Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 13, 2010 - Blessed Jordan of Saxony OP - priest
[1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34 and Mark 8:1-10]"My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance." His disciples answered him, "Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?"
How one understands the event of today's gospel is often revealed by the way one refers to it. If one speaks of the "multiplication of the loaves and fishes," one might be emphasizing the physical side of the miracle. If one speaks of "feeding the crowd," one might be emphasizing the pastoral response of Jesus to the needs of the people. The "eucharistic" value of the sign is also another point of emphasis. Jesus blesses the bread, breaks it, and distributes it to the disciples who distribute it to the people. It is a very rich story, but there seems to be another agenda at work - the agenda of the gospel writer. This is the second time Mark mentions an event of this nature. Did Jesus do it twice? Matthew reports it twice, but Luke and John report it only once. Mark's agenda seems to appear in the question asked by the disciples. If this is the second time Jesus does this, why would the disciples have any doubt about what could be done? Their question is not rhetorical! They just don't seem to "get it." The reason appears to be in the way in which Mark presents Jesus as only being understood completely when he suffers and dies and rises. This "way of the cross" must be the way for the disciple. The eucharist will not make sense except in the light of the cross. AMEN