Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 28, 2024
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.
Traveling to the Holy Land was a life-changing gift for me and my wife. Witnessing such historic sites as the Sea of Galilee and the Western Wall was marvelous, but visiting the many holy sites also makes a person see Scripture a bit differently—more critically and yet also somehow more intimately.
For example, I was often disenchanted when there were outright competing versions of where certain events took place. Depending on which tour you took, you visited different places, each claiming to be the “real” one, and outright dismissing the other. They were missing the truth, beauty, and goodness of what happened because they were competing to prove the exact geographic location.
Today’s gospel—the feeding of the multitudes—is found in all four gospels with some slight variations, twice in Matthew and Mark. If we are too particular about analyzing the circumstances and details of the miracle, trying to prove or disprove the feasibility of multiplying food, we will miss the marvel of God’s abundance!
I have often wondered if the miracle was that those in the crowd heard about the generosity of the boy sharing his loaves and fish with Jesus. What if his act of generosity inspired others that day to bring out what little food each might have with them? This interpretation makes the abundance of the food Christ blessed no less miraculous. The miracle is that all ate and were full, whether they were disciples of Jesus, rich or poor, or someone who just wanted to see a miracle—we know even Gentiles traveled to hear this Nazarene preacher. All were fed.
The lesson today is still the same. There is enough food (and every other resource in our world) for everyone to have their fill. This is the message of God’s faithful abundance. If we have faith like the little boy, sharing what we have without fear of going without, God will bless and multiply it, and all the residents of this world will have exactly what they need.
Prayer
Lord, you fill the starving with good things but send the rich away empty. May we hunger for you more than for life itself, and may we always share the blessings we have received with those who hunger still. Amen.