In the gospels, there are six accounts of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes. Mark and Matthew each have two; once for 5000 men and once for 4000. Luke and John describe one each. Today’s reading is taken from the fourteenth chapter of Matthew. The other story is from the sixteenth chapter. But in the second miracle, the apostles still ask, “How could we get enough food in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” Apparently they had short memories.
But if we were to look at each story we would see that the authors bend it a little to serve their own purposes. And Matthew is no different.
So a really important question is, “Are you sufficiently amazed at this miracle? Remember, it was 5000 men, not counting the women and children. Does that amaze you even more? Does hearing about this miracle, or one like it, as you’ve heard countless times during the reading of the gospel at Sunday Mass make you feel closer to Christ and more willing to lead a Christian life?” If you are honest you probably say to yourself, “not really”. Well, me neither. Could these miracles have happened? Of course. God can do anything he wants to. Did they happen exactly as told in scripture? Can’t be, unless we are talking about six different feedings, because each story is a little different. Walter Burgerman, a great preacher and scripture scholar, says that Jesus’ miracles should be approached in the same way as his parables. What is the miracle telling us? How are we to respond to what we hear?
So let’s look at the story. First, Jesus has just heard about the execution of his cousin, John. The scriptures seem to indicate that Jesus and John were close; in fact, after John baptized Jesus, Jesus began doing the same thing as John -- preaching and baptizing. And some of John’s followers became followers of Jesus. And John thought that was a good thing, and Jesus remarked at one time that up until that time there had been no one greater than John. So Jesus, being fully human, being subject to the same emotions that happen to you and I, naturally withdrew to a secluded place. Jesus mourned his cousin’s death, and as we learn, he took his ministry north, away from Jerusalem, probably hoping to avoid the same fate. Nothing wrong with that. But his period of mourning was interrupted by the crowds who followed him, upon whom he had compassion.
That evening, the apostles ask Jesus to send the crowds away so that they can buy food, and Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat.” Not, “I will give them something to eat.” When the apostles pull out their own lunch, they don’t have much, and it sounds a little like they are reluctant to part with the food they have. But Jesus performs a Eucharistic ceremony, and the resemblance to the Eucharist is deliberate, and gives the blessed food back to the disciples to pass out to the crowd. They are indeed giving them something to eat. And after everyone is full, they gather up twelve baskets of leftovers -- one for each apostle. The apostles have more food than they can consume after giving up their meager lunch at Jesus’ command.
I wonder if the crowd realized there was a miracle? I’ve been to events where food was handed out and I didn’t see where it came from. I did not assume a miracle had taken place, but I didn’t discount it either. I had no opinion. But the important witnesses to the miracle were the apostles themselves. I think they took away several points that would be emphasized in the religion that Jesus founded, that the apostles and their descendants elaborated upon.
First, the obvious. If you give something of yours away at the command of Jesus, you will not only see your efforts multiply, but you yourself will be compensated greatly. Jesus makes that promise over and over again -- the measure with which you measure will be the one which will be used to reward you. If you even give a cup of water to one of these little ones, you will have your reward. The miracle of the loaves and fishes is just one of the many, many places God promises your generosity will be rewarded abundantly, if not in this life, then the next. But it will happen.
The second point is related. One of the reasons our church is so insistent on the fact that in the Eucharist the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus -- and not just a symbol, is because it is the fulfillment of God’s promise. We bring the Father bread and wine, things we have taken from the earth and transformed into rather simple food and drink, and he returns to us his son Jesus, to be our food and drink, as Jesus promised, of course. In the Mass God keeps his promise. What we offer will be paid back beyond anything we could imagine.
The third point is a very simple, earthy one. Jesus doesn’t want anyone to go hungry. And Jesus expects you and I to give them food. Do you know of any hungry people? What are you doing about it? We can’t feed them all, but we can feed one or two or ten? How are you carrying out the commandment of Jesus to his Church -- “You give them something to eat!”
