Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 26, 2009 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[2 Kings 4:41-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15]Philip answered [Jesus], "Two hundred days' wages worthy 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?"
The "Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes" is the only sign that Jesus gives which appears in all four gospel accounts! That alone should alert us to its importance in the story of Jesus' ministry and message. If one has the time, it would be worth the effort to read all five of the accounts (Matthew has two!) and compare them! There are all kinds of eucharistic overtones including allusions to Elijah (cf the first reading for this Sunday) and God and Moses feeding the Chosen People in the desert, with a view to what Jesus would do later on at the Last Supper. At the present moment, I am writing this at a retreat facility in Palm Beach, FL, where I am presenting a retreat to candidates for the Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Palm Beach. Their spouses are also here. The theme of the retreat is "The Loaves and Fishes: the challenge of service!" It seems to me that one feature of all the gospel accounts of this incident is the helplessness demonstrated by the disciples in the face of so great a need (or challenge). Jesus simply tells them to give him all that they have - the five loaves and two fish! We just know that he blessed this meager amount and the crowd was fed. We don't know the mechanics of the event (explanations of sharing, etc. etc.). For these wonderful men and women here on retreat (the wives may not be ordained but they are very much a part of the diaconal ministry) my initial hope is that my meager resources will feed them, and that they will similarly realize that they can bring their own resources to God's people with God's help. AMEN