Commentary
Sunday, 7/29/2018, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Leftovers Just as the LORD Said
First Reading Commentary 2 Kings 4:42-44
Most of us are not biblical scholars and have not read the bible cover-to-cover. So, when we reflect on the Feeding of the Five Thousand in today’s gospel from John, we do not think about today’s first reading from Second Kings. The event which takes place here is a precursor to Jesus feeding the five thousand which is a precursor to Jesus instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper. This event is also another case where Jesus actually relives the Old Testament and a demonstration that God will do what He says He will do but there is a twist which bears some special messages.
Elisha was presented with twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits and fresh grain in the ear. When Elisha told his servant to give it to the people to eat, the servant objected because there was not enough to feed one hundred people. But Elisha insisted saying, “For thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’”
Notice that Elisha was presented with the first fruits. That means that the man who brought the barley loaves to Elisha took what was to be his offering to the LORD right off the top of his harvest. He did not use what he wanted for himself before making his offering which sets an example for us to follow. We should give to God before we worry about anything else.
Notice that the servant objected because there was not enough for all of the people to eat. Mark tells us that the disciple Philip said to Jesus, “Two hundred day’s wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” Here again, we are given the message: have faith in God and do not doubt what He can or will do.
In the Book of Revelation, the number 10 represents shortness or incompleteness. The number 7 represents completeness. These numbers come into play when comparing today’s first reading to today’s gospel.
The servant asked, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” When we consider the number ten, we can see that the servant was saying that there was ten times not enough food for the people to eat. You could look at it another way and say that the man was saying that there was five times not enough food. This is because twenty barley loaves were presented and 5 X 20 = 100. In any case, there was far from enough.
But Jesus was presented with five barley loaves and two fish—seven pieces of food. With those seven pieces of food, Jesus fed five thousand people. Point being: God takes what is incomplete and makes it complete. Through Jesus and the Eucharist, God completes His promise of feeding His people by feeding all of us. In fact, God takes what is not enough and turns it into more than enough.
Elisha and Jesus both had left overs! God is not in the habit of providing us with just barely enough to get by. God gives us more than we need. God spoils us! We do not think of that and may not even believe it when we are caught up in our worldly problems.
We don’t have enough money to cover our bills or expenses. We need a new car and can’t afford one. It is always something. But if we focus our attention on that which is most import which is making it to heaven, we see that God does give us more than we need and God does much more than He needs to do. After all, God gave His Son so that we might be with Him in heaven. But what are we willing to give in order to get there?
What it Is
Second Reading Commentary: Ephesians 4:1-6
Today, Paul begins by saying that he is a prisoner for the Lord. Yes, Paul was held captive as a prisoner more than once and ultimately martyred but it is not physical bondage that Paul is talking about.
This is another opportunity for us to ask ourselves just how much we are willing to do for our God and just how far we are willing to go to defend our faith. When Paul uses the words, “prisoner for the Lord,” he is giving testimony to his faith. Paul is saying that there is nothing that he will not do for his God and there is nothing that can stop him. Paul his giving the strongest testimony that he can in saying that he is totally committed to serving his God. Keep the word, “serving” in mind. It is a key word in today’s liturgy.
Then Paul says that we should live in a manner which is worthy to the call that we have received. Do we know what our call is? Do we even care? By the way things are going in the world today, it is obvious that too many people don’t have a clue of what God is calling them to do and worse yet, they don’t seem to care.
I don’t want to turn this commentary into a political lecture but let’s face it. War, violence around the world and on our streets, hunger around the world and in our own neighborhoods, homeless people on our streets, lack of welcoming because of disrespect or caring for migrants and refugees, hatred, bigotry and lack of respect for the unborn are just some terrible problems of the day which all add up to say one thing: Worldwide, we are a society of people who as a whole, do not care for each other.
In other words, we are not obeying the Greatest Commandments because we are not willing to serve each other in the same way that the Father sent His Son to serve us. We are not the prisoners for the Lord that Paul was and we do not live our lives in the way that he advises us.
Too many of us are too proud to be humble, too violent to be gentle, in too much of a hurry to be patient, too hateful and envious to be loving and too full of divisiveness to be unified. Now you might declare, “No, not me!” I’m not that egotistical, mean spirited, impatient person. Really? Well, none of us are perfect which means that in some way, all of us fall short of being the serving person that Paul is advising us to be—the servant that Christ was.
So, how does this fit in? The rest of what Paul says today is all about the Mystical Body of Christ. Paul often talks about the Mystical Body because ultimately, we are called to be a part of the Mystical Body and Paul tells us exactly what that Body is: One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Here’s the thing: If we are going to function as a viable part of the Mystical Body, we must be in unity with the Mystical Body. We cannot do that if we are not in unity with each other. That’s the way that God planned it and it will not work any other way and that’s what it is!
We Are God’s Spoiled Children
Gospel Commentary: John 6:1-15
Jesus went to the mountain with his disciples and a crowd of about five thousand assembled. Jesus was presented with a basket of five loaves and two fish and from that Jesus not only fed the crowd but there were twelve baskets full of food left over.
The crowd had assembled because of the signs that Jesus was performing of healing people. I wonder how many people were in the crowd who had never seen Jesus before. Were they there to satisfy their curiosity? How many people in the crowd were already believers? Imagine Christ being on earth today. Would we go to see Him out of curiosity or would we go to see Him because we are believers?
We can compare the events which occurred in this gospel to the Last Supper. It was near the time of the Passover and Jesus fed the people. Jesus shared the Passover meal with the disciples and fed them and in so doing, instituted the Eucharist consecrating unleavened bread into His body. The disciples were not only fed By Christ, they were fed with Christ.
The people in this gospel were also fed with Christ. The Last Supper was yet to come so no one understood what Jesus was doing. They only knew that a miracle had taken place and they recognized that Jesus was the Prophet who was to come into the world.
Catholics understand that when we receive Communion at Mass we are being fed by Christ and with Christ. We are being fed with the Word which became flesh. See John 1:14
Before this miracle happened, Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Jesus was testing Philip’s faith. Philip should have known in faith that Jesus was going to provide. But Philip did not answer Jesus in faith. He said, “Two hundred days’ wages of food would not be enough…” Philip’s thoughts were limited to human and worldly thinking.
There is nothing wrong with that but when we call on God to help us with a problem and we say that we put the problem in God’s hands, we need to remind ourselves that God will provide. We may not understand it and may not even see it coming but when God answers our prayers, there is no limit to what He can do. This was Philip’s lesson of the day and it is a lesson for all of us as well.
This was also Andrew’s lesson of the day. He told Jesus that there was a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish and asked, “…what good are these for so many?” Jesus taught the lesson through action rather than words.
Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed them to the people together with as much fish as they wanted. When the people had their fill, the fragments were gathered together and there was enough to fill twelve baskets.
When Jesus gave thanks, He took the bread and after saying the blessing, Jesus distributed it. This is exactly what Jesus did with His disciples at the Last Supper.
There are many events in the life of Christ which can be compared to the Old Testament. This is one of those events where Jesus actually relived the Old Testament. In today’s first reading, Elisha was presented with barley loaves and corn to feed the people. Jesus used barley loaves to feed His people on the mountain. There were twelve tribes of the Israelites. There were twelve wicker baskets full of leftovers. You could say that this is symbolic of one basket of over-abundance for each tribe.
Parents always want their children to have a better life than what they had growing up. Parents always give their children more than they need when they can afford to. As a result, most parents are guilty of spoiling their children. That’s okay because I see it as God’s way.
Did you ever consider yourself as one of God’s spoiled children? You should because all of us are God’s spoiled children! We may not realize it and some of us do not appreciate it but we are all God’s spoiled children. Over and over again, we see this in the bible in both the Old and New Testaments. God provides in abundance. No matter how bad or how many times we mess up, as long as we believe and repent with sincerity, God provides with more than we need. That’s God’s way. Somebody say, “Thank you.”
After the people saw that Jesus had provided more than they could eat, they believed in Him. So, they wanted to make Him king but Jesus went off in the mountain alone.
Would you pass by an opportunity to become a king? Think of all of the power, glamour, riches and privileges. Maybe you would turn it down because of the worries and headaches that would come with the position. Whether we would accept the opportunity or turn it down, we would no doubt think in human and worldly ways in making our decision.
Life on earth has programmed and indoctrinated us to be that way. We have to work at being more like Jesus and practice humility. When we deal with events and issues and material things of this world, it is only normal and practical to think in a worldly way. But when we think about God and pray to Him asking for His help, we have to put worldly thinking out of our minds completely. Once again, we have to constantly remind ourselves that God is not of this world, He made this world.
But there is more than humility at work when Jesus went off alone. Jesus was already a king. The people just did not know that yet. He did not come to this world to accept a kingship. Jesus came to save this world from its sins and He could have fulfilled that mission at any time He chose. This was not that time or the place and most importantly where this gospel is concerned, this was not the way.
God does things in His own way and in His own time. We say that a lot but we do not always exercise the patience needed to handle it. Why, because we are God’s spoiled children!
