Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
“God is love.” It is easy for me sometimes to forget how important the message is that is conveyed by this simple phrase. These words have been spoken and heard so often that their meaning for Christians can become lost. The readings in the lectionary for today focus our attention on the question of what it means to say that God is love. In short, they teach us that God’s love is revealed to us through God’s gift of Godself in the person of Jesus Christ.
God is Love
The gospel reading follows up on the first reading by providing a glimpse of God’s love as expressed in Jesus Christ. The text is the familiar feeding of the five thousand. The passage reveals Jesus’ concern for the needs of ordinary people. It says that Jesus’ first motive in feeding the crowd was his “pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6: 34). Jesus begins to teach them – presumably about spiritual things – but he is also concerned about the physical needs of the people. He responds to their physical hunger by offering them food to eat in the form of fish and loaves of bread.
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand also points toward something beyond itself which is more significant. It is a pre-figuration of the Eucharistic meal in which God feeds Christians with the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus here first gives thanks to God before breaking the five loaves of bread and the two fish. Then he distributes the food to the people. This meal is open to everyone who is drawn to Jesus. Even when everyone has had their fill, there are twelve baskets of food left over.
In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus shows his love for ordinary people and his concern for their physical and spiritual needs. It also shows him giving of himself in order to meet their needs. 1 John 4 points out that Jesus in fact went beyond this to suffer and to die in order to redeem human beings. In fulfilling his role as savior of the world, Jesus demonstrates immense – even infinite – love which can only be an attribute of God. Yet, as followers of Jesus, we are expected to strive to emulate his abundant love for God and for our neighbor.
Recently in my own life I have been made aware once again of what it means to say that God is love. In reflecting on these passages in the lectionary for today, I have had the opportunity for this message to sink in even more. I realize that if God is love, then that means that I must have love for others as well. As the writer of 1 John points out, recognizing that God is love requires a response from us. The proper response to this love is to love others in a way that seeks to emulate the way that we are in turn loved by God.
Joel Schickel