A Commentary and Reflection on the Readings for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray. READINGS: 2 Kings 4:42-44, Ephesians 4:1-6, John 6-1-15.
The Liturgy of the Mass Teaches Us that the Leftovers Are Our Inheritance
The Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes miracle is just one of the Sixteen Didactic (or teaching) Mysteries that all the Gospels include in their narratives.[1] However, the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes is the most unique of the sixteen, in that an earlier version of the narrative is also found in 2 Kings 4:42-44, which is today’s First Reading at the Catholic Mass for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B.
According to our First Reading, during the time of King Jehoram, son of Ahab, when there was a famine in the land of Baal-shalishah, there lived a man who held the first fruits of his harvest in high esteem. After Elisha fed the people a pot of vegetable stew, the man presented twenty barley loaves and fresh grain to the prophet Elisha as a humble offering. Upon receiving the gifts, Elisha, moved by the generosity of the man, instructed his servant to distribute the food among the people. The servant, bewildered by the sheer number of mouths to feed, questioned how such a small amount could satisfy a hundred hungry souls. With unwavering faith, Elisha repeated his command, assuring him that the LORD had promised they would eat and still have leftovers. The text then reads, “And when they had eaten, there was some leftover, as the Lord had said.”
According to today’s Gospel Reading from John 6:1-15, during a time when Israel did not have a king but was ruled over by Tetrarch Herod Antipas, a servant of Rome, a remarkable event that took place near the Sea of Galilee when a large crowd of people gathered to hear Jesus speak. The gathering was so vast that the issue of feeding all the attendees became a concern. Upon seeing the multitude, Jesus inquired of his disciple Philip where they could buy bread for the people. Philip, unsure of how to feed such a number, expressed that not even a significant amount of money would suffice to give everyone a small piece. However, Andrew, another disciple, mentioned a boy who had five barley loaves and two small fish. Despite the meager offering, Jesus had the crowd sit down. With the loaves and fish, He gave thanks and distributed them among the people, which miraculously fed and satisfied everyone. Moreover, there were even leftovers gathered, filling twelve baskets. This event left the crowd in awe, recognizing Jesus as a prophet and contemplating crowning Him as their king, which led Jesus to retreat to a mountain alone.
While the Gospels share eight identical features between their narratives on the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, Elisha’s miracle of the multiplication of loaves is not far behind. First, like Jesus, he traveled to the place where the miracle would occur; Second, there arose a need to feed a large crowd; Third, loaves of bread were procured by an unnamed person; Fourth, the bread was distributed to the crowd, Fifth, all ate and were satisfied, and Sixth, there were leftovers. Aside from there not being fish, the only two other points that Elisha does not share with the Gospels is that he did not tell the crowd to sit on the ground to eat (although that is typically how their culture would have eaten food); and, Second, Elisha did not bless the bread (although a Jewish person would have more than likely have said a blessing before eating any meal).
In the context of the pedagogical or didactic method of the liturgy and today’s Second Reading from Ephesians 4:1-6, where the Apostle Paul encourages the Church at Ephesus to “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,” we should spend a moment contemplating the most profound similarity of this mystery and miracle. That is the occurrence of leftovers. Leftovers usually indicate that someone intentionally and unintentionally prepared too much food. In some European cultures, leaving leftovers on your plate is considered rude, as if what the chef prepared was not to your liking. In some Asian cultures, leaving food on your plate implies that you are full, and the chef did well by ensuring you are satisfied and did not leave hungry, which is closer to what is being implied in this mystery of our faith. That is, God has more to give us, even when we believe we are yet satisfied.
What we are contemplating here is the nature of love and grace. God has more to give us because He is God, and God desires to give us more because we have the capacity to receive what He has to give. The miracle of the multiplication of food for our body and the miracle of the Holy Eucharist, food for our soul and body, are divinely beautiful and powerful reminders that with God, we do not have to worry about God running out of what He has to give us. God will also meet us where we are, and He will notice that we need to be fed, and He will provide for us. These things are true.
Indeed, we never have to fear or be timid in sharing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, because even when we feel we have reached our natural limit in these things, God has more to give us because He has more for us to give away. We have the capacity never to be satisfied in receiving or giving what God has for us because we were created to be full of grace and love and every good thing that God has for us. Therefore, do not limit or block your blessings according to the limited understanding of finite beings, but trust with God; there is more where that good thing came from. The leftovers are your inheritance.
God, please, give us more to eat!
This is just one way the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us on how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world what you have received through the liturgy.
[1] There are sixteen narratives that all the Gospels share with each other. I call these sixteen narratives the ‘Didactic (or teaching) Mysteries of Christ Jesus. They include: 1) John the Baptist preceding the coming of the Messiah (Christ), 2) Jesus of Nazareth begins His preaching, teaching, healing, and miracle ministry, 3) Jesus feeds at least five thousand men, with only five loaves and two fish, 4) Simon Peter makes a confession about who Jesus is to Him, 5) Jesus enters Jerusalem as King, cleanses the Temple, and is questioned by the authorities, 6) Jesus has His head or feet anointed 7) Simon Peter and the Apostles Promise to never abandon the Messiah Jesus, 8) Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before His arrest, 9) Jesus shares the Seder Passover meal with His disciples, and Judas fails to discern the Bread and Wine as the actual Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, 10) Jesus of Nazareth is arrested, 11) Simon Peter denies knowing Jesus and/or knowing what his questioners are asking him about, 12) Jesus stands trial and is sentenced, mocked, and tortured, 13) Jesus goes the Way of the Cross, is crucified, and suffers temporal death, 14) Jesus is laid in the tomb, 15) Jesus rises from the dead and appears to the women, 16) Jesus appears to the Apostles (as a group) and commissions them.
