Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

2 Kgs 4:42-44

Ps 145:10-11, 15-18

Eph 4:1-6

Jn 6:1-15

 

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church, Burkburnett, TX

St. Paul Catholic Church, Electra, TX

Christ the King Catholic Church, Iowa Park, TX

 

For the next five weeks, we will be hearing the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John proclaimed to us at Holy Mass. Throughout John chapter 6, we will hear several themes from Our Lord that are important for us to learn as His disciples. Today’s Gospel reading tells us about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, which is the beginning of ‘the Bread of Life discourse.’  This is the only miracle Jesus worked that is recounted in all four of the Gospels – John 6, Matthew 14, Mark 6, and Luke 9 – so you better believe it is important! Today we will cover two of the many lessons in this Gospel to help us better appreciate our experience of Jesus Christ as we walk this pilgrim journey of discipleship.

The first discipleship lesson we learn today is that Jesus wants us to have a deeper faith. We heard that the crowd who followed Jesus did so because of the miracles and healings he did. John uses the Greek word Eoron to describe the sight of the crowd. It means a ‘superficial observance’: they merely see what is happening on the outside, but they do not perceive the truth that lies within. But when Jesus raised his eyes to gaze on the crowd, John used a different word – Theasamanos – to describe His sight. It means to have a true and penetrating insight. So Jesus sat down and assumed the classical position of a teacher. He wanted to teach the crowd (and us!) about the need to move from being superficial spectators to be being committed disciples. The true disciple follows Christ, not because of what Jesus can do for them, but because of who Jesus is – the Son of God, the Messiah. Peter learned this lesson well as we will hear in a few weeks. To grow in faith, we have to understand, to see – theasamanos – the deeper meaning in Our Lord’s actions. If our faith is only reciting written prayers, following religious rituals, and memorizing various creeds, then this Gospel passage invites us today to let Jesus teach us how to have a deeper faith. If we allow Him, Jesus will teach us to understand the intimate personal relationship he is offering to us in prayer, the grace he freely gives to us in the rituals and liturgies and sacraments of His Church, and the self-revelation of God communicated to us through those creeds we profess.

The second discipleship lesson we learn today comes from the test Jesus gave to Philip and Andrew. He asked Philip how he was going to buy bread to feed the thousands of people that had gathered to learn from the Master. Jesus wanted to hear what Philip was going to say, not what solution he proposed. Of course, Philip stated it was impossible for the disciples to buy enough bread to feed everyone. Impossible yes, because he was tempted to trust only in his own human ability and his self-sufficiency. Jesus tested Philip to see if he would trust in the Lord’s power to accomplish what he could not do on his own. Jesus frequently tests us this way, doesn’t he? When Andrew brought the little boy to Jesus with his precious offer of five small loaves and two little fish, Jesus accepted them – this tiny, meager, and oh so insufficient offering, given in trust– and he transformed them into an abundant feast. Jesus taught them then and teaches us today that God can accomplish infinitely more with our lives than we can on our own! How often we give into the temptation to do nothing because we can only do a little? St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) said “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” My precious Christians, nothing done with love is ever small and tiny because God is love! So what we do with love, we do with God and God is never, ever small and tiny! This Gospel passage teaches us today that discipleship is about God – it is not about us. God can do mighty things with what we offer him. Where we often fail is when we don’t give Jesus anything to work with.

The discipleship challenge the Gospel puts to us today is twofold. First, to truly see – theasamanos - how our faith can be deepened when we are open to fully experience the depths of the reality of God’s very Real Presence with us. We must see with eyes opened by faith beyond the outward appearance of bread and wine and believe Jesus is fully there. The Eucharist is not a symbol! All of John Chapter 6 teaches us that truth. Sadly, according to recent Pew Research polls, as many as two-thirds of Catholics fail to believe Jesus is truly and substantially present in the Eucharist – body, blood, soul, and divinity. They see only superficially – Eoron - and so they do not possess the truth. Second, we are challenged to trust Jesus enough to offer him in love whatever gifts in life we may have been given for the good of others (CCC 951). Had Andrew attempted to feed the huge crowd by himself with the loaves and fish the little boy offered, only a few people would have gotten anything. But he didn’t – trusting in the power of God, he brought them to Jesus. That day, Jesus fed thousands of people on a grassy hillside with five loaves of bread and two little fish and there was much left over after the meal. Just imagine what Jesus can accomplish today in this parish if each of us trusts Him enough to offer our gifts in love, no matter how small we think they are.

St. Joseph, Servant of Christ, Pray for Us!