We have the familiar story in our gospel today of Jesus feeding the five thousand with nothing more than five loaves and two fish. The Evangelist John tells us how the disciples doubted that their Master could do anything to meet the physical needs of such a large number of people. The implication was that the disciples’ faith in Jesus was still imperfect; as yet they did not and could not fully grasp his true identity as the Son of God. The same could be said for the crowd. Once they had had their fill of food they wanted to make Jesus their earthly king because they recognised him as someone special, having unique powers. However, this was not the kind of leader and Messiah which Christ came to be, and he hurriedly went back to the hills alone.
Like the prophet Elisha in our first reading, the Lord Jesus cared about people and even worked a miracle to satisfy their material needs. We are told on several occasions in the gospels that he felt sorry for the crowds, for they seemed to be wandering aimlessly with no one to care for them or give them a sense of direction. As chapter 6 of John’s gospel unfolds over the next few Sundays, we will discover that Jesus had a greater purpose than just to satisfy the needs of the moment. He has come to bring another kind of food, more enduring and more satisfying than
ordinary bread. His message and preaching would bring comfort and hope to the often bruised and troubled human spirit, because it would be a message from God himself.
The disciples would eventually come to discover that the true bread of life would be Jesus himself, and from the earliest days of the first Christian community the Eucharistic table would be at the centre of their life and worship. The celebration of Mass which has come down to us from the apostles remains at the heart of our Catholic faith, and will always be so until the Lord Jesus returns in glory. Implied in our second reading from the letter to the Ephesians is that oneness and unity of purpose which God wills for his Church, and which come from our sharing in the one bread and one body of Christ. Because there is just a single bread, Paul remarks elsewhere, then we who are many are one in Christ.
The Church has always recognised in the feeding of the five thousand a sign and anticipation of a greater miracle, that of the Holy Eucharist. In this Year of the Priest let us pray that we will always have good and holy priests to feed God’s people at the table of the Eucharist.
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