This coming Sunday, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we will hear the first of three Sunday readings from Chapter 6 of Saint John’s Gospel of what is known as the ‘Bread of Life’ discourse.
Last Sunday, we heard how the people followed Jesus because they were like lost sheep in need of a shepherd. This coming Sunday, we will hear that many of the people continued to follow Jesus because they saw how he healed the sick. Despite being near the time to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, they chose to walk more than nine miles east around the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee to be near him. Jesus had compassion for them, and seeing their hunger, asked Philip where they could buy enough food to feed everyone. Unable to see with eyes of faith, Philip responded that it would take more than half a year’s wages to feed them. Andrew, giving Jesus five barley loaves and two fish, also couldn’t see with eyes of faith how they could feed such a large crowd. However, reminiscent of the miracle in 2 Kings where God, through the prophet Elisha, miraculously fed one hundred men with twenty loaves of bread, Jesus himself miraculously feeds more than five thousand people with five loaves!
The people saw a great prophet in their midst who could cure their sick, but they didn’t understand who Jesus truly is. The disciples, despite walking with Jesus every day, didn’t fully understand who Jesus truly is. Through this miracle, Jesus opened the door to what he would progressively reveal in the rest of Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, namely that he is much more than a great prophet. Jesus would reveal that he is the real Bread of Life given by the Father for the life of the world. What about us today? Who do we understand Jesus to be? When we receive the Eucharist at Mass do we truly recognize the Real Presence of Jesus, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist which we receive as real food given by the Father for our salvation? These next three weeks, let us attentively listen to the Gospel readings, so that each time we receive the Eucharist, we may fully recognize and worship the one who we are receiving.
Written by Deacon Dave Engasser
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Readings from: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072521.cfm
