Reading 1
A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God,
twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear.
Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”
But his servant objected,
“How can I set this before a hundred people?”
Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat.”
“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.
Reading 2
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
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.
Sometimes, we find ourselves in some undesired situations that we can’t even foresee any solution or hope in view, even though we may be praying but humanly speaking we see can’t see any possibility that things can turn out in our favour again.
Then suddenly, the unexpected begins to happen, eventualities beyond our imaginations, and in our bewilderment, we are like “whaooo! God, you are great.” This is the kind of situation; we have in the gospel and the first reading.
Dear friends, we must keep in mind these two things as we reflect on the episodes in today’s readings.
- In every situation, God is in control
We say this very often but our disposition to a perplexing situation doesn’t indicate whether we believe this or not. No problem that you or I may face that will cause God to wonder how He will be able to help us out.
- God is not bound by the limit of our logic, our reasoning and calculation.
He has the solution for every situation and if need be, he works out a miracle. So when next you are thinking “how will it be possible?” Remember to put God in the calculation and you will realize that with Him all things are possible.
With these in mind, let us look at the texts before us.
Last Sunday, we took our gospel reading from the gospel account of St Mark 6:7-13. Jesus wanted to rest, a crowd followed him and he set himself to teach them.
Today we continue the incident that Mark narrated but now, from the account of John. We read the gospel from John 6:1-15. For the next five Sundays, we shall be reflecting on these Johannine series.
Today, we have the story of the feeding of five thousand men, if we want to be more realistic, we shall say the feeding of about 20,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish.
Let us examine the events more closely.
Jesus continued to teach the people for so long. The disciples were getting worried and discussing among themselves, “when will he send them away? It is getting late, obviously, it is impossible for us to feed this multitude.” In fact, according to Mark 6:35 the disciples actually came to tell Jesus to please send the people away before it gets too late.
Jesus smiled and asked Philip, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?” Apparently, Jesus didn’t intend to send them away empty handed. He has fed their souls; he also wants to feed them bodily. The commentator quickly added, “He only said this to test Philip, he himself knew exactly what he was going to do.”
Meaning that Jesus wasn’t asking so that they can brainstorm and seek a solution to this perplexing situation. He is in complete control; the bible says, “He knew what he wanted to do.” Do you think in your life, God doesn’t know what he is doing? Oh, this sickness has messed up my life. Calm down, God knows what he is doing; He knows why your story is like this.
Note: Sometimes, God uses some situations to test your faith in Him, the sincerity of your love for Him and the extent of your obedience.
This is similar to what we have in today’s first reading, Elisha told his servant to serve twenty barley loaves and fresh grain to hundred hefty men. The servant objected, Elisha insisted and eventually God’s power was vindicated.
Philip being a rational being and a good mathematician quickly answered Jesus that feeding the crowd is rationally and naturally impossible. He has his grounds, three logical premises and a sound conclusion.
- Two hundred denarii are eight month’s wage of a workingman. They don’t have that kind of money. The only option I would have thought of if I were to be there is that they probably would have called for an offering. But then, I am sure their first collection won’t be more than 50 denarii.
- Even if they were able to raise 200 denarii from mini-launching, which supermarket in the wilderness will have bread for about 20,000 people?
- Even if they are lucky to find any which is impossible anyway, the people can only get a bite and a bite of bread can’t be sufficient for this hungry people.
In a word, Philip told Jesus “it is not possible at all. Valid premises and a sound conclusion.
Note: God is not limited by what you think, by your logic or sound reasoning, He is not bound by what the world says. To Him, nothing is impossible.
As this rational interaction was going on, the disciples sprang into action. Asking people “you got some bread? Everyone was saying “No”, not at all, I forgot to buy.” Andrew eventually got a boy who was willing to let go of his own lunch (five Barley loaves and two tiny sardine-like fish).
Let us pause and reflect here- Do you think that was the only boy with food in the crowd? It can’t be the case, many hoarded their meals, but he was the only one who brought out his, not minding that he might go hungry, not minding that they are not good enough for exhibition.
For me, it appears “below sense” for Andrew to have bothered to bring such to Jesus. In any case, he quickly defended his rationality by adding “What is that between so many?” Here lies the error in his judgment, like Philip, he has passed judgment without considering the man standing before him.
Come to think of this, on a lighter note, If that bread and fish had gotten into the hands of some of us, it won’t have gotten to Jesus, we would have stayed somewhere and eaten it and come back to tell Jesus “Oga, no one has anything, we didn’t even get a single loaf of bread.”
There are so much insincerity and deception in our world today. It is increasingly becoming more difficult to trust people.
Let me break and ask you “are you even trustworthy? Are you honest? Are you reliable? St Paul tells us in the second reading to lead a life worthy of our vocation. A life of truth, justice, sincerity, selflessness, gentleness and peace. Is this how you have been living?
Jesus stretched the faith of the disciples further, he said “make the people sit down” that is, arrange them well in a good position to collect food.
I imagined what would have been going on in the minds of the disciples. I am sure they were reluctant to carry out this last order, they would have thought “why should we raise their hope for food when we don’t have food to give them? The impetuous Peter would have asked, “Jesus, don’t make us do this please, we don’t want trouble or riot.”
Remember, “He himself knew exactly what he was going to do.”
Jesus took the bread and what next? He gave thanks. After this, he took the fish and gave thanks also and the disciples began to share.
Ordinarily, I just want to end this sermon here although there are still so many details. I want us to reflect on this act. Jesus had five barley loaves, two fish versus 20,000 persons and yet he gave thanks.
Brethren, let us look at Jesus and look at ourselves. Do you realize how ungrateful we could be sometimes? We complain so much and so often. God gave you a child and rescued you from pre-and post delivery misfortune, you complained that you would have preferred a boy, he gave you a job, you complain of this and that, you got a contract, you complain that nothing much is coming from there, if they ask you, “mummy, how is your health? Your answer is the same, “hmmm! My dear, I am not fine oh”, if they ask you, how is everything you hiss and begin to complain. Many of us behave as if the problem of the whole world is on our shoulder, we use our countenance to announce to the world that we are most miserable and uncatered for by God, we make people think that our God is not kind.
Beloved in the Lord, think well, no matter your condition in life, God has given you enough to be grateful for. Just learn to be thankful even for your challenges because they also have their purpose in your life otherwise they won’t be there. 1 Thess 5:18 says “in all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Let me quickly add this “gratitude when we are heartbroken and in need is an evidence of deep faith, it has the devil confused and it always attracts the blessings of God.“
After giving thanks, then they began to share the bread. We are not told how the bread and fish multiplied, whether the basket became suddenly full or the food miraculously reconstituted itself. What we know is that there was a miraculous multiplication.
On that day, people ate and were satisfied. The Greek word is enepleithesan (till their belly was full and can no longer take anything). I am more interested in the boy who gave up his lunch, oh how great the happiness of this boy will be. He gave to Jesus what Jesus used to feed the 20,000. I can hear him telling his mother after the news has filled all ears and headlines in Galilee and Jerusalem. “Mum, it was my bread that Jesus blessed and used for the miracle.”
On his part, he must have eaten about ten loaves and five fish. He got back more than he gave. This is the Divine MMM (I am sorry for reminding you of MMM, I mean no harm). The point I am making is that you can never lose what you give to God but what you can’t offer to Jesus, you can never gain. Think about that.
Those who hid their own food could no longer eat them, they got spoilt in their bags and were useless. Everybody ate and was abundantly satisfied (Ps 36:8). Jesus told the disciples to pack the rest because our God is a God of sufficiency and abundance but not a God of wastage.
Remember, how this whole thing started, Philip said it was not possible to feed the crowd and now we have left over after feeding the crowd. Jesus turned to Philip and asked again “Philip is it possible to feed these crowd?” Philip said, “Now I know that with you nothing is ever impossible.” Then Jesus smiled turned to all of you listening to me now, having seen what I have done with the crowds, do you believe that your case is also possible?”
What will be your answer?
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami of Ilorin Diocese, Kwara State, Nigeria on Sunday, July 29, 2018.