August 3^rd 2014. Eighteenth  Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

_______________________________________________________________

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL:                                   Matthew 14:13-21
They all ate as much as they wanted.

When Jesus received this news he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.

When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food’. Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves’. But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish’. ‘Bring them here to me’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel from Matthew recounts the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Here we are presented with two different approaches to the problem of hunger. The disciples’ approach is one that looks at the situation in terms of the material resources available. “Let the people go into town and buy food with whatever money they have, and if they have none, let them go hungry”. This “solution” tries to tackle problems in terms of material resources, individual human capacities, whatever people have in their own pockets. Jesus proposes a different solution. First of all he rejects the disciples’ attitude that effectively leaves people to their own devices, eking out survival individually. Instead, Jesus asks that the disciples enter into relationship with the people. “You give them something to eat,” Jesus says. Secondly, Jesus asks that the meager resources that people have be given over to him to be transformed into something infinitely more fruitful. “Bring the five loaves and two fishes to me!” he says. This Gospel has an important message for Christian life. All too often we approach problems with a purely quantitative approach, measuring things in terms of their material value. When a problem presents itself, we ask ourselves if we have the personal capacities or physical resources to deal with the problem. But this approach will never solve human problems effectively! As the first reading says, we must first of all listen to the Lord if we are to manage the resources of this world properly. The material problems we have are often the result of a profound lack of listening to the Lord. Once we put the Lord first, carrying our miserable five loaves and two fishes to him, then he transforms our offering and makes it abundantly fruitful.

The first reading and Gospel both bid us to come and be nourished by the Lord

The first reading and the Gospel are related to each other on two levels. The first reading invites us to eat and drink though we have no money. Just the fact of being near to God is enough to guarantee nutrition. The Gospel from Matthew recounts the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the satisfaction of the multitude who had nothing to eat. The connection between the two passages is obvious, but there is another deeper connection that is worth reflecting on.

Two solutions to hunger: the disciples propose the first solution by saying “Let them feed themselves using their own resources”.

Jesus withdraws to a deserted place but he is soon joined by a multitude. Instead of being annoyed at this, he has compassion on the multitude. How often we are “disturbed” by the requests of those who are in unfortunate circumstances. And how important it is not to be annoyed but to have compassion. The decision is ours whether we allow ourselves to be upset by the requests of others or whether we respond with acts of mercy. After all, these are human beings in moments of need. In the Gospel passage, the compassion of Jesus is the key for understanding how he reacts to the situation. This compassion must be contrasted with the practical spirit of the apostles. They say, “It is already late and this is a lonely place. Allow the people to go into the village to buy themselves something to eat”. Here we are confronted to two solutions to the problems of the people’s hunger. On the one hand we can allow ourselves to be guided by logic and the force of necessity. The people can go into the village and buy whatever they can, depending on how much money they have. It is what is in their pockets that will determine how much, or whether, they will eat. It is not our problem but theirs! In this first solution proposed by the disciples, humanity is left to itself. Humanity, with its own resources, must solve its own problems. Normally, when we are left to ourselves, we try to make our way using our own muscles, our own capacities, our own solutions.

The second solution to hunger is proposed by Jesus: “Enter into relationship with those who hunger. Share your resources and allow them to be transformed by me”.

Jesus proposes a different solution that represents something novel breaking into history. “It is not necessary that they go into the village”. The disciples thought they were being very logical in pointing out that it was absolutely necessary that the people go into the village to buy food. Jesus shows how important it is to battle against our mental conceptions of necessity. Until we learn to contest our assumptions about what we are bound to do, we will not be capable of seeing the solutions that God proposes for our problems. Jesus says to the disciples, “You give them something to eat”. What Jesus is saying here is that there is another solution besides letting everyone look after themselves with their own resources, and the solution begins by entering into relationship with others. The disciples respond by giving Jesus a cold numerical analysis of the situation: “All we have are five loaves and two fishes”. How often we judge our situation in terms of how much we own, in terms of possessions, in terms of material resources. But we are more than what we have in our pockets! When we are in relation with God we are much more than our material resources. Our material resources are transformed by God.

We tend to respond to our problems by looking at the material resources we have available. But this Gospel shows us that the amount of those resources is secondary. What is primary is to entrust what we have to the Lord

Jesus says, “Bring the loaves and fishes to me! If this is all you have, then give them to me!” There is a kind of triangular relationship here which is curious. The crowd have this meagre amount to eat. The disciples must enter into relationship with the crowd, but they must hand the resources over to Jesus in order that they might be fruitful. We tend to calculate our resources in logical terms,  measuring the quantity of material things or physical capacities that we have at hand. But when these things are handed over to Christ, when we enter into relationship with him and respond to his demand, “Bring them to me!” then how things are transformed! The five loaves and two fishes did not come from Christ but from the people. But when Christ took these things then the people ate and were satisfied. This is how the Church goes on and how we live out discipleship.

Eating food and listening to the word of God might seem like different things, but they are deeply related. Our management of the resources of this world must be guided by a profound listening to the word of God. Only then will the resources of this world become truly fruitful and succeed in feeding the hungry

Let us return now to the first reading from Isaiah and consider again the deeper level of relationship between it and the Gospel. There is a strange phrase: “Listen to me and you will eat good things”. But surely listening and eating are different actions altogether? Jesus, however, quoted scripture during his temptation when he said, “Man does not leave on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. There is a relation between listening to God and eating, between bread and the word. Often our problems and economic crises derive from a profound lack of listening by humanity to the truth. When the human being places himself in a relationship with God, handing his resources over to the Lord, then those resources become truly fruitful.