THEY WILL EAT AND BE CHANGED

HOMILY FOR THE 17^TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Miracles are not ends in themselves. They point to something, and the stuff they point to can never be taken to be unserious. They gear towards change or an announcement of change. Its occurrence goes with and leads to a change in the persons involved. Allowing this faith to remain would now become the effort of the person who has experienced it. And therefore, approaching Jesus for the miracles he offers may not be bad in itself. What may be counted as evil would be the failure to remain with him after the miracle is performed. Remaining in him implies a change from a former life to a new life in Christ. With this in mind, we come to realize that the matter which may be termed as the ingredients for the miracle should not be the focus of the miracle, as the focus is on the human person. In the case of the feeding of the Five thousand (the Gospel of today; John 6:1-15) in which lies the miracle of multiplication, the ingredients become the five small loaves and the two small fish.

What may be termed a prefiguration of the Gospel is found in the First Reading (2 Kings 4:42-44) in which is contained the story of Elisha. Elisha had gone to the brotherhood of the prophets in Gilgah and after having performed the miracle of cleansing of the poisoned soup, a man (not a boy as in the Gospel), brought (was not discovered) twenty barley loaves and fresh grain (not five loaves and two fish) to be served to a hundred men (not five thousand and more), and Elisha simply mandated (no thanksgiving offered to God) his servant (and not shared by himself) who had raised some doubts about the sufficiency of the bread for the number of people to share in it. Elisha reminds the servant of the promise of Yahweh, and at the end it turned out to be that the men ate and had some left over (not twelve baskets full). This is indeed a miracle of multiplication which is indeed negligible when compared with the recipient population and the ingredients for the miracle in the case of Jesus.

Remember, we talked about the changes that every miracle initiates in the human person, it is now time to freely ask ourselves about these changes that the miracle of multiplication of loaves brought (can bring) to the lives of the people (and us). Hence, as one could have simply said that Elisha’s miracle of multiplication led the brotherhood of the prophets to a better faith in Yahweh, so too we can say that Jesus’ multiplication miracle of multiplication led to the faith in him as the messiah. But there is more to this. There are two major facets of change that one can perceive to be the goal of the miracle of multiplication; one is the change effected in the apostles, and the other is the change effected in the crowd. Concerning the apostles, the change effected in them is not unconnected to the questions asked by them. Concerning the people, the change effected in them is not also unconnected with their profession of faith and the perceived reaction from them to crown Jesus.

Out of his compassionate heart, Jesus asked Philip (most probably because he was from Bethsaida which was their location): where can we buy bread for these people to eat? The answer from Philip was despairing. Oh! What a pessimistic faith! But then, Andrew spoke up having known of a boy with some loaves and fish: but how far will they go among so many? The reaction of Andrew was helpful and helped to calm the situation. Oh! What an optimistic but questioning faith! Philip’s question reveals his interest on money and human resources more than on faith in Christ, a ridicule of the wages of the apostles and stresses the impossibility of the situation. In other words, the pessimistic faith sees the problem more than the power of God, and does not see the opportunity for the power of God to be demonstrated in conquering the problem. In crises, the power of God seems to be forgotten. Thus, the miracle led the apostles to learn to go beyond a pessimistic faith that sees tough situations above the power of God. It changed them that they developed a formidable faith in the messiah who was in their midst. It can also do the same for us.

Andrew’s reaction and question reveal his conviction that no matter how little the resources or how poor the quality, it is all laid before the Lord. But looking at the need and the meagre nature of the resources, the praiseworthy faith begins to question. Thus, the optimistic but questioning faith questions instead of believing God to take care of the situation. And so, it complains about the problem, grows anxious of the problem, and grumbles over the small provision. All that is needed is for one to learn to trust Christ and not to question and doubt his love and care, wisdom and power. Thus, this miracle led the apostles to a total trust in Christ, becoming more stable in their optimistic faith without having the need to doubt the power of God. It teaches us to quit the complaint and focus on the power of God, to have more hopes in God and to convert grumbling moments into praying opportunities.

There may be another and a very lovely explanation offered by Barclay. It remains scarcely to be thought that the crowds left on a nine-mile expedition without any preparations at all. We know that pilgrims always possess supplies for the journey, even though we may not say in surety that all in the crowd made preparations for food. The situation might have actually been that none would produce what he had for he selfishly (and very humanly) wished to keep it all for himself. It is not ruled out then that Jesus in the awareness of this, and with that rare smile of his, produced the little that he and his disciples had, and thanking God for it had to share it out. Moved by such example, everyone who had anything did the same and bore with one another through love (cf. Second Reading Eph. 4:1-6). And there was abundance for all. Thus, it may be that this is a miracle in which the presence of Christ changed selfish men and women into a fellowship of sharers. And so, this miracle might represent one which actually changed not loaves and fishes, but men and women.

The rest of the story demonstrated Jesus’ power over insufficiency to the extent of making something that was initially insufficient finally abundant as twelve baskets were collected, as waste is meant to be avoided. This is a lesson to all of us. This miracle of multiplication can actually be felt by each one of us. It does not follow that because somebody appears insufficient, he/she would not be efficient. Nick Vujicic (an Australian Christian) was born without arms or legs, and even attempted suicide at 10 for being bullied at school. He thought he would never get married. Nick got married in 2012, has a healthy child, and today a powerful evangelist and motivational speaker. Isn’t it great? The initial disability should not affect the final ability. One can be small, but accomplishes great things. One might not have enough intelligence but turns out to be the best. One can start small, but ends very big. One can have little talent (humour) but it turns out to be a talent that creates joy in so many people. Think about the businesses that had small beginnings but now wax strong. And finally, think about how that little embryo develops into a human being, and how that little infant grows into a big adult. Is it not true then that the miracle of multiplication is everywhere around us? Discover them and give God the praise. Happy New week. God bless you.