EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A

THE SATED ALSO GET HUNGRY

Introduction

“The Lord gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry” (Ps 146:7) are the words with which pious Israelites profess their faith in providence. In her song of praise, Mary echoes this: “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Lk 1:53). But how can these statements be true if a quarter of humanity lives in conditions of absolute poverty, where every day tens of thousands of children die of hunger and where millions of people rummage through the garbage looking for food? Has God, who clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the sky, perhaps forgotten his children? Why does the Father not hear the prayer of those who plead with him every day: Give us this day our daily bread?’

The poor are hungry, but the sated also find themselves sad, frustrated and alone; the gratification of possession lasts a few days, if not hours, then anxiety resurfaces, and the inner emptiness forces them to start desperately searching for something else. To have more rather than be satiated increases hunger and invites entry into the no-exit vortex of death.

This spiral can be interrupted. It is possible to find the bread that satisfies and the banquet where the wine of joy abounds, but only one road leads there; there are no shortcuts. The paths near boutiques, the jewelers, and antique shops are imagined to be ‘streets of happiness,’ but they are misleading. The preacher of miracles also indicates the imaginary path, who tosses out the invitation to implore supernatural intervention; the Lord does not intend to replace man.

He promises a prodigy, and his word realizes it: where his Gospel is accepted, hearts detoxify themselves of selfishness, and solidarity and sharing bloom. When these feelings arise, the hunger for bread disappears, and the thirst for love is quenched.

• To internalize the message, we repeat:

“God makes use of people’s hands to feed his children.”

First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-3

Thus says the Lord: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David. 

We are in Babylon; more than 50 years have passed since Jerusalem was destroyed, and the painful period of exile began. The discouraged Israelites live in a foreign land. One day they hear the prophet’s voice resounding. He announces the imminent fall of the Babylonian empire, the liberation, and the return to the homeland.

In today’s passage, this new condition is likened to a banquet in which there will be plenty of food and drink. There will be no need for money. There will be enough to satisfy hunger and thirst (v. 1). The prophet, however, is aware that the majority of exiles have neither experienced hunger nor thirst. They are now settled in Babylon and, for better or worse, have adapted to the situation; they, in fact, are not thinking of building a new life in the country of origin. They prefer to stay where they are, and if they put aside some savings, they buy houses and fields for themselves in Mesopotamia; they are unwilling to take risks, to embark on an adventure that could be tricky. In short, they are not interested in ‘the banquet’; they refuse the invitation.

The prophet insists, trying to make them think: yours is not a real life, and spending your own money to settle in a foreign land is “spending money on what does not satisfy” (v. 2). Only he who dares to go back will experience the joy of the new social reality prepared by the Lord. He was not heard. The Israelites who left Babylon were few and sparse; the majority did not dare risk an exodus. Those who returned did not find any banquet; they were not welcomed. They faced hardships and difficulties, so many thought they had been deceived.

It took some time before Israel sensed the true meaning of the Lord’s promise. It should not be interpreted in material terms; they would be realized, but not in the immediate future. The banquet was a symbol of salvation offered by God to all humankind.

The condition in which the deported found themselves in Babylon is an image of all slavery in which every person is struggling. The temptation to spend money for that which does not satisfy, the distrust of those who issue the invitation to the banquet and the promise of true joy, the fear of undertaking a journey into a land of freedom are always the same and recur continually.

God does not confront the evidence or give any convincing proof but calls for unconditional trust in what he promises. Only he who has already set foot in the banquet hall of the kingdom of heaven may testify that he has found the table spread for the feast. His joy can become contagious and convinces even the wariest to enter.

Second Reading: Romans 8:35,37-39

Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

What drives a person to abandon the faith? The most desperate circumstances: the sad events, but also good fortune and success. When all goes well in life, we may be tempted to do without God because we already have everything we want. But on the contrary—it is the struggles, the hardships, the misfortunes which generate discomfort—that may turn people away from God and Christ.

Paul sets out seven of these difficulties: “Will trials, anguish, persecution or hunger, lack of clothing or dangers or sword …?” (v. 35). They are just a few—those that Paul has experienced in his own flesh (2 Cor11:24-33)—the list can be completed by each one by adding from personal experience. I try to list those that more than others now imperil attachment to Christ. There is fear of losing opportunities for happiness, then discouragement, dejection in our own weakness and moral misery, the shame of mistakes, the remorse that generates anxiety, leading to despair and doubt about being loved by God.

The temptation to choose a life opposed to the principles of the Gospel is always looming, but Paul assures: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God and of Christ” (vv. 35,39). God opened the game with humanity, and he will close it after conducting it as only he can do, that is, by winning.

Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children. 

If we reduce this miracle to a gesture of power performed ​​by Jesus to prove his divinity, several unavoidable questions must be confronted. It is not likely that moving a crowd of many thousands is possible. It is also getting late. Darkness is not far away, not the most suitable time to distribute bread to so many people. From where did the 12 empty baskets they had pop up? But the most provocative consideration is what interest is there today in Jesus feeding 5,000 men if God still permits people to continue to die for lack of bread? What happened that night in the vicinity of Lake Tiberias is difficult to establish. However, that is not what is essential. The evangelists relate the episode in six different versions, each with its own specific message. Let us try to grasp what the passage gives us for today.

At the time of Jesus, there was a widespread belief that the Messiah would accomplish great signs and wonders, which would have gathered and introduced the people into the desert, where he would repeat the miracle of the manna.

Presenting Jesus coming into the desert followed by a great multitude of people who had abandoned the city (v. 13), the evangelist wants us to see in him the new Moses. Israel had left Egypt and entered into the Promised Land but had not yet reached freedom and had not yet entered into communion with its God. Behold, now it is led back into the desert.

There are still more parallelisms. Let’s put the passage into context. Matthew has just described the banquet organized for Herod’s birthday, in which the Baptist’s execution occurred (Mt 14:3-12). That banquet represents vividly the corrupt, oppressive, and bloody society that must be repudiated by those who follow Christ. It is in the desert that the foundations of a new society are laid.

Here are its features: first, it has Jesus as a guide and his feelings as put forward as the norm for mutual relations. He feels compassion (v. 14). The verb used—splagknizomai—is not a vague feeling of commotion but a deep, visceral (in Greek, the bowels are called splagkna) emotion. We’ve already come across this term: “When he saw the crowd he was moved with pity, for they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36).

Jesus is sensitive to the needs of people. He feels part of them and is involved intimately; it touches his heart, but he is not discouraged by this disturbance. He does not curse, use vain words of regret, or cry crocodile tears. He becomes a stimulus for immediate action in favor of the suffering: “When he went ashore, he saw the crowd gathered there and he has compassion on them. And he healed their sick” (v. 14).

‘Com-passion,’ to suffer together with the brothers and sisters, is the force that leads the disciple to engage in the building of a new society. Only those who have mastered the sensitivity of the Master are moved to intervene, to make their own the same gestures of love. “Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had” (Phil 2:5)—Paul recommends: “Rejoice with those who are joyful, and weep with those who weep. Live in peace with one another” (Rom 12:15-16).

This urgent inner need to do good is the unmistakable sign of the presence in the disciple of the Spirit of Christ. It is not only sicknesses, weakness, and human fragility that Jesus is confronted with. Even the urgent need for food and lack of assets necessary for life are addressed. What is Jesus’ response to hunger in the world?

If the miracle is perhaps the solution, today’s passage would not have much to tell us because no one is given the ability to do such wonders. Jesus is simply indicating what every disciple can and should do so that no one lacks bread. He cannot resolve the problem of hunger without human cooperation.

The first subtle temptation to watch out for is disengagement, that of wanting ‘to dismiss the crowd’ so that each one makes their own arrangements, going to the villages to buy something to eat (v. 15). That is the suggestion put forward by the disciples who have not understood that adherence to Christ implies a concrete engagement in favor of those in need. They do not need to go—Jesus answers—“you give them something to eat” (v. 16).

The difficulty, which is also ours, is immediately raised: what we have is not sufficient (v. 17). If everyone keeps selfishly for themselves what they have, in fear that they may lack what is necessary one day, then there will always be hunger in the world.

Jesus asks the disciples to give him what they have, even if it seems paltry in the face of the need. Five loaves and two fish are the symbols of totality. Nothing is held back; generosity should have no limits. The sharing of goods is Christ’s proposal and is the only one in tune with God’s plan. He is the Father, and he wants his children to live as brothers and sisters. They do not accumulate for themselves nor hoard goods destined for all. When everyone places what they have at the disposal of others (not only money but their whole self, time, talent, intelligence, ability…), they will witness a miracle: there will be food for everyone and some leftover. On the generosity of persons, God often pours out his blessing.

The bread that Jesus distributes is not only material. Like water, bread was a symbol in the Israel of God’s wisdom. Both the prophets and the sages of the Old Testament allude to them often: Wisdom has laid her table—says the author of Proverbs. To the senseless, she says, “Come, eat and drink of the bread and wine I have prepared” (Prov 9:1-5). Amos announces that God will send hunger and thirst to the land: “not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of Yahweh” (Am 8:11).

One day Jesus said: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). The food that he gives and nourishes the person is his word. Indeed, it is himself, the Word of God, that must be assimilated. “Jesus took the loaves—Matthew says—and raised his eyes to heaven, pronounced the blessing and handed them to the disciples to distribute to the people” (v. 19). These words are familiar to us. They are those of the Eucharist. The evangelist uses them to help the Christians of his communities understand that, after having assimilated the bread of the Gospel given to them through the preaching of the apostles, they must also approach the Eucharistic banquet to be filled.

Five thousand men are fed. It is the number that symbolizes Israel. It is to these people that bread is offered. Israel is the first to be invited to the banquet announced by the prophets. After Israel is satiated, 12 baskets of leftovers are gathered. Twelve indicates the new community, constituted by the 12 apostles around Christ. To these new people, the bread will not be lacking—that is Christ—there will always be a surfeit, and each time distribution will resume. Through his disciples—to whom he delivered his bread—Jesus himself is the one who continues to feed people of all times and places.

READ: The crowds continue to follow Jesus as he heals and teaches them. Here he feeds them, prefiguring the feeding in the Eucharist.

REFLECT: People need to be fed with truth as well as with bread. What was the miracle: the multiplication of some loaves or fishes or the following of the teachings of Jesus by sharing with others? Can the Eucharist exist outside the celebration of Mass?

PRAY: When praying at the Eucharist, the believer commits to living the Eucharist outside of Mass. Praying with the priest and the community finds completion in living out of the teaching of Jesus.

ACT: Pay attention to the Eucharistic moments with family and friends outside of Mass.