2nd Passiontide
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| Kenneth Dowdy |
John 6: 1-15
After this, Jesus crossed to
the far shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberius and a great crowd of people
followed him because they had seen the signs of the spirit, which he had
performed on those who were ill.
Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down
there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes to the world of the
spirit, and beheld how crowds of people were coming toward him, he said to
Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that all these people may eat?”
He asked this to test his understanding and
presence of mind, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered
him, “200 denarii [seven months wages] would not buy enough bread for them each
to have only a little.”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother, spoke up: “A boy is here with five barley loaves and two small fish,
but what are these among so many?”
Jesus said, “Let the people sit down in groups.”
There was plenty of green grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five
thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave to those
who were seated, likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
Now when they were satisfied, he said to his
disciples, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” So, they gathered
them, and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley
loaves left over by those who had eaten. Seeing the sign that he had done, the
people said, “Truly, this is the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When
Jesus became aware that they intended to come and make him king by force, he
withdrew again to the mountain alone by himself.
2nd
Passiontide
March
18, 2007
John
6: 1-15
To
maintain our earthly existence, we must eat. There are saints who have been
able to exist by taking in no other bread but Communion. We ask ourselves how
this is possible.
In
the gospel reading, Christ’s question to Philip – where shall we buy bread – is
in essence a question about whether nourishment can only be mediated by the
earthly, by money. And Philip’s answer is accurate on the earthly level—seven
months wages would not be enough to feed so many.
 |
| Woloschin |
However,
the answer to how to feed the people can also have another starting point: a
young boy’s gift, five barley loaves, made from spring’s first harvest, two
fish from the watery element. In paradisal Galilee, the people sit in an
elevated place, on green grass, between heaven and earth, as the sun is going
down. The first stars become visible. And to what seems to be very little bread
in earthly terms, Christ, with gratitude, adds what truly feeds us—the Father’s
light, His life, His love from the realm of the stars. Christ leads the
peoples’ hearts into an awareness of the realm of pure Life itself. The life
realm is where living things multiply, thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. It is a
realm of more than enough. The material part of bread is a necessary
carrier; but a bite, a crumb of living bread suffices; what nourishes, what
satisfies our heart’s deepest need, is the thirty, sixty, hundredfold life in
it.
It
is also quite possible that in this realm of more than enough, the
people too were able to offer what they had brought. They multiplied the gift.
Filled with the Christ blessing, there was more than enough; there was enough
left over to show them, and us, that our true nourishment is mediated, not only
through the forces of the earth, but through the living forces of the Father’s
circle of the stars. There is more than enough, in order to show that
‘…What
in the bread doth feed,
Is
God’s Eternal Word, His life, His light, His deed.[1]
In
consecrating ourselves today, we offer and receive in gratitude. We partake in
a process wherein Christ blesses and fills bread with his Life. One day, for us
too, more than enough will be all that we need to live.
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