Following the Sundays focused on the kingdom of heaven as illustrated in the parables, we now turn our attention to the community of disciples, the Church, being formed by Jesus. Faith in Jesus is our present theme, the teacher who feeds the multitude with the multiplication of bread (Matthew 14:13-21).
The hungry many
IN contrast to the people of Nazareth whose lack of faith did not lead Jesus to work mighty deeds there (Matthew 13:58), the crowds just could not have enough of Him. They followed Him on foot to the deserted place He withdrew to upon hearing of the murder of John the Baptizer. The vast crowd expectantly waiting for Him to disembark from the boat moved Jesus with pity. He saw their many needs and felt their intense longing for some assistance, and Jesus was no longer there to be by Himself but for them. Jesus in their midst meant compassion experienced and cures for their sicknesses given, signs of divine presence.
Evening time, the end of a day of human activities, registers the continuing human need for food. And out there in the desert, it is the scarcity of things and the limitedness of possibilities that surrounded everyone. The number of the multitude (five thousand men besides women and children) made the situation even more clearly hopeless. The disciples in their practicality could only propose that the crowd be dismissed, so that the huge problem of food for so many could be literally broken up into each one’s individual concern (kanya-kanya). The world’s way of divide the people and conquer the problem.
The breaking of bread
Instead of breaking up the crowd, Jesus wanted to break bread with them, to gather them together into a closer unity with Him, they who were hungry for Him. “Give them some food yourselves,” Jesus instructed His disciples. Are they to feed the crowd with their five loaves of bread and two fish? The disciples were no better off than the hungry multitude, but they were there for the people whom they should not just get rid of. The equation changed radically when, with their little resources, they turned to Jesus in faith. Their faith and the compassion of Jesus for the people equals the miracle of so little feeding so many.
From Jesus and through Him, the food multiplied in the hands of the disciples for distribution. The inspired evangelist recalls God’s feeding His people in the wilderness. In obeying God’s order, Moses provided food for a whole people out in the desert (Exodus 16:13-14). With 20 barley loaves, Elisha fed one hundred men (2 Kings 4:42-44). Here is someone greater than Moses and Elisha. Drawing further on the richness of biblical tradition, Matthew specifically pictured the people being told to sit down on the grass. Thus the people waiting for a new shepherd-king of the line of David were being reminded of the verse from the psalmist (23:2.5), “in meadows of green grass, He lets me lie” and “you set a table before me.” It is the same Lord who said, “Come to me and you will live” (Isaiah 55:3).
Alálaong bagá, it is evident that the gospel narration of the multiplication of bread has been shaped by messianic and Eucharistic concerns. The explicit Eucharistic terminology in describing what Jesus did: “took, looked up to heaven, blessed, broke, and gave” indicate that this miracle is along the line of the mystery of the Eucharist. Not only the Lord’s Supper, but also his miraculous feeding of the crowds as well as His table fellowship with all sorts of people tell us of the Eucharistic love of Jesus in His compassion for the people as He nourishes them all. The superabundance of the multiplied bread and the 12 baskets of leftovers mean that there is food for everyone; this is for all humankind. The humanity that remains hungry even after satiation with what the world offers is invited to come to the table of the Lord and be truly filled by what Jesus alone can give unto life eternal. But the disciples must be there, not dismissing the crowds, but attending to them and faithfully passing on what Jesus wants His people to receive. More than ever, we need the Eucharist where the bread of life is blessed, broken and shared.
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