20210715 MIRACLE OF TRANSFORMATION
25 July, 2021, Sunday, 17th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | 2 Kings 4:42-44 © |
They will eat, and have some left over
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.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 144(145):10-11,15-18 © |
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.
Second reading | Ephesians 4:1-6 © |
One Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
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.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Jn6:63,68 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 6:1-15 © |
The feeding of the five thousand
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.
MIRACLE OF TRANSFORMATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 Kgs 4:42-44; Ps 145:10-11,15-18; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15]
A disciple from one tradition challenged a disciple from another tradition. He said, “my master performed great miracles for us to see. He can heal the sick, bring them back to life, multiply bread and walk on the waters. What about your master?” The disciple replied, “There are miracles and there are miracles. For some, it is a miracle when a master is able to perform spectacular feats and transform things. But my master transforms lives. He transforms the hearts of man.” Indeed, transformation of the mind and heart of man is the greatest miracle and the only miracle that is truly transforming.
In the first reading, a farmer brought bread from the first-fruits, twenty barley loaves and fresh grain in the ear to Elisha. Strictly speaking, he did not have to because there were no priests or temple for him to pay his tithes. Furthermore, he could have kept them for himself as it was a time of famine. But he saw Elisha, the man of God and gave him all the same. Elisha cared for his disciples more than himself. So he instructed his servant to give the bread to them to eat. The servant’s immediate reaction, was “How can I serve this to a hundred men?” Indeed, it would not be sufficient to feed so many. All the same, Elisha, like Moses, ordered the bread to be given out. “They ate and had some over, as the Lord had said.”
In the gospel, again we have a parallel story of how Jesus fed the five thousand. St John in narrating this incident put it against the background of the Passover. This is an important piece of information because he expected the reader to make a link with the Jewish Passover and the Christian Passover. Jesus was the New Moses for like Moses, He “climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples.” Like Moses, Jesus later taught His disciples and instructed them on the Word of God. And like Moses and Elijah, Jesus fed them bread from heaven. But Jesus was greater than Elijah. He multiplied bread not just for 100 people with twenty loaves but for five thousand people. At the end of the miracle story, the people wanted to make Him king, just as the Israelite saw Moses as their leader and king.
However, our focus goes beyond just the material miracle of the multiplication of loaves. Jesus did not just come to attend to the material and physical needs of humanity. He was not a social worker or a humanitarian worker. The gospel He sought to proclaim was principally a spiritual gospel. He came not just for the salvation of the human body but for the soul. This is why our attention, as St John wants us to focus on the theological intent of Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves. It is about Jesus transforming life, through the Bread of life, through the Word of God and the Eucharist.
Indeed, this intent to transform life is very much indicated in today’s scripture readings. Right from the outset, the evangelist said Jesus wanted to grow the faith of His apostles. He tested Philip by asking him to feed the crowd. But Philip’s reply was just like the servant of Elisha, “Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.” This is inconsistent, considering he had seen the signs that Jesus performed earlier for we are told “a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick.” He was seeing things from a logistical and financial perspective. It was his limited perspective that caused him to feel helpless. So, too, for many of us when we meet with problems in life, we do not rely on the power of God because we feel that God would not be able to help us as we tend to delimit the power of God to work miracles in our lives.
But the Lord can do wonders in our lives if we only allow Him. Andrew, instead of giving up the thought of supplying the food for the people, brought a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish to the Lord. When we bring someone to the Lord, He would bring about transformation. Earlier on when Andrew brought his brother to the Lord, he was transformed from Simon Son of John to Cephas (Peter) (Jn 1:42) So too when Philip brought Nathanael to the Lord, sceptical as he was, he was enlightened and made the ultimate confession of faith, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (Jn 1:49)
This transformation of life could also be seen in the miracle of the loaves. Some scholars have suggested that perhaps the real miracle of the multiplication of loaves was not so much that the bread was multiplied literally, but that the hearts were changed. This was because in those days, one would not go far out without packing food for the journey. Most of them would have brought their own food with them. And so, the real miracle was that when they saw Jesus sharing the five loaves and two fish given by the boy, they were inspired to do the same. Seeing the generosity of our Lord, as was in the case of Elisha, the people learnt to share with others whatever little they had. Indeed, whenever we bring our little resources to the Lord, He will transform and multiply them beyond our imagination. He will also inspire others to join us and come together to serve God and our fellowmen.
Yet, the greatest miracle of Jesus anticipated in the multiplication of loaves is the Eucharist, His body and blood that He would be giving to His disciples at His death so that our lives would be transformed into His when we eat His body and drink His blood. This explains why all the four gospels have this incident narrated in the form of a liturgical celebration of the Eucharist. We have Jesus taking the bread and giving thanks, which gives the origin of the celebration, “Eucharist”. Then after breaking the bread, as He would do at the Last Supper, He distributed it to His disciples, and then like our priests and extraordinary communion ministers of the Eucharist, they distributed it to the crowds who were nicely seated as in a church, because they were seated in “groups of hundreds and fifties.” (Mk 6:40) As in every liturgical celebration, the scraps were collected because they are sacred species of our Lord and should not be discarded.
But what is important to take note is that all were fed and were full. Jesus is precisely that Bread of Life who can satisfy our hunger, just like that of the Samaritan woman. More than just physical and material food, Jesus quenches our thirst and satisfies our hunger for God, for life and for love. There were left-overs as well, as in the case of Elisha. Again, for us Christians, we do not keep the Eucharist, the Word of God and Jesus to ourselves but we are called to share with others who are hungering for authentic life and love, truth and meaning. We are called to evangelize by breaking bread for others either by proclaiming the Good News in words or offering our lives in service for the poor and the suffering.
But we can do this only as members of the Body of Christ, with Christ as our Head. This is why baptism and the Eucharist transform us not just as individuals but make us one with Jesus and with each other so that we can become the Sacrament of Jesus to the world. St Paul said, “I implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation.” Unity among Christians is an important sign that we are truly transformed in Christ. Unity can only be achieved when we “bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience.”
The true miracle would be that our own lives are transformed in the way we deal with our fellow brothers and sisters, even those of other faiths. More so as Christians, we need to respect the traditions of other Christian communion and communities. We might not share the same creed or the same worship but what is critical and fundamental for St Paul is that we are united by the same Spirit of Christ. Indeed, what is of essential importance is that at least we all believe that “there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, through all and within all.” It is our common faith in Christ as our Saviour and a common hope of eternal life in Christ, the resurrection of the body on the last day, that help us all to stay united in spite of our diversity in doctrines, in worship and in traditions. Let us be humble, charitable, welcoming and inclusive in our love for each other.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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