Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 25, 2021. 2 Kings 4:42-44; Psalm 145; Gospel of John 6:1-15. Theme: Jesus Said It. I Believe It. That Settles It!
The multiplication of the loaves and fish is one of the most popular of Jesus’ miracles. It held so much importance among the first Christians that it has the honor of being the only miracle to be recorded in all 4 gospels. To understand why this is, we have to know a bit of the backstory which we find in today’s other readings.
In our first reading we hear how the prophet Elisha fed 100 people with 20 barley loaves. And then in our responsorial psalm praise given to God, who fed his people through the prophet Moses with manna, which was a miracle-bread falling from the sky when they were wandering and hungry after having escaped from Egypt. These two important events from Israel’s history come together in Jesus’ miracle and their significant convergence is not lost on the people. They were able to put 2+2 together and realize that this holy man, Jesus of Nazareth, was a prophet much greater than either Moses or Elisha because his miracle, the sign of God’s powerful presence among them, was so much greater than either of theirs.
But God does not send prophets just to work miracles, he sends them with a message that is illustrated by the miracle. And so, the early Christians also remembered the message that Jesus spoke after he multiplied the loaves. We didn’t hear the words of this message in today’s Gospel, but you will hear them in the Sundays to come as we continue reading from the Gospel of St. John. However, I have to mention them now because both the miracle and the message are all intimately connected.
After multiplying the loaves, Jesus promised to give God’s people an even more miraculous bread, a bread that would give them eternal life. Even more astounding was the fact that he said this Miracle-Food to come would be his life-giving, soul-saving Body and Blood. This was not simply a figurative way of speaking nor was it something merely symbolic. The Eucharist does not just symbolize Jesus, nor is it only a holy reminder of who he was and what he has done for us. Many of these first disciples accepted Jesus at his word, as impossible as it seemed, for they knew that just as he was able to multiply the five loaves to feed thousands, so was he able to transform bread and wine into his flesh and blood at every celebration of the Mass.
This hard truth about the Eucharist can indeed be a difficult teaching to accept for some today, just as it was for some of those who first heard it. As a matter of fact, John’s Gospel tells us that there were disciples who parted ways with Jesus after hearing it. But it all boils down to faith, which means, trust in Jesus and his word. When those confused disciples who could not accept his message walked away, Christ didn’t stop them. He didn’t say, “Hey wait, you misunderstood me. I was only talking figuratively. It’s not really going to be my Body and Blood. It will only represent these things.”
Instead, he responded to their leaving with even stronger and clearer words about the literal truth about the Eucharist. He said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (John 6:53-56)
And of course, as we know, Jesus kept his word and fulfilled his promise of giving us heavenly food at the Last Supper, which was the very first Mass to ever be celebrated. He took bread into his hands and said, “This is my body given for you.” Then he took a cup of wine and proclaimed, “This is my blood poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” Notice that he did not say, “This is a symbol of my body given for you” or “This chalice will represent my blood poured out for you.” No, he meant what he said and he said it quite clearly.
And then, Jesus did even more than working this Eucharistic miracle by himself. He gave his apostles the command and the supernatural power to do this very same thing, to take bread and wine and by his authority change them into his very Body and Blood. And they passed on this Eucharistic ministry to others who have come after them. And so ever since the Last Supper, this on-going miracle of heavenly bread has been happening on planet Earth for 2,000 years.
I don’t know about you, but when it comes to the ways of God and such mysterious things as the on-going miracle of the Eucharist, I’m just a simple kind of guy. And so for me, as far as I’m concerned, I respond to it in this way: “Jesus said it. I believe it. That settles it.”
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