LITURGY
WORD OF GOD
They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining,
twelve baskets full.
(Matthew 14:20)
WORD FOR TODAY
After the crowd of 5,000 had had its fill of bread and fish it was not long before it was hungry again. What is the deep-down hunger that you experience? How do you try to gratify it? Does your faith satisfy your deepest desires or are you not eating enough?
WORDS FOR WORSHIP
Lord Jesus, you feed the hunger of our minds and hearts: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you are the bread of life that satisfies our needs: Christ, have
mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you invite us to the eternal banquet of heaven: Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
May the God of all goodness, who feeds us with the Bread of Life, strengthen us in holiness, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
FAITH IN FOCUS: SHARING
The feeding of the 5,000 has to be one of the most well known episodes in the gospels, familiar even to those with little knowledge of the life and times of Jesus. We can probably remember it from our childhood days.
We know that it happened and that it was a miraculous event, but we don’t know how. We even give the story different names to emphasise different aspects: the feeding of the 5,000, the multiplication of the bread or the miracle of the loaves.
But what would we like to have happened? Do we favour the idea of Jesus acting like a magician by taking a tiny amount of bread and fish and making it stretch into a huge spread? Would anyone’s life be permanently changed by that? Possibly. Would we prefer to think of it as an act whereby Jesus backed up his teaching with a practical example? Would anyone’s life be changed by that? Certainly.
In a world where we’re used to hearing of earthquakes and cyclones in which thousands of people die and millions are left with scarce food and drink, today’s gospel story perhaps has a different challenge for us. Is it possible that the 5,000 played an active part in the miracle? Could it be that having heard the words of Jesus they were inspired to share rather than to think only of themselves? And today maybe we are called not simply to wonder at the miracle and then applaud, but rather to join in the miracle by the way we share with those who are hungry.
We can’t simply look at the stories in the gospel as if they were only historical events that took place long ago. If we are to make Christ the miracle-worker present in our century, then we have to give “miracles” a chance. If we really took Jesus’ words to heart and responded so that the whole world had its daily bread, then the feeding of the 5,000 would happen in our lives with regularity. Jesus the miracle-worker would be present through us.
So if we enjoy the miracles then we have to make sure we’re part of them today. Miracles should not be pious; they should be practical. Maybe that’s why some people call this event the miracle of sharing. Would anyone’s life be changed by that? I’ll leave it up to you…
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