_July_2015-1a.jpg)
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.
Let us seek Jesus, not only in the places where he plans to engage with crowds, but even after that, in deserted places. We should be in some way willing to bother him as these crowds were willing to do. We can see that when the crowd did this Jesus was not actually bothered, but moved with compassion. Even in addition to things like the mass we can pursue Jesus with prayer and adoration. We can find and fill these deserted places demonstrating to him that we know how much we need him. When we demonstrate our dependence on him it seems that he cannot help but respond with compassion and pity.
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."
The disciples were concerned about practical matters, knowing that the crowd would need to eat. In some way this was similar to Martha who was troubled with many things. But Jesus did not want to deprive the crowd of the one thing necessary. The influence of sin in the world tended toward isolation and dissipation. But Jesus came to gather sheep into one flock. Jesus saw individuals who, like the prodigal son, had lost their connection to Father and family, and who had squandered their inheritance. He saw people who, like the elder brother of the parable, had not realized or taken advantage of the fact that their Father and all the wealth of his household were close at hand. Like the Father in the parable Jesus desired to welcome all into one feast around one table.
He said to them, "There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves."
Jesus did not want his sheep to depend primarily on the exigencies and practical necessities of life in the world. He didn't want any influence on the crowd to have greater primacy than his own. Rather than followers who would fit him in when their schedules allowed he desired to be the one around whom their lives were organized. His disciples were meant to assist in this regard, even helping to deal with the details of daily life so that no one would need to go away. This was different than a ministry whose purpose was merely that of feeding the crowds. In this case, the purpose was feeding them so that they could be together with Jesus. And the way they were to accomplish it was not merely through natural means, not simply clever strategies of using their financial resources, which were in any event almost always going to be insufficient.
But they said to him,
"Five loaves and two fish are all we have here."
Then he said, "Bring them here to me,"
On the one hand the disciples were commanded to give them some food themselves. But on the other, there was no way to accomplish this without first bringing what they had to Jesus to be transformed and multiplied. We will never have enough to meet the demands of our society and our world if we do not do the same. But if we do we will find that we have an abundance for every good work.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (see Second Corinthians 9:8).
The result of the disciples obeying the command of Jesus was that the crowds did not need to go away to the surrounding villages. Instead they were ordered to sit down on the grass, made to lie down in green pastures, to be fed, and to have their souls restored by Jesus himself. They ate and tasted satisfaction at a deeper level than the merely physical because they experienced the safety of being sheep in the flock of Jesus. Let us pray for our own priests that they are also able to care for their own sheep with similar care.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over–
twelve wicker baskets full.
When have we experienced true satisfaction in life? When has it been the case that not only our bellies but especially our hearts were full and finally at rest? Can we see God's hand in these experiences? And if so do we thank him? Do we truly treasure these things in our hearts, gathering up the fragments, so that nothing is wasted?
Take not the word of truth from my mouth,
for in your ordinances is my hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment