THEME: An invitation to faith and total surrender
It is said that “A person becomes cruel because of cruelty he had to endure and now he is healed fully when he experiences unconditional love.” Today we celebrate one of the greatest attributes of God namely love. We all have experienced the love of God freely and so we cannot but reciprocate that love. Jesus demonstrates this love by having compassion on humanity.
The first reading is an invitation to grace. The prophet Isaiah invites all of us to come to the fountain of living water; the fountain that never runs dry; an offering of love. He says, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come buy and eat! Come; buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). He emphasises the universality of God’s love. Again, he says “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and labour for that which does not satisfy…” (Isaiah 55:2)? Indeed, many are laboring for nothing while God bestows his gift on his children freely like he did in the Gospel reading of today.
He continues “Come to me heedfully; listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David” (Isaiah 55:3). Isaiah lays emphasis on the need for us to trust and obey God whenever we come to Him for that will give us life. God’s will must reign supreme in our daily struggles because in His will is our peace.
In the Gospel reading, without any stretch of our imagination, we picture the embarrassing plight of the disciples who were struggling to feed a multitude. Here were more than five thousand hungry people and they had nothing to feed them. Certainly, the disciples knew that Jesus was powerful enough to meet the need, yet they did not turn to him for help. Instead, they took inventory of their own food supply “We have nothing here but five loads and two fish” (Matthew 14:17b) and their limited treasury. When they considered the time (evening) and the place (a desolate place), they came to the conclusion that nothing could be done to solve the problem. Can you imagine their counsel to the Lord “ This is a deserted place and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves” (Matthew 14:15).
How true it is for many of God’s people today. For some reason, it is never the right time or place for God to act. We want to now direct God as to what he should do. Jesus watched his frustrated disciples as they tried to solve the problem. But He Himself knew what he was intending to do. He wanted to teach them a lesson of faith and self surrender. The same is true for us who think that it is not God’s time to act. Like Jesus looking on while the disciples were trying to solve the puzzle, He looks on while we try to solve our own problems even though he has the key to unlock solutions to our problems. He invites us, therefore, to faith and total surrender.
The episode of the feeding of the five thousand has four implications for us all. They claimed they had nothing but there was food. This means no body lacks anything no matter how small it may be. We all have something that we must bring to the Lord. The first is we must come to Jesus with what we have. Second, there must be a willingness to give too Jesus what we have to Jesus like the small boy gave out what he had willingly for little is much if God is in it. Third, we must be ready to obey what Jesus commands for as servants, we are distributors not manufacturers. If we give what we have, He will bless it and give it back to us for use in feeding others. Finally, we must learn to conserve what Jesus gives us for the pieces were carefully collected to remind us that whatever is blessed is never thrown away.
The second reading is a reminder of the love of God which knows no bounds. Indeed, God permits difficulties to come our way not to weigh us down but to strengthen us spiritually for “In all things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us” (Romans 8:37). We are free from judgment because Christ died for us and we have His righteousness; we are free from defeat because Christ lives in us by His Spirit and we share His life; we are free from discouragement because Christ is coming for us and we shall share His glory; we are free from fear because Christ intercedes for us and we cannot be separated from His love. Therefore, there is no condemnation, no frustration; no separation for God’s people for if God be for us, who can be against us?
In sum, the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was actually a sermon in action. Jesus is the Bread of Life and only He can satisfy our spiritual hunger. The tragedy is, men waste their time and money on “that which is not bread (Isaiah 55:1-7). People today are making the same mistake. Jesus still has compassion on the hungry multitude and he still says to his Church: “Give them something to eat.” How easy it is for us to send people away, to make excuses, to plead a lack of resources. Jesus asks that we give Him all that we have and let Him use it as He sees fit. A hungry world is feeding on empty substitutes while we deprive them of the Bread of Life. When we give Christ what we have, we never lose. We always end up having immeasurably more than we can imagine or even think about.
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