XVII Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

Five Loaves and Two Fish, the Recipe for a Miracle!

“This is indeed the prophet.”
John 6:1-15

This Sunday, the liturgy pauses the reading of the Gospel of Mark, which had reached the account of the multiplication of the loaves, to include the Johannine version of this miracle. For five Sundays, we will listen to Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, the longest chapter of the four Gospels. The multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle recounted by all the Gospels. In fact, it appears six times as it is duplicated in Mark and Matthew. This highlights the significance that the early Christians attributed to this sensational event.

John’s Chapter 6 is particularly rich and profound from a symbolic perspective. This “sign” (as John calls miracles) is meditated upon and elaborated with great care, as he does with all the seven “signs” in his Gospel. At the heart of the narrative, we find the “bread,” mentioned 21 times (out of 25 in the entire Gospel of John). In the background of the narrative and the subsequent discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum, we find references to the Eucharist. It’s worth noting that John does not recount the institution of the Eucharist, which is replaced by the washing of the feet. Here, he presents his meditation on the Eucharist.

The Risk of Reductionism

Before approaching the text, it seems appropriate to emphasize the need to avoid some potential reductionisms:

1) Focusing our attention almost exclusively on the miraculous aspect, i.e., the historical dimension, the “fact” itself. The four evangelists provide versions with quite different details. This shows us that each of them already interprets it in light of their community, intertwining the “fact” with its catechetical interpretation;

2) Considering only the symbolic dimension of the story, thereby emptying the “sign” of its historical reference, reducing it to a “parable.” Without the veracity of the miracle, it’s hard to explain why the evangelists and the early Christian community gave so much importance to this “sign”;

3) Interpreting the narrative exclusively in a Eucharistic key. All the evangelists connect the miracle to the Eucharist, but the narrative has a broader and richer scope. In John 6, the explicit reference to the Eucharist appears only towards the end of Jesus’ discourse;

4) Having a univocal reading of the text, i.e., solely “religious” (the miracle as a figure of spiritual food), or solely “material” (as a simple call to sharing and solidarity).

Some Symbolic Elements

1) The New Passover. “The Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.” The reference to Passover is not just a temporal note but has symbolic significance. This “great crowd” no longer goes towards Jerusalem to celebrate Passover but towards Jesus. He is the new Passover, initiating the definitive exodus of our liberation.

2) The New Moses. “Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.” This ascent of the mountain (first with the disciples and then alone) reminds us of Moses. The parallel becomes even clearer considering that immediately after, the narrative follows with Jesus walking on the sea (John 6:16-21). Jesus is the new Moses, the new prophet and leader of God’s people who is about to offer the new manna.

3) The True Shepherd. “Make them sit down. There was much grass in that place.” This note, besides being a reference to spring and the Passover period, recalls Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Jesus, who gathers the crowd around him and perceives their needs, is the Shepherd promised by God (Ezekiel 34:23).

4) The New Manna. “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” The manna was not to be gathered for the next day, except for the Sabbath (Exodus 16:13-20). Here, however, Jesus instructs to gather the leftover pieces. This is not just to avoid waste, but as an allusion to the Eucharist. “They gathered them up and filled twelve baskets,” as many as the twelve tribes of Israel, the hours of the day, and the months of the year.

Two Points for Reflection

1) Converting to a Global Vision of the Kingdom. Firstly, we note that Jesus cares not only about people’s spiritual hunger but also their physical hunger. We cannot ignore that besides the hunger for the Word, there is also a dramatic hunger for bread in the world. The Kingdom of God concerns the whole person. However, our mentality still holds a dualistic view of life, separating the spiritual from the material. “People go to church to pray; to eat, everyone goes home and fends for themselves!”: this is our very practical logic! It was also that of the apostles, as we see in Luke’s version of the story, where they say to Jesus: “It’s getting late. Send the crowd away to go into the villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions.” But Jesus, seeming impractical, responds: “You give them something to eat” (Luke 9:12-13). The Church cannot be indifferent to the conditions in which humanity lives, “fallen into the hands of robbers”!

2) From the Economy of Commerce to the Economy of Gift. “Where can we buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Jesus said this [to Philip] to test him.” Why does he ask Philip? Because he is practical and quick-witted (see John 1:46; 14:8-9). In fact, he quickly does the math: “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” Two hundred denarii was a lot, considering that a denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer. At this point, Andrew, his friend and fellow townsman, intervenes, as Jesus had asked “where” they could find bread: “There is a boy here who has [to sell?] five barley loaves and two fish,” but realizing the absurdity, he quickly adds: “but what are they for so many?” But 5+2 makes 7, the number of fullness. For Jesus, it is more than enough. And the miracle happens!

Such miracles are rare today. Like Gideon, we might ask: “Where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us?” (Judges 6:13). But if miracles do not happen today, it is not because “the Lord’s hand is shortened” (Isaiah 59:1). He would like to perform many “miracles”: the miracle of ending world hunger, of stopping wars that kill his sons and daughters and mar his creation, of establishing a new world where peace and justice reign… However, there is a problem. After creating humanity, God resolved not to do anything without human cooperation. The Lord would like to perform miracles, but he lacks the ingredients that only we can provide. He lacks the five barley loaves and two fish that we stubbornly want to sell instead of sharing!

For Weekly Reflection

1) What are the “five barley loaves and two fish” that the Lord is asking of me to change my life?
2) What logic predominates in my life: that of accumulation or solidarity?
3) For meditation:
– “If we share the bread of heaven, how can we not share the bread of earth?” (Didache);
– “The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a murderer. To take away a neighbor’s living is to commit murder; to deprive an employee of wages is to shed blood.” (Sirach 34:25-27);
– “There is enough bread in the world for everyone’s hunger, but not enough for the greed of a few” (Gandhi).

Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia MCCJ
Verona, July 2024

Bread to cross the dessert:
the impossible becomes possible

A commentary on John 6, 1-15

Let us remember that in the Sundays of this liturgical year we are reading the gospel of Mark and that we have reached chapter six. Last Sunday we saw Jesus deeply moved before a crowd of people that were like “sheep with no shepherd”. Today we should go on reading from the same chapter of Mark what is known as “the multiplication of bread”.

But, for this episode, the Liturgy has preferred to offer, for this and the next four Sundays, the reading of John chapter six, that is quite rich in theological references. This Sunday we start off with the first fifteen verses. We can read them personally and try to get its meaning for each one of us today. On my part, I put forward make two points of meditation:

1. Jesus as the new Moses

John begins his story in quite a solemn way. It’s evident that he means that what he is going to say is very important.  There are at least three elements that mark this “solemnity”:

– Jesus from the lake climbs up to the mountain.  We all know that the mountain, in biblical language, is much more than just a geographical incident. To go up the mountain reminds us, among other stories, of Moses going up the Sinai, where he had that extraordinary revelation of God as liberator and “chief” of his people.

– When He is on the top of the mountain Jesus “sits down” with his disciples.  The gesture speaks of Jesus as the Master with an authority that nobody else ever had. As Moses received on the Sinai Mountain the Law for his people, Jesus teaches on the mountain the new Law, the Word received from the Father.

– The Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. We know that the Passover, Easter, was the feast in which the memory of the liberation was made, the identity of the people was strengthened and hope was renewed for a new and definitive liberation.

What John is going to tell us in this chapter six of his gospel has to be placed in this solemn set of theological references.

For he disciples, and for us now, Jesus is not an ordinary “rabbi”, nor one of many prophets or somebody who wanted to purify and renew the ethical levels of society… He is the Eternal Word of God that enlightens like a lamp in the night; He is the bread that nourishes us in the dessert of life; He is the new Moses, who, coming down from the mountain, leads the people and sustains it on the way to freedom and full life. He is the centre of the new Passover, the new alliance with the Father for the life of all.

2. The impossible made possible

John says that Jesus asked Philip how to do to nourish so many people in an isolated place. And Philip gave him the only possible answer: it’s no possible. All of us would have given the same answer, as we really do in front of so many difficulties and problems with no apparent solution.

Philip was right, but it seems that he has forgotten the history of his own people: to nourish a crowd in an isolated place is impossible, as it was impossible that a tiny people could have been liberated from the power of the Pharaoh; or that this same people would be able to cross the dessert and not die on the intent… But the experience of Israel is that God made all this possible, so that indeed it was liberated, it did cross the dessert, and it did reach the Promised Land.

But we should not think that God acted as a kind of “magician”. It is something more simple and deep: When we allow God to go with us and we do our own part, the powerful give way, waters divide themselves, bread is enough, injustice is overcome, conflicts give way to reconciliation and new levels of brotherhood are possible, till the will of God is fulfilled “on earth as it’s on heaven”.

When we confront problems with faith, hope and charity, the impossible becomes possible, as it has happened so many times in universal history and in our own personal life. When we take part in the Eucharist all this is celebrated and made actual.
Fr. Antonio Villarino, MCCJ

A YOUNG MAN’S DEED
John 6:1-35
by José Antonio Pagola

Of all the things done by Jesus during his prophetic activity, the most remembered by the first Christian communities was surely a huge meal organized by him out in the countryside, near the lake of Galilee. It’s the only story recounted in all the Gospels. The content of the story concerns a great wealth. As is his custom, John in his Gospel doesn’t call it a «miracle», but rather a «sign». That’s how he invites us to not get stuck in the deeds narrated, but to discover a more profound meaning from the perspective of faith.

Jesus is in center stage. No one asks him to intervene. He himself is the one who senses the hunger of that people and who suggests the need to feed them. It’s moving to know that Jesus doesn’t just feed the people with the Good News of God, but that he’s also concerned about the hunger God’s children feel. How to feed a crowd in the middle of the countryside? The disciples can’t find a way. Philip says that no one can think about buying bread, since they don’t have money. Andrew thinks that they could share what’s there, but the young man only has five loaves and a few fish. What’s that among so many?

For Jesus it’s enough. That nameless and faceless young man is going to make possible what seems impossible. His readiness to share all that he has is the path to feed those people. Jesus will do the rest. He takes in his hands the young man’s loaves, he gives thanks to God, and begins to «distribute them» among all. The scene is fascinating. A crowd sitting in the green grass of the countryside, sharing a free meal on a Spring day. It’s not a banquet of the rich. There’s no wine or meat. It’s the simple food of the people who live along the lake: barley bread and salted fish. A fraternal meal served by Jesus to everyone, thanks to a young man’s generous deed.

This shared food was for the early Christians an attractive symbol of the community, born of Jesus to build a new and fraternal humanity. At the same time it brought to mind the Eucharist that they celebrated on the Day of the Lord, so they could be nourished by the spirit and the power of Jesus: the Living Bread come from God. But they never forgot the young man’s deed. If there’s hunger in the world, it’s not because of the scarcity of food, but the lack of solidarity. There’s bread for all; the generosity to share it is lacking. We’ve left the progress of the world in the hands of an inhuman economic power, we’re afraid to share what we have, and people die of hunger because of our senseless selfishness.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf