Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 12, 2022 - Saturday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 3:9-24 and Mark 8:1-10]In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat......" [Mark]
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (and fishes) appears in all four gospels, but each evangelist uses it differently to tell his story of Jesus. In the gospels of Mark and Matthew, it is used twice! Today we have the second account in the Gospel According to Mark. Scripture scholars debate the reason for the second account. There is the "eucharistic" level in which Jesus takes bread, blesses it and gives it to the disciples to give to the crowd. There is the broad but ancient belief that the first incident was for Jews and the second for Gentiles. The general theme in Mark of the inability of the disciples to understand Jesus' mission until his death is on full display because they don't seem to remember the first multiplication! I urge the Beloved Congregation (when you have time) to compare not only the two accounts in Mark (and Matthew) and the ones in Luke and John, to understand how the same incident figures differently in each portrait of Jesus.
In my own case, I recall the lines from Ps. 104: 27-28 and 145:15-16 (in an older translation): "The hand of the Lord feeds us: he answers all our needs." Jesus' compassion for the crowd in all these accounts comes through clearly and he responds to the need. Each celebration of the Eucharist can recall the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the Last Supper, and the simple celebration with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. [Luke 24:29-35] We are now included in that great narrative of the Lord's feeding! AMEN