Friday of the Second Week of Easter
BREAD TO SHARE. EUCHARIST
Introduction
A sign worked by Jesus and told much in detail by all the evangelists is the multiplication of the bread. In all the Gospels, it is a sign of Jesus’ sharing himself, and even more so, a figure of Jesus’ continuing self-gift in the Eucharist. What about the disciple? Let us not forget that the Eucharist is also the sign and the prefiguration, the token of Jesus’ total self-giving on the cross.
Reading 1: Acts 5:34-42
38-39 “So I am telling you: Hands off these men! Let them alone. If this program or this work is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it—and you better not be found fighting against God!”
40-42 That convinced them. They called the apostles back in. After giving them a thorough whipping, they warned them not to speak in Jesus’ name and sent them off. The apostles went out of the High Council overjoyed because they had been given the honor of being dishonored on account of the Name. Every day they were in the Temple and homes, teaching and preaching Christ Jesus, not letting up for a minute.
Gospel: Jn 6:1-15
1-4 After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews.
5-6 When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “Two hundred silver pieces wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece.”
8-9 One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.”
10-11 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.
12-13 When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.
14-15 The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done. They said, “This is the Prophet for sure, God’s Prophet right here in Galilee!” Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.
Prayer
Lord, our God,
your Son, Jesus, fed
those who followed him in the desert
and they received as much as they wanted.
May we know and be convinced
that he can fill our own emptiness
not just with gifts
that fill our need of the moment,
but with himself,
and may we accept him eagerly,
for he is our Lord for ever.
Reflection:
21 April 2023
John 6:1-15
Give up selfishness to feed the multitude
John introduces Jesus as the New Moses, guiding God’s people to the land of freedom. Today’s passage begins by saying, “Jesus went across the sea of Galilee. And a large crowd followed him.” There is no mention of any boat here. How would a large crowd cross the sea without many boats? Moses led the large crowd across the sea without any boats in the Book of Exodus. Like Moses, Jesus leads a large crowd to cross the sea.
Again, Jesus goes up the mountain and sits down with his disciples, just as Moses was on the mountain and taught his people. During the exodus, Moses fed the people in the desert with manna, and, like him, Jesus feeds the multitude.
In Deuteronomy 18:18, God speaks to Moses: “I shall raise up a prophet from their midst, one of their brothers, who will be like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them all that I command.” Towards the end of today’s passage, we hear the crowd’s response to Jesus feeding of the 5000 with five loaves: “This is truly the prophet, the one who is to come into this world.”
John presents Jesus as the new Moses who begins a new exodus, a passage from slavery to freedom, from sinfulness to the holiness of God, and from death to life.
The goal of the journey of Moses was the promised land of Canaan. Now Jesus leads his people to the Kingdom of God. Do not mistake this Kingdom with the life after death; it is about the here and now. The sign performed by Jesus indicates that in the Kingdom to which Jesus leads his people begins here and now.
John is the only evangelist who notes that the one who has made available the little food he had “was a child” and that his bread was made “of barley” (v. 9). Barley was the food of the poor. The symbolic value of these details is obvious: in the gospel, the child is the model disciple: Those who want to enter the kingdom of heaven must be like little children (Mk 10:15).
Now the message is clearer: the poor child is the disciples, who are invited to make available all that they have for the benefit of their brethren. The key to the miracle is to put aside our selfishness and overcome greed, “which is the root of every evil” (1 Tim 6:10).
When we make all that we have available to our sisters and brothers without reservations, the miracle happens: all are fed to the full and even have leftovers.