Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Abundant generosity. When I say, ‘abundant generosity,’ can you recall an instance or personal experience of abundant generosity? I think of Fr. Don Giuseppe Berardelli. During the early days of the pandemic, when Italy was ravaged by the Coronavirus pandemic, the country was short of ventilators. The 72-year-old Fr. Berardelli gave up his ventilator so a younger patient could survive. That’s abundant generosity. It’s the kind of generosity that blows us away. Can you recall an experience when someone was so generous toward you that you were blown away?
Today’s first reading and the gospel reading both recount the multiplication of loaves. I would like to reflect on the miracle of the multiplication of loaves from the lens of the abundant generosity of God.
In my three points today, first I would like to reflect on the scripture passages in some depth. In my second and third point, I would like to offer some practical implications.
A Tradition of Abundant Generosity
In the New Testament, the multiplication of loaves is the only miracle found in all the gospels. The gospel of Mark reports two instances in which Jesus multiplied the loaves. This underscores the centrality and importance of the miracle. However, we also realize through today’s scripture readings that Jesus was not the first to multiply loaves. Today’s first reading tells us that an almost identical miracle took place when Elisha asked Baal-shalishah to give the people the twenty barley loaves he had. Miraculously, it satisfied the hunger of a hundred people. But the more significant point is that in both cases there were leftovers. Leftovers in both these miracles mean more than ‘leftovers’ literally. It was symbolic of the abundant generosity of God.
In all the gospels, the accounts of the multiplication of loaves are written in the Eucharistic language. For example, it is no accident that John says in today’s gospel reading, “The Jewish feast of Passover was near” (Jn 6:4). The Eucharist is the New Passover. John further says, “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them…” (Jn 6:11). This is Eucharistic language. In this sense, the multiplication of the loaves prefigured the Eucharist, or the multiplication of the loaves was a sign of what was to follow. Chronologically, though, since all the four gospel accounts are written after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Eucharistic language in the multiplication accounts tells us that the Eucharist was already established in the early Christian communities.
In other words, biblically, the multiplication of the loaves and fact that there were leftovers tell us that the Eucharist is the climax of the abundant generosity of God.
Placing Ourselves in the Tradition of God’s Abundant Generosity
God’s abundant generosity seen in the multiplication of loaves can be traced back to the very first book of the Bible. The entire Creation story in the book of Genesis is an account of God’s abundant generosity. God created the universe and entrusted it to humanity. From then on, through Abraham and Sarah, the Exodus from Egypt, the manna in the desert, the water from the rock, the proclamation of the prophets, and more importantly God’s self-revelation in all these events is to be seen as acts of God’s abundant generosity. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves is a continuation of the history of God’s abundant generosity.
Today we must place ourselves in the tradition of God’s abundant generosity. In this very Eucharist, along with bread and wine, Body and Blood, eternity itself is placed before us. The people who ate the bread and fish were satisfied. John says, “they [the people] had had their fill” (Jn 6:12). Today, we are satisfied.
I invite you to engage in an exercise this week. On a piece of paper, write down everything that God has generously placed before you. Perhaps there are things that you still wish you had. However, that is not the focus today. Today, simply place yourself in the tradition of the abundant generosity of God. We will see that just like the people who ate and were satisfied, we too will have reasons to be satisfied and be grateful.
Christ-like Abundant Generosity
If our understanding of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves is limited to the miracle itself, then we have lost its real meaning. On the periphery, Elisha’s miracle of the multiplication of loaves and Jesus’ miracle of the loaves are very similar. Yet, there is a decisive difference between the two miracles. Unlike Elisha’s story, the account of Jesus’ multiplication of loaves does not end with the multiplication of loaves. Jesus’ story leads to the Last Supper and culminates on the cross.
At that Last Supper, Jesus took bread and wine them to his disciples, saying: “This is my body,” and “This is my blood!” Unlike in the miracle of the multiplication of loaves, the focus was not on the bread. The bread that Jesus gave at the Last Supper was his own self. However, this self-giving is fully accomplished on the cross. Without the cross, every other event of salvation history – from creation up to the multiplication of loaves and even the Last Supper – would be just another event. But the cross and the death of Jesus give God’s abundant generosity a radically new meaning. God’s abundant generosity is not about giving us mere bread, but rather, about self-giving – total, unhindered, self-giving.
Placing ourselves in the tradition of God’s abundant generosity means that we constantly walk with Jesus even up to the cross.
In this sense, this Eucharist is not an end in itself. The Eucharist must lead us to Christ-like self-giving, to abundant generosity. It is in our abundant generosity that the Eucharist will come alive for the rest of the world. In our abundant, Christ-like self-giving the multiplication of loaves will continue to happen over and over again.
When we celebrate our Eucharist today, we are placing ourselves in the tradition of the abundant generosity of God. Let us both be recipients and sacraments of God’s abundant generosity.
- Satish Joseph