20180729
THE POWER OF SHARING
29 JULY, 2018, Sunday, 17th Week,
Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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2 Kings 4:42-44 ©
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They will eat, and have some left over
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A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing Elisha, the man of God,
bread from the first-fruits, twenty barley loaves and fresh grain in the ear.’
‘Give it to the people to eat’, Elisha said. But his servant replied, ‘How can
I serve this to a hundred men?’ ‘Give it to the people to eat’ he insisted ‘for
the Lord says this, “They will eat and have some left over.”’ He served them;
they ate and had some left over, as the Lord had said.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 144(145):10-11,15-18 ©
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You open wide your hand, O Lord, and grant our
desires.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.
You open wide your hand, O Lord, and grant our
desires.
The eyes of all creatures look to you
and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand,
grant the desires of all who live.
You open wide your hand, O Lord, and grant our
desires.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.
You open wide your hand, O Lord, and grant our
desires.
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Second reading
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Ephesians 4:1-6 ©
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One Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
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I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of
your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness,
gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by
the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you
were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all,
through all and within all.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Jn6:63,68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Lk7:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 6:1-15 ©
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The feeding of the five thousand
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Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or
of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he
gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with
his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.
Looking up,
Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some
bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself
knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii
would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five
barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to
them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many
as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and
gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the
fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to
the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So
they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the
meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given,
said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who
could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king,
escaped back to the hills by himself.
THE POWER OF SHARING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Kgs 4:42-44; Ps 145:10-11,15-18; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15 ]
There is so
much division in society and the world at large, not because of poverty but
inequality in the distribution of wealth and resources. There is a great gap between
the rich and the poor. Half of the world’s wealth belongs to the top
1%. The top 10% of the rich hold 85% of the world’s wealth and the bottom
90% hold the remaining 15% of the world’s wealth. In truth, the resources
of the world are enough for the whole world. The real injustice is that
the rich are getting richer and the poor becoming poorer. When that
happens, resentment, envy, hatred, crimes and murders take place.
This explains
why in the 18th and 19th century, communism was
the ideology that inspired many people in their attempts to bring about a
greater equality among peoples. Of course, from hindsight, we know that state communism and
state economy did not work either. It also breeds corruption among the
officials, as we see in some communist countries. The truth is that men
are selfish and greedy because of our wounded nature. So even enforced
sharing of wealth did not work because of the sins of humanity.
Nevertheless,
this necessity of sharing is not new. Right at the beginning of the Church, the primitive Church
grew because of voluntary sharing of resources. The early Christians knew
that only love could unite peoples of every nation and every strata of society.
Thus in the early Christian community, we read from the Acts of the Apostles,
“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would
sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had
need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they
broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous
hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by
day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:44-47)
This spirit
of sharing in the early Church was certainly inspired by Christ Himself. Indeed, living the
resurrected life of Christ means to share in His Spirit. This is what St
Paul wrote in the second reading. “Do all you can to preserve the unity
of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit,
just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called.
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all,
through all and within all.” It is sharing a common faith through
baptism, a common belief that God is the Father of all, and that we are one
Body of Christ, sharing a common Spirit and driven by the one and same hope
that inspired the Christians to live and work as one.
This spirit
of sharing is clearly demonstrated in the life of Jesus. In the gospel, Jesus
taught His disciples on the power of sharing in faith. When “Jesus saw
the crowds approaching” He said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for
these people to eat?’ Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy
enough to give them a small piece each.’” From the outset, Jesus
wanted Philip to know that money and resources were not the only way to resolve
this issue of feeding everyone. “He only said this to test Philip; he
himself knew exactly what he was going to do.” Indeed, the sad situation
in the world is not that we do not have enough resources to feed all the
peoples of this world. We have more than enough if only we share more
equitably what we have.
To
demonstrate the power of sharing, He took up the boy’s offer of five barley
loaves and two fish. It is ironical that it took a boy to teach the adults what it
meant to trust in God and to share what they had, however little it might
be. When used by God, that little can produce much more than we can
imagine. The boy teaches us that generosity requires faith.
Without faith
in God and trust in His divine providence, we will not be able to give our
wealth away, much less if we have limited resources like the boy. This boy was so
generous. He gave all that he had even though it was little. It was
because of his faith in divine providence. This is how children act, always in
trust and in faith. No wonder Jesus taught us, “Truly I tell you, unless
you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven.” (Mt 18:3)
Next, we read
that after saying a prayer of thanksgiving to the Father, He “gave them out to
all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as
much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the
pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and
filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley
loaves.” How did it happen? What caused the food to multiply?
And we read that there were 5000 men, excluding the women and children.
There are two possible explanations. One was that the bread literally
multiplied as they broke the bread and gave out the fish.
However,
there is another interpretation to this miracle. Some scholars
suggested that perhaps this was not what really happened because at the end of
the miracle, the evangelists did not record the amazement of the people as they
would always do for the other healing miracles. So some suggested that
the real miracle was in Jesus transforming the hearts of the people. As
it is said, the real miracle is not changing things but changing hearts.
So when Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and started sharing, the rest
of them took out what they brought and shared as well. In those days,
there were no hawker centers or restaurants. Most people would carry with
them their food when they went out of the house for a long period, especially
to faraway places like the desert. This explains why the boy had five
loaves and two fish to share with Jesus. So when the others saw the
generosity of the boy and our Lord, they took out all their food and shared
with the rest. Obviously, they brought much more food than they could
consume, hence the leftovers.
Truly, this
is the real miracle and power of sharing. When we begin to share the little
that we have, others who are selfish and insecure will be inspired by our act
of generosity and do the same. What we need are leaders who are willing to sacrifice their
resources and themselves for the service of others. Only sharing can
build community and unite peoples. This is true leadership. A
leader can unite his people only when he is generous and giving because he
inspires his followers to make the same sacrifice for the greater good of
others.
Not only did
Jesus share His resources, but He came to give His entire life as well. Today’s gospel is the
background for the discourse of Jesus on the Eucharist when He would later
teach His disciples what it meant to give. True giving is more than just
giving something that is outside of us. True giving entails giving
ourselves, our entire body, soul and spirit for the service of God and of our
fellowmen. Jesus declared, “I am the living bread that came down
from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I
will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn 6:51)
St Paul remarked, “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all
of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” (Rom 8:32)
We too must
give up our lives for others as Jesus did if we are to fulfill the commandment
that He gave us. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you
have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34f)
This was why the Prophet Elijah also instructed his servant to share the twenty
barley loaves given to him with a hundred people. “’Give it to the people
to eat’ he insisted, for the Lord says this, ‘They will eat and have some left
over.’ He served them; they ate and had some over, as the Lord had said.”
Jesus was
indeed the New Moses in teaching us the true meaning of giving. This was hinted by the
Evangelist in his mention that this incident happened just before the Passover
and that Jesus went up the hills. Let us learn to be like
Jesus, a leader in sharing, giving and loving. Only by giving our limited
resources for the use of others, can we build a community that is loving,
caring and supportive. This is the only way to become a gracious society
that is united and peaceful. Let us therefore not be selfish in sharing what we
have with the poor, the Church and the larger community in our country.
Let us not be stingy in giving donations and most of all, let us not evade
paying our taxes because this is the way we support the entire people in our
country. Those who have more must give more. This should be the
principle of taxation so that there will be greater equality among all peoples
and a more proportionate distribution of wealth and resources for all.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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