18th Sunday
Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 14:13-21
This Sunday’s Readings
First Reading
Isaiah 55:1-3
The Lord will renew his covenant with the descendents of David.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 145:8-9,15-18
The Lord provides for his people.
Second Reading
Romans 8:35,37-39
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus feeds the crowd with five loaves and two fish.
Background on the Gospel Reading
Today we jump ahead in our reading of Matthew’s Gospel to Chapter 14. Last week we heard Jesus conclude his discourse with the crowds about the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew’s narrative, Jesus then leaves the crowds and returns to Nazareth, where he is rejected. Matthew then recounts the story of John the Baptist’s arrest and execution at the hands of Herod. Today’s Gospel reading begins at this point.
Upon hearing the news of the death of John the Baptist, Jesus seeks to withdraw, but the crowds follow him. Jesus reaches out to them in compassion and heals the sick. At the end of a long day, the disciples encourage Jesus to send the crowds away so that they might find provisions for themselves. Jesus again responds with compassion for the crowd. Jesus tells his disciples to provide food for the crowd. The disciples reply with a report of the meagerness of their own provisions—five loaves and two fish. The result is the very familiar miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that 5,000 men were fed, and this number does not even include the women and children.
Jesus’ blessing brought abundance from the meager provisions of the disciples. In this action, Jesus offers us a sign of the Kingdom of Heaven that he has been teaching about in the parables. A feast results from the smallest of portions—remember the mustard seed and the yeast. In this miracle we witness an example for Christian life and ministry. Even the smallest of offerings can produce abundant results when placed in the service of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We find the story of Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and the fish in each of the four Gospels. In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus performs this same miracle on two separate occasions. The story of this miracle is an anticipation of the Eucharist in which we are fed by the abundant grace of God. The importance of the Eucharist has been a defining element of Christian life from the very beginning.
Taking responsibility for others
Pope Francis
This Sunday’s Gospel presents to us the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (see Mt 14,13-21). The scene takes place in a deserted place, where Jesus had retired with His disciples. But the people found Him so as to listen to Him and to be healed: indeed, His words and His gestures restore and bring hope. At sundown, the crowd was still present and the disciples, practical men, invited Jesus to send them away so that they could go and find something to eat. But He answered: “You give them something to eat” (v. 16). We can imagine the disciples’ faces! Jesus was well aware of what He was about to do, but He wanted to change their attitude: not to say, “send them away,” “let them fend for themselves”, “let them find something to eat”, but rather, “what does Providence offer us to share?” These are two opposite ways of behaving. And Jesus wants to bring them to the second way of behaving because the first proposal is that of the practical person, but is not generous: “send them away so they can go and find, let them fend for themselves.” Jesus thinks another way. Jesus wants to use this situation to educate His friends, both then and now, about God’s logic. And what is God’s logic that we see here? The logic of taking responsibility for others. The logic of not washing one’s hands, the logic of not looking the other way. No. The logic of taking responsibility for others. That “let them fend for themselves” should not enter into the Christian vocabulary.
As soon as one of the Twelve says, realistically, “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish”, Jesus answers, “Bring them here to me” (vv. 17-18). He takes the food in His hands, raises His eyes heavenward, recites the blessing and begins to break it and give the pieces to the disciples to hand out. And those loaves and fish did not run out; there was enough, and plenty left over for thousands of people.
With this gesture, Jesus demonstrates His power; not in a spectacular way but as a sign of charity, of God the Father’s generosity toward His weary and needy children. He is immersed in the life of His people, He understands their fatigue and their limitations, but He does not allow anyone to be lost, or to lose out: He nourishes them with His word and provides food in plenty for sustenance.
In this Gospel passage we can perceive a reference to the Eucharist, especially in the description of the blessing, the breaking of the bread, delivery to the disciples, and distribution to the people (v. 19). It is noteworthy how close the link is between the Eucharistic bread, nourishment for eternal life, and daily bread, necessary for earthly life. Before offering Himself to the Father as the Bread of salvation, Jesus ensures there is food for those who follow Him and who, in order to be with Him, forgot to make provisions. At times the spiritual and the material are in opposition, but in reality spiritualism, like materialism, is alien to the Bible. It is not biblical language.
The compassion and tenderness that Jesus showed towards the crowds is not sentimentality, but rather the concrete manifestation of the love that cares for the people’s needs. And we are called to approach the Eucharistic table with these same attitudes of Jesus: compassion for the needs of others, this word that is repeated in the Gospel when Jesus sees a problem, an illness or these people without food… “He had compassion.” “He had compassion”. Compassion is not a purely material feeling; true compassion is patire con [to suffer with], to take others’ sorrows on ourselves. Perhaps it would do us good today to ask ourselves: Do I feel compassion when I read news about war, about hunger, about the pandemic? So many things… Do I feel compassion toward those people? Do I feel compassion toward the people who are near to me? Am I capable of suffering with them, or do I look the other way, or “they can fend for themselves”? Let us not forget this word “compassion,” which is trust in the provident love of the Father, and means courageous sharing.
May Mary Most Holy help us to walk the path that the Lord shows us in today’s Gospel. It is the journey of fraternity, which is essential in order to face the poverty and suffering of this world, especially in this tragic moment, and which projects us beyond the world itself, because it is a journey that begins with God and returns to God.
Angelus 2/8/2020
Sharing with the many ‘Lazarus’ of the world
Romeo Ballan, MCCJ
What God wants is clear: that all may have life to the full! (Jn 10:10). Today’s readings overflow with this abundance, this freely-given gift. Such is the salvation our God offers us so generously – and to everyone! The prophet (1st reading) invites all to drink water, wine and milk in plenty, “without money and without cost” (v.1); he promises good things to eat and succulent wines. The responsorial psalm insists on this tenderness and goodness of the Lord, who is patient and merciful with all, satisfies the hunger of every living creature, and is close to those who search for him with a sincere heart. The apostle Paul (2nd reading) enthusiastically insists that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, because “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (v.37). A tangible sign of this abundance is the multiplication of the loaves (Gospel), thanks to which many eat their full of bread and fish, and twelve basketsful of scraps are collected. The difficult situation at the beginning (a solitary place, a lack of food, so many people…) is overturned by Jesus’ compassion for the multitude. He even sets aside the time of mourning for the death of his friend and cousin John the Baptist (v. 13-14) so as to exercise his miraculous power and inspire the sharing that leads to nourishment for all, in superabundance.
To solve the problem of hungry people, the disciples think of two options: send them awayor buy… Jesusis opposedto these proposals. “Jesus does not send people away; he never sent anyone away. The disciples speak of buying, Jesus speaks of giving. Opens a new way of being: to give without counting, to give without asking,generously, freely,first. When my bread becomes our bread, the gift is the seed of a miracle” (Hermes Ronchi). Jesus involves the disciples and engages them in the solution of the problem: “You give them something to eat” (v. 16). The miracle begins with the little that the disciples offer: five loaves and two fish, which in the hands of Jesus become many, or rather an overabundance. The buying is replaced with the sharing. The system of buying creates lucky people and unlucky people: there are those who can afford and those who cannot afford. According to the Gospel, the watchword is: sharing!
Jesus wants his apostles to become aware of the situation, and to think up creative and audacious solutions, without delay! Only by way of sharing can huge problems like hunger in the world and endemic diseases be overcome… When there is no sharing then the logic of accumulation takes the upper hand, so that even the greatest multiplication of goods would always end up in the hands of a few. Without sharing selfishness reigns. The Popes have often appealed for solidarity and sharing, such as on the occasion of the summit conferences at the WHO or of the G8 or other occasions, raising their voice against the scandal of hunger, on behalf of the poor of the earth, especially in Africa, a continent often neglected and especially needful of true development.
Amidst the sands of Villa El Salvador on the southern outskirts of Lima (Peru), on the morning of February 5, 1985, Blessed John Paul II met with a million poor people. During the liturgy of the Word, the Gospel was the multiplication of the loaves, and it was with this Gospel that the Pope launched his missionary message. At the end of the celebration, visibly moved, he spoke from the heart with these few, short words: “Hambre de Dios, SÍ. Hambre de pan, NO” (Hunger for God, Yes. Hunger for bread, No.). This call immediately went round the world and has been carved on the monument which recalls the Pope’s visit to that place. They are words which explain and sustain missionary work: a strong commitment to increase the hunger for God and abolish the hunger for bread.
The multiplication of the loaves has always been understood as referring to the Eucharist, understood above all as the banquet of the Bread of life which is broken and multiplied for all. Mission, too, is bread broken for the life of the world. In this way, the Eucharist, mission and sharing are a trio that must always go together. The Eucharist is the banquet of the peoples: mission calls all peoples to this banquet of the Life of grace; and it urges them to share as brothers and sisters in solidarity, so that there may be bread on the table for all. We Christians who eat the bread of the Word and of the Eucharist, we who are often satisfied with the bread on the table, are strongly questioned about our commitment to the mission and the development of the poor. Let us pray “so that the bread multiplied by your providence may be broken in love” and that we may be open “to dialogue and service to all people” (Opening Prayer). So that all may have Life to the full (Jn 10:10).
THE SATED ALSO GET HUNGRY
Fernando Armellini
Introduction
“The Lord gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry” (Ps 146:7) are the words with which pious Israelites profess their faith in providence. In her song of praise, Mary echoes this: “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Lk 1:53). But how canthese statements be true if a quarter of humanity lives in conditions of absolute poverty, where every day tens of thousands of children die of hunger and where millions of peoplerummage through the garbage looking for food? Has God, who clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the sky, perhaps forgotten his children? Why does the Fathernot hear the prayer of those who plead with him every day: Give us this day our daily bread?’
The poor are hungry, but the sated also find themselves sad, frustrated and alone; the gratification of possession lasts a few days, if not hours, then anxiety resurfaces, and theinner emptiness forces them to start desperately searching for something else. To havemore rather than be satisfied increases hunger and invites entry into the no-exit vortex ofdeath.
This spiral can be interrupted. It is possible to find the bread that satisfies and the banquet the wine of joy abounds, but only one road leads there; there are no shortcuts. The paths near boutiques, the jewelers, and antique shops are imagined to be ‘streets of happiness,’ but they are misleading. The preacher of miracles also indicates the imaginary path, who tosses out the invitation to implore supernatural intervention; the Lord does not intend to replace man.
He promises a prodigy, and his word realizes it: where his Gospel is accepted, hearts detoxify themselves of selfishness, and solidarity and sharing bloom. When these feelingsarise, the hunger for bread disappears, and the thirst for love is quenched.
First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-3
Thus says the Lord: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drinkwine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
We are in Babylon; more than 50 years have passed since Jerusalem was destroyed, and the painful period of exile began. The discouraged Israelites live in a foreign land. One day they hear the prophet’s voice resounding. He announces the imminent fall of the Babylonian empire, the liberation, and the return to the homeland.
In today’s passage, this new condition is likened to a banquet in which there will be plenty of food and drink. There will be no need for money. There will be enough to satisfy hunger and thirst (v. 1). The prophet, however, is aware that the majority of exiles have neither experienced hunger nor thirst. They are now settled in Babylon and, for better or worse, have adapted to the situation; they, in fact, are not thinking of building a new life in the country of origin. They prefer to stay where they are, and if they put aside some savings, they buy houses and fields for themselves in Mesopotamia; they are unwilling to take risks, to embark on an adventure that could be tricky. In short, they are not interested in ‘the banquet’; they refuse the invitation.
The prophet insists, trying to make them think: yours is not a real life, and spending your own money to settle in a foreign land is “spending money on what does not satisfy” (v. 2). Only he who dares to go back will experience the joy of the new social reality prepared by the Lord. He was not heard. The Israelites who left Babylon were few andsparse; the majority did not dare risk an exodus. Those who returned did not find anybanquet; they were not welcomed. They faced hardships and difficulties, so many thought they had been deceived.
It took some time before Israel sensed the true meaning of the Lord’s promise. It should not be interpreted in material terms; they would be realized, but not in the immediate future. The banquet was a symbol of salvation offered by God to all humankind.
The condition in which the deported found themselves in Babylon is an image of all slavery in which every person is struggling. The temptation to spend money for that whichdoes not satisfy, the distrust of those who issue the invitation to the banquet and the promise of true joy, the fear of undertaking a journey into a land of freedom are always the same and recur continually.
God does not confront the evidence or give any convincing proof but calls for unconditional trust in what he promises. Only he who has already set foot in the banquet hall of the kingdom of heaven may testify that he has found the table spread for the feast. His joy may become contagious and convinces even the wariest to enter.
Second Reading: Romans 8:35,37-39
Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in allthese things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What drives a person to abandon the faith? The most desperate circumtances: the sad events , but also good fortune and success. When all goes well in life, we may be tempted to do without God, because we already have everything we want. But on the contrary—it is the struggles, the hardships, the misfortunes which generate discomfort—that may turn people away from God and Christ.
Paul sets out seven of these difficulties: “Will trials, anguish, persecution or hunger, lack of clothing or dangers or sword …?” (v. 35). They are just a few—those that Paul has experienced in his own flesh (2 Cor 11:24-33)—the list can be completed by each one by adding from persona experience. I try to list those that more than others now imperil attachment to Christ. There is fear of loosing opportunities for happiness, then discouragement, dejection in our own weakness and moral misery, the shame of mistakes, the remorse that generates anxiety, leading to despair and doubt about being loved by God.
The temptation to choose a life opposed to the principles of the Gospel is always looming , but Paul assures: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God and of Christ”(vv. 35,39). God opened the game with humanity, and he will close it after conducting it as only he can do, that is, by winning.
Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approachedhim and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
If one reduces this miracle as a gesture of power made by Jesus to give proof of his divine powers, a number of unavoidable objections must be confronted. It’s not very likely that the moving of a crowd of many thousands of people is possible. It is also getting late. It precludes the impending fall of darkness which is not the most suitable time to distribute bread to so many people. From where did the twelve empty baskets they brought with them pop up? But the most provocative consideration is another one: what interest is there for today’s person that two thousand years ago, Jesus fed five thousand men, if then God permits that people continue to die for lack of bread?
What really happened that night in the vicinity of Lake Tiberias is difficult to establish. This is not what is important. In fact, the evangelists relate the episode in six versions, each with its own specific message. Let us try to grasp what the passage today wants to give us.
At the time of Jesus, there was a widespread belief that the Messiah would accomplish extraordinary signs and wonders, which would have gathered and introduced the people into the desert where he would repeat the miracle of the manna.
Presenting Jesus coming into the desert followed by a great multitude of people who abandoned the city (v. 13), the evangelist wants us to see in him the new Moses. Israel had left Egypt and entered into the Promised Land but had not yet reached freedom and had not yet entered into communion with his God. Behold, now he is led back into the desert.
If one wants to push forward more parallelisms, it’s sufficient to put the passage in its context. Matthew has just described the banquet organized for Herod’s birthday, in which the Baptist’s execution occurred (Mt 14:3-12). That banquet represents vividly the corrupt, oppressive and bloody society, that must be repudiated by those who follow Christ. It is in the desert that the foundations of a new society are laid.
Here are the features: first, it has Jesus as guide and his very own feelings as a norm of mutual relations. He feels compassion (v. 14). The verb use—splagknizomai—is not a vague feeling of commotion, but a deep, visceral (in Greek the bowels are called splagkna) emotion. We’ve already found this term: “When he saw the crowd he was moved with pity, for they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36).
Jesus is sensitive to the needs of a person. He feels part of him/her and is involved intimately; it squeezes his heart, but his disturbance does not lead him to discouragement. He does not fall into curses, vain words of regret or sterile crying. He becomes a stimulus for immediate action in favor of one who suffers: “When he went ashore, he saw the crowd gathered there and he has compassion on them. And he healed their sick” (v. 14).
Com-passion, to suffer-together with the brothers and sisters is the force that leads the disciple to engage oneself in the building of a new society. The only one who has mastered the sensitivity of the Master is moved to intervene, to make his own same gestures of love. “Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had”(Phil 2:5)—Paul recommends: “Rejoice with those who are joyful, and weep with those who weep. Live in peace with one another” (Rom 12:15-16).
This urgent inner need to do good is the unmistakable sign of the presence in the disciple of the Spirit of Christ.
It’s not only with sicknesses, the manifestations of weaknesses, and human fragility that Jesus is confronted with. Even the urgent need of food and lack of assets necessary for life are addressed. What is Jesus’ response to the hunger in the world?
If the miracle is perhaps the solution, today’s passage would not have much to tell us because no one is given the ability to do such wonders. With his gesture, Jesus indicates what every disciple can and should doso that no one lacks bread. He does not resolve the problem of hunger without human cooperation.
The first, subtle temptation to watch out is that of disengagement, that of wanting “to dismiss the crowd” so that each one makes his own arrangement, going to the villages to buy something to eat (v. 15). It is the suggestion put forward by the disciples who, evidently, have not understood that adherence to Christ implies a concrete engagement in favor of those who are in need. They do not need to go—Jesus answers—“you give them something to eat” (v. 16).
The difficulty, which is also ours, is immediately raised: that what we have is not sufficient (v. 17).
If everyone keeps selfishly for oneself what one has, in fear that one day one may lack what is necessary,then there will always be hunger in the world.
Jesus asks the disciples to give him what he has, even if it seems little to him. Five loaves and two fish—seven pieces of food—are the symbol of totality. Nothing is held back; the generosity should have no limits. The sharing of goods is Christ’s proposal and is the only one in tune with God’s plan. He is the Father and he wants his children to live as brothers and sisters. They do not accumulate for themselves nor hoard the goods destined for all. When everyone will put at the disposal of others what he has (not only money but one’s whole self, time, talents, intelligence, abilities, and so forth) he will witness a miracle: there will be food for everyone and leftover. On the generosity of persons, God often pours out his blessing.
The bread that Jesus distributes is not only the material one.
Like water, the bread was a symbol in Israel of God’s wisdom. Both the prophets and the sages of the Old Testament allude to them often: Wisdom has laid her table—says the author of Proverbs. To the senseless, she says, “Come, eat and drink of the bread and wine I have prepared” (Pro 9:1-5). Amos announces that God will send hunger and thirst in the land: “not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of Yahweh” (Am 8:11).
One day Jesus said: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). The food that he gives and that nourishes the person is his word, indeed, it is himself, the Word of God that must be assimilated.
“Jesus took the loaves—Matthew says—and raised his eyes to heaven, pronounced the blessing and handed them to the disciples to distribute to the people” (v. 19) These words are familiar to us. They are those of the Eucharist. The evangelist takes them to make the Christians of his communities understand that, after having assimilated the bread of the Gospel which is given to them through the preaching of the apostles, they must also approach the Eucharistic banquet to be filled.
Five thousand men are fed. It is the number that symbolizes Israel. It is to this people that bread is offered. Israel is the first to be invited to the banquet announced by the prophets. After Israel will be satiated, twelve baskets of leftover are gathered. Twelve indicates the new community, constituted by the twelve apostles around Christ. To this new people bread will not be lacking—that is Christ—there will always be a remainder and each time he will resume the distribution.
Through his disciples—to whom he delivered his bread—Jesus himself is the one who continues to feed the people of all times and places.
READ: The crowds continue to follow Jesus as he heals and teaches them. Here he feeds the, prefiguring the feeding in the Eucharist.
REFLECT: People need to be fed with truth as well as with bread. What was the miracle: the multiplication of some loaves or fishes or the following of the teachings of Jesus by sharing with others? Can the Eucharist exist outside the celebration of Mass?
PRAY: When praying at the Eucharist, the believer makes a commitment to live the Eucharist outside of Mass. Praying with the priest and the community finds completion in living out of the teaching of Jesus.
ACT: Pay attention to the eucharistic moments with family and friends outside of Mass.
Fernando Armellini
Italian missionary and biblical scholar
https://sundaycommentaries.wordpress.com
