14 February 2017 - sufficient sea

 

 [ Today's Readings ]

They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
They concluded that it was all about their deficiency. It is never about our deficiency. It is always about the abundance Jesus offers.

Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
If the disciples are thinking about actual bread they may remember all the times when Jesus asks what they have and they do not have enough. They may take the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod to be actual leaven. To them this warning might mean that they should not allow themselves to be dependent on Herod or the Pharisees. But it is about something deeper. It isn't just about bread or any material thing. It is about the corrupting influence that comes from the world and taints all it touches. If they are aware of how much they lack they may want to join forces with the world at times. But to do so is to be corrupted. Jesus has enough that this is never necessary.

We don't need the world's filler to puff us up. We have Jesus. Just as the houses of the Israelites are purified for the Feast of Unleavened Bread let us too seek the purity that is now possible for us.

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (First Corinthians 5:7).

Just as God cleanses the earth of everything sinful in the flood at the time of Noah so too does he cleanse us by baptism. We return again and again to our own baptism as a source of grace and renewal. Let us imagine the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit wash over us when we make the sign of the cross with Holy Water, during the penitential right of the mass, and during the Eucharist and Confession.

Let us not seek out any fellowship with the world.

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (see James 4:4).

This is the leaven about which we are warned. It is a leaven which tempts us when we forget the abundance Jesus has for us. So, as an antidote, let us remember that Jesus always has enough. Let us give thanks for all we have received so far and all that he has yet to give us.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.