Sunday Homily July 29, 2012, 17th Ordinary Time B
Readings:
2 Kings, 4, 42-44, Give it to the people to eat.
Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us, he answers all our needs.
Ephesians 4, 1-6, I a prisoner for the Lord.
John 6, 1-15, They filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments.
Introduction to the readings:
To set the stage for todays readings, the Jewish religious feasts were celebrated in conjunction with harvest festivals. For example, the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits occur over a period of eight days when the barley was in the fields waiting for its first sheaves to be offered in thanksgiving to God.
Seven weeks later the Jews celebrated Pentecost at the beginning of summer when the wheat in the fields was waiting for its sheaves to be offered in thanksgiving to God. The feast of Tabernacles was the last feast of three feasts celebrated in the fall when the dates, figs and olives were harvested. The thanksgivings given to God for the harvests were from the heart!
Our first reading from 2nd Kings is an event in the life of Elisha, the prophet. The prophets Elijah and Elisha did not write books; they proclaimed the one god of all, Yahweh. They chastised the Jewish Kings who called themselves Jews but worshipped idols.
Elisha is the head of a brotherhood of 100 prophets who are sitting with him in this first Reading. Our second reading is a letter from Paul to the Ephesians addressing all those who welcome and live the good news of Jesus Christ. They are, with Christ, one body.
The Gospel of John: 6:1-15
If you have a reference Bible and looked up our first reading in 2nd Kings 4:42-44 you would find in the margin, John 6:1-15, our gospel reading. Recall that the good news of Jesus, the Messiah, fulfills the expectation of his coming given within the Law, Prophets and Psalms [hence our Liturgy of the Word]. A non-descript man brings twenty barley loaves and a few ears of corn as first fruits to Elisha the prophet, a man of God.
There was a famine in the land; the man is giving thanks to God through Elisha. Elisha welcomes the gift and tells a servant to set it before his 100 pupils. His servant says that he can’t, for it won’t be enough to feed them. Elisha replies that the gift is from god. They will be able to be filled and have some left over. The 100 have heard this, and they accept in thanksgiving this man’s gifts and their teacher’s wisdom. They will eat each bite slowly, with continuing thanks, saving enough for Elisha and his servant to eat also.
In our gospel reading Jesus, too, receives a gift of first fruits—five barley loaves and two fish. We know that it’s a gift of first fruits for we are told that ‘Passover is near,’ the grain is still in the fields. Andrew is like the servant in the reading from 2nd Kings, saying, ‘What good are these for so many? I’ve told you before that the stories within each of the four gospels that seem to be about a multiplication of loaves or fish, aren’t what they seem to be.
These parables anticipate what will happen much later, and they do happen. The loaves in these parables are symbols for the twelve apostles. We are told here, that from the 5 loaves, 5000 are going to be fed; from five of the twelve to whom Jesus gives this mission, as Church, to feed the Jews with the good news. But, more importantly, there are 12 baskets filled with leftovers—indistinguishable from the anticipated twelve, who will have received the Holy Spirit! The church has grown by leaps and bounds. It happens just this way in Luke Acts 3-4 after the twelve receive the Holy Spirit! In thanksgiving we are called to recognize with one another, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ present within and among us. We are his body!
