Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 10, 2018 - Saturday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34 and Mark 8:1-10]"Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?" [Mark]
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2018 ST. SCHOLASTICA, osb
The disciples' question is a strange one when one remembers that in Mark 6:34-44 Jesus has already multiplied bread for a multitude. Scripture scholars believe that the same story is being used both times but in different contexts. Otherwise, the disciples' question makes no sense. How could they have forgotten the first instance? The message is the same in terms of Jesus feeding the multitudes with the bread of life, but the first setting seems to be exclusively Jewish and the second setting a Gentile one. The evangelist may have had both traditions on hand and included them to show that Jesus' mission was not just to the Jews. In both cases, however, the disciples once more fail to understand who Jesus really is.
Two questions pop up in my head as a result of these two stories, and they are related to each other. Do we understand what is meant by "the Bread of Life" when we receive communion? The second is, "Do we really know who Jesus is?" On a Sunday, with a long line of communicants in front of me, I get a notion of feeding the multitudes and wonder what is going on in their hearts as to the significance of this event.
It is worthwhile to read both accounts of the multiplication of loaves and fishes and appreciate the art of the evangelist in shaping his story of Jesus. Perhaps we can see our own story there, too. AMEN