Jesus first broke the Sabbath, and second,
he called God his Father, making himself equal to God (5:10-47). Our text picks
up from here. After all this drama, Jesus left the Jews and crossed the Sea of
Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd followed him. The narrator
gives the motivation for their following Jesus: The signs Jesus performed on
the sick (v.2). These signs are the healing of the royal official’s son (second
sign) (4:46-54) and the cure of the man at the pool on a Sabbath (the third
sign) (5:1-9). Jesus continues to perform multiple signs in our lives,
families, and societies today. Our lives are the first and most significant
sign. Let us look at all the blessings we receive from God and use them as our
motivation to follow him.
The
narrator adds two essential details alluding to the Exodus experience. The
first detail situates Jesus up on the mountain (v. 3). The evangelist intended
probably to portray Jesus as the new Moses. The second detail associates the
Jewish feast of Passover with this sign of the multiplication of the loaves and
feeding of over five thousand people (v. 4). Note that the Jews celebrate the
feast of Passover every year to commemorate the day God liberated their
ancestors from the slavery in Egypt. So, by situating Jesus up on the Mountain
and mentioning that the Jewish feast of Passover was near, the evangelist tried
to teach his audience and us that Jesus is the new Moses, who feeds us, not
with manna, but with his Body and Blood to grant us eternal life. The Jews celebrate
the Passover feast with unleavened bread, and in our Gospel story, Jesus also
fed the crowds with loaves of bread. Here, the evangelist means that Jesus is
the Bread of Life. Whoever eats his Flesh and drinks his Blood has eternal
life.
In
the body of the text, the narrator stresses some essential points. (1) On the
mountain, Jesus raises his eyes and sees the large crowd approaching him (v. 5a).
In biblical language, the mountain is the place of the meeting with God. It symbolizes
the place for prayer. Saying that Jesus is on the mountain is to say he is in
intimate contact with his Father through prayer, which allows him to raise his
eyes, see the crowd coming to him, and realize their needs. Our local Church is
our “mountain” where we come into intimate contact with God our Father in the
Eucharistic celebration. Our families and hearts are also the “mountains” where
we meet God and pray to him. A prayer life enables us to raise our eyes, see all
people who approach us, and realize how much they need our attention, smile, encouragement,
love, and help. Let us always be in permanent contact with our Lord through
prayer, enabling us to see and help our needy brothers and sisters.
(2)
Unlike in the Synoptic Gospels, in John, Jesus takes the initiative to find a
way to feed the crowd through his question to Philip. Also, Jesus is not
ignorant but aware of everything because he knows what he will do. The
disciples do not understand how the crowd can be fed (5b-7.) This parallels Elisha’s
servant, who did not comprehend how twenty barley loaves could feed a hundred people,
as Elisha instructed them in our first reading (see 2Kgs 4:42-44). This section
teaches us that we should not necessarily wait for the people to ask before we
can help. Instead, like Jesus, we should realize the needs of the people and
initiate actions to come to their aid. Also, like Jesus’ disciples in the Gospel
and Elisha’s servants in the first reading, our lack of understanding and trust
in God’s power prevents us from doing good. We do not need to have abundance before
we help. Jesus and Elisha call us to assist people with all we have, even little
ones, with great faith.
(3)
The five barley loaves and two fish that Jesus multiplies miraculously did not
come from the disciples but from one boy in the crowd. Jesus instructs his
disciples to have everybody recline on a great deal of glass, which invokes the
memory of Psalm 23:2, “In green pastures, he makes me lie down.” (NABRE).
Meanwhile, he takes the five loaves of bread, gives thanks, and himself, not
the disciples, distributes them with the fish to the people (vv. 8-11.) Here,
the evangelist introduces us to the mystery of the Mass, especially the part of
the consecration. First, our Holy Mother Church teaches us that, like the boy
of our Gospel who brought his food and presented it to Jesus, when we come to
Church for Mass, each individual brings gifts to God (Treasures, Talents, and
Times). Jesus uses and blesses what we have and what we present to him to take
care of our Church and our brothers and sisters. Second, Jesus's actions in
multiplying the five barley loaves and two fish (taking, giving thanks, and
distributing) echo the Eucharistic memory. The word “thanks” in Greek eucharisteo means Eucharist. This
is the moment of consecration of the Mass, during which, through the hands of
the priest who acts in persona Christi, the gifts we bring to the altar
are transformed miraculously. The simple bread and wine become the Body and
Blood of Christ; our offering (checks, cash, and goods) become spiritual resources
to help the Church and God’s people; our prayer intentions, for example,
sadness, anxiety, and any difficulties we go through, get transformed into joy,
happiness, and any solution we need. Third, when it is time for the Holy
Communion, Jesus himself shares his Body and Blood with us through the ordained
and Eucharistic ministers. Jesus uses their hands at this specific moment to
feed his people. The time for the Holy Communion is a very special time during
which we enter into mystical contact with Christ and become one with him and
one with our fellow Christians. This is the unity that Saint Paul invites us to
preserve in the second reading we heard (Eph 4:1-6).
(4)
Over five thousand people ate at their fill. Jesus ordered his disciples to
pick up the leftovers, not to waste them. Twelve baskets of the fragments were
collected. The number twelve alludes to the twelve tribes of Israel and means here
all humanity, including us today. So, all people are “collected” with the
intention not to waste them but to save them. In seeing this sign or “miracle,”
the crowd considered Jesus as a prophet who was to come into the world. Probably,
they had in mind a prophet like Moses or Elijah (see note on Jn 1:21; Dt 18:15;
Mal 3:1, 23) (vv. 12-14). Jesus
continues to order his ministers of our time to “collect us” so that we might
not be wasted but be saved. As baptized Christians, we, too, are Jesus’
disciples today where we live. Our mission is to collect our brothers and
sisters so they might not be “wasted” but saved. We accomplish this mission when
we let prayer life nurture our relationships with God and our fellow humans;
when we raise our spiritual eyes and see the needs of the people and come to
their aid, even with little things we have; when we bring our offering (Treasure,
Talents, and Time) and let Jesus use them and transform them to bless the
people and serve his Church. Jesus’ mission is to lose no one. His mission is
our mission. Let us not lose anyone.
The
evangelist ends our Gospel story with a note saying that Jesus, knowing the crowd's
intention to carry him off and make him king, withdrew again to the mountain
alone (v. 15). He started the story with Jesus going up on the mountain, and he
finished it with Jesus going back to the mountain. I mentioned above that in
the biblical language, the “mountain” is the place of the meeting with God. So,
in our Gospel, Jesus enters into an intimate relationship with his Father in prayer
before and after he ministers to the crowd. He sets an example for us. Prayer
must be our daily spiritual food. Before and after important activities we do,
we should involve God.
Through
the liturgy of this Mass, let us pray to God that we become the men and women
of prayer, capable of seeing the needs of our brothers and sisters, coming to
their aid, and “picking them up” so that they may not be wasted but saved. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
