July 29, 2012

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: 2 Kings 4:42-44

    A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barely loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said. But his servant objected, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha insisted. "For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'" And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said.

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Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-6

   Brothers and sisters, I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Gospel Reading: John 6:1-15

   Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus 

   Chapter six of John’s gospel is dominated by the theme of Passover.  The author is trying to connect it in our mind with the original Passover: the time when God liberated the children of Israel from Egypt and led them through wilderness to the Promised Land.  During the wandering in the wilderness he fed them with the bread from heaven. Manna is provided by God in Exodus 16.

   Here the scene is created in such a way as to show that they could not produce food for the people in the desert: 200 days wage would not be sufficient; a single boy has only five loaves and two fish; the crowd is very big, men alone add up to five thousand. Humanly it is impossible to feed such a crowd. Like in the story of Exodus, here too, Jesus fed this great crowd with food from heaven.  This also should be an exodus experience for the participants. It should be a liberation experience. It should be a journey to the Promised Land experience.