Weekly HOMILY for July 26, 2009: How Many Loaves Have You?

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Our Lady of Grace
July 26, 2009

“How Many Loaves Have You?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Signs Not Miracles

John’s gospel stands apart from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in a number of very important ways.

John, the Evangelist, deals with Jesus’ miracles very differently from the other three. Actually he does not even call them miracles at all, but “signs.”

Now miracles tend to draw attention to themselves, but these “signs” of John point beyond themselves to something more.

Over the next five Sundays we’ll be reading from John’s 6th Chapter, which presents one of these “signs” in all its fullness.

His 6th chapter begins with the Feeding of the 5,000, but moves quickly to questions, discussions, even confrontations around the idea of “the bread of life.”

It’s clear that the Feeding of the 5,000 is designed to set us up for something more, namely, hearing about “the Bread of Life.”


Philip, Andrew and a Little Boy

For this first of five weeks the Bread of Life theme gets spelled out in three persons who represent a particular point of view regarding Jesus’ sign.

In the gospel we read: “When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.”

Philip – symbolizes the Practical Analyst among us – starts up with his calculations. “Six months’ wages wouldn’t even buy enough bread for everybody to have even a little bit.”

It looks like Philip has:
➢ Estimated how many people are out there
➢ Estimated the costs
➢ Estimated what would be required for each person to have a decent meal
➢ He knows what six months’ wages are and
➢ He knows he doesn’t have that kind of money in his pocket.

He’s sure that he whole thing is preposterous and reports back to Jesus. That’s Philip.

Andrew – symbolizes the Cynic among us – and is a very different character. He comes up to Jesus and says, “There’s a kid over there. He has fine barley loaves and two fish.”

So, he makes a joke of it. “What’s this among so many? Ha ha! Nothing can be done!”

Now notice the Little Boy – symbolizes an open and generous heart. He remains nameless and yet, he becomes the key character in the expression of the “sign” and what it points to.

He offers his lunch and, in the hands of Jesus, that’s enough – more than enough.

When a person is nameless in the Gospels, it usually means he’s bigger than himself. We’re somehow supposed to see ourselves or at least our own possibilities in these nameless characters.


Signs and Wonders Then and Now

It is in the people’s hunger and the little boy’s gift that the sign begins to make clear what it’s pointing to.

Jesus takes the loaves, and when he gives thanks, he distributes them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. Do the actions of Jesus sound is bit familiar. Indeed! They sound like the actions of the Mass and they are supposed to!

This is what I mean by “sign.” The actions of Jesus with the child’s offering open us up to today, here and now at this Mass.

The sign begins with the little boy’s gift, moves ahead with Jesus’ acceptance of the gift, and his prayer of thanksgiving to his Father.

This little boy has “the Spirit” and Jesus is able to work with what he has to offer stretching it into a food for a multitude, an action of God’s own abundance to feed others.


Conclusion

In conclusion, let us look again how the three contrasting personalities in the story respond to the challenge at hand.

Philip satisfied himself with the reasonable analysis that said that the project was simply too big to handle and that he and his friends didn’t have the resources to handle it.

Andrew became cynical, even bitter, that this challenge was presented in the first place. We should have known better than to allow ourselves to get into this predicament.

But the Little Boy simply offers what he has. He puts his resources – meager in the face of the need – into the hands of Jesus.

His is the preferred response. It is the person who has the Spirit of faith and hope and love that Jesus can work with!

The question that remains for each of us is, “What Jesus can make of the offering of the five loaves and three fishes that you or I bring?”

Let’s pull out the little lunch boxes of our lives that have gifts and talents in them and offer them as bread for this Eucharist.

It may be baking a casserole for the hungry, bringing in non-perishable food, helping out as an assistant in Religious Education, using your shoulder for someone to cry on, or dropping an offering in the poor box.

Let’s see what can become of the food that we offer, how it can be transformed and come back to us with such abundant grace.