Edible Proof
Jul. 28: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We need to eat. The Bible features many miracles of feeding large groups of people, from mana in the desert to Jesus feeding the multitudes in today’s Gospel. All of this ties Jesus to the earliest days of the Israelites, but He’s also something more. He feeds us with His own body and blood at every mass.
Reading 1
2 Kgs 4:42-44
A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God, twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits, and fresh grain in the ear. Elisha said, "Give it to the people to eat."
But his servant objected, "How can I set this before a hundred people?"
Elisha insisted, "Give it to the people to eat." "For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'" And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said.
Jesus' multiplication of loaves and fish is well known; this story about Elisha is perhaps less well known.1 But even before that, Elisha's predecessor Elijah extended the widow's flour and oil so she and her son wouldn't starve.2
These stories remind us that Jesus didn't exist in isolation, but rather as part of a continuity with Jewish prophets. In continuity, but greater—both in quantity (He fed more people, and did it more than once) and quality (including fish, not just bread).
The prophets are great and deserve reverence; Jesus is greater and deserves worship.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18
R. (cf. 16) The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
Reading about a miracle like the multiplication of the loaves and fish, we might feel jealous for a seeming lack of miracles in our own lives. But consider the miracle of existence.
Our planet is exactly the right distance from the sun—not too hot, not too cold. We have the exact right mixture of oxygen in our air. The fundamental forces are in balance, DNA transmits information across generations, the list goes on…
These are all so extremely unlikely that "miracle" is the only way to describe them.
Reading 2
Eph 4:1-6
Brothers and sisters: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
When Jesus fed the crowd, He didn't check each person individually to see if they deserved it. He didn't ask who had enough money that they could've bought lunch; He didn't look for who had sinned recently or not.
He opened His generosity to everyone, because they were all a part of His body, the Church. They were all children of God, rich or poor, man or woman, slave or free.
And so are we. That's how Jesus treats us, and so Paul rightly reminds us that's how we should treat each other.
Alleluia
Lk 7:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A great prophet has risen in our midst.
God has visited his people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus is a great prophet, and so much more.
Gospel
Jn 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"
He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little."
One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?"
Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
The multiplication of the loaves and fish is the only miracle that occurs in all four Gospels (other than the Resurrection, of course). The details vary a little bit (here, Jesus is the one who asks about food, not the Apostles), but it definitely happened at least once.3
In John’s telling, he wants us to think about the Eucharist—later in this same chapter, Jesus says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”4
Jesus is happy feeding people, but he’s not interested in self-aggrandizement. They want to make him king! And although that’s the plan eventually, He’s not ready for it. They’re not ready for the kind of king he’s going to be.
At least, to me. I always forget about it.
Matthew and Mark both record two instances.