17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The miracle in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15) is well known. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew each have two accounts of a multiplication of loaves and fishes, while the Gospels of John and Luke both have one such account. Large crowds were following Jesus because he had been curing the sick. Jesus saw that they were hungry. After asking his disciples where they could buy enough food for them to eat, Andrew told him about a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus took the food, gave thanks, and distributed it. Amazingly, Jesus fed about five thousand men and an uncounted number of women and children.

After satisfying the human needs of his hungry followers, Jesus instructs his disciples to gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted, and they collect twelve wicker baskets full. As with Elisha in today's Old Testament reading, there was some food leftover after the miraculous feeding of a crowd. Jesus’ actions prefigure the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, for from the shore of the Sea of Galilee Jesus would travel to Jerusalem and there he would institute the Eucharist the night before he died as a perpetual memorial of his sacrifice.

Two thousand years later, we, too, gather to listen to Jesus and to implore him with our needs. We, too, watch as the priest takes the bread, gives thanks, and distributes it to yet another unworthy and hungry crowd. We feast at the Lord's table. We encounter Jesus - the true Bread of Life - under the simple forms of bread and wine.

We are thus nourished by word and sacrament. He has freely given us all that we need, and yet there is some leftover - more grace, more gifts, more wisdom. What do we do with the leftovers? Perhaps the answer lies in today's Second Reading. Saint Paul tells the Ephesians to “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” This is a job description for Christians! We have the obligation to use the gift of the Eucharist in the service of others. We must join with other Christians and with people of all faiths, or of no faith, to make the world better, to strive for unity and peace. Jesus knew his mission - to share the Father's love. That is our mission too.