Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, . . . .”
Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ is not without compassion as some suppose nor should His compassion be mistaken to be that He is an easy mark, so to speak, without boundaries. On another occasion, He witnessed the crowds following after and the Evangelist remarks that “He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Mt. 9:36). St. Mark in his Gospel account of the feeding of the 5,000 links this thought of having no shepherd with our Lord’s deep compassion for the hungry multitude before Him (Mk. 6:30-44). The point of the Evangelists is that the Son of God is the Good Shepherd of all souls (1 Pe. 2:25). He has a shepherd’s heart for the flock, that is, He is full of compassion for all in need. But, His is not simply or merely compassion, a movement of sympathy or of pity. Rather the sense in the Greek is far stronger not being done justice by our English translations. He is compelled deeply at the sight He beholds with His eyes and His heart is moved profoundly beyond measure so much so that His guts are wrenched by their plight. He aches for the multitudes because He loves so deeply. “His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 135 [136]:1-26).
Beloved, we should take from this that God does not despise His wayward multitudes. His love is from everlasting (Ps. 102 [103]:17). He is the “good God Who loves mankind,” as we so frequently pray, and He demonstrates or reveals this mercy through His only-begotten Son. For, again and again, we sinners are reassured that God does not desire the death of sinners, but rather He wills life to all souls (Ek. 18:23; 33:11; 2 Pe. 3:9). The Wisdom of Solomon reminds us, “For Thou lovest all things that are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made; for never wouldest Thou have made any thing if Thou hadst hated it. And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been Thine will?,” Wisdom asks, “Or been preserved, if not called by Thee? But Thou sparest all, for they are Thine, O Lord, Thou Lover of souls. For Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things” (WS 11:21-12:2).
God our Creator and Fashioner does not desire or yearn for, let alone want, us to die. Again, we turn to the Wisdom of Solomon who says quite plainly, “God made not death; neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living. For He created all things, that they might have their being” (WS 1:13-14). The “mad dog” picture of God perpetuated in the world is a distraction, a distortion foisted upon the fallen world by the evil one whose sole intent is our destruction! “For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity. Nevertheless, through envy of the devil came death into the world; and those who take hold of his side do find it” (WS 2:23-24). The only way, however, the devil can pull off our destruction is by blinding us to the Truth (2 Cr. 4:4), by convincing us in our fallen state that God either doesn’t exist or, if He does exist, He doesn’t care about us or is utterly powerless to do anything to help us.
But, here in today’s Holy Gospel, we have the image or icon that opens up to the true reality: God is moved profoundly at unimaginable depths with compassion, and He acts. God acts. He does. He feeds. And He heals, and healing is the overall icon of salvation for the two concepts of healing and salvation are related in the Greek by a single word. Jesus had gut-wrenching compassion “and He healed [the] sick.” He heals because that’s what God does. He saves the sick because that’s what God does. He heals and He saves because He loves His creation, especially His creature bearing His image. And, He feeds. He feeds all those who have come to Him, and He does so through His Church whom He instructs to feed the multitudes in today’s Gospel, to join Him in His great mercy and compassion. Jesus’ mercy and compassion necessarily involves His Disciples – His Church – on behalf of others. This is how God acts and fulfills His works of love (Ga. 5:6). “’Give ye them to eat,’” He tells His Disciples who had rightly seen the tremendous need. But, they also knew of their meager resources, at least meager from their viewpoint: five loaves of bread and two fish. So reason dictated a reasonable solution – a rational solution – in light of the scarce resources: “’Send the multitude away,’” they say, “’that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.’” In light of the circumstances, it is a daunting task, to say the least, especially so when we focus solely on our resources or what’s available to us, that is, what we bring to the table; when we see only our strengths, which are few or our weaknesses, which are many.
But, we serve Jesus Christ, the Son of God made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He is God-in-the-flesh, the Creator of Heaven and earth, Who has brought all things into existence from non-being. And, He sustains all those things in Heaven and on earth “by the Word of His Power” (Sr. 43:26; Jn. 1:1-18; Co. 1:15-17; Hb. 1:1-4). This is Who stands before His Disciples – and us – and Who bids, “’Give ye them to eat.’” But, what are we to give? We give that which He has first given us, that is, we offer back to Him that which is already His: “Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all and for all” (Divine Liturgy Anaphora). “The fish, O Lord, Thou hast created; the bread, O Lord, Thou has planted.”
Jesus isn’t caught off-guard because He is God. He knows. What He calls us to is the obedience of faith, to trust Him. He’s not going to instruct us to do x, y, and z because He wants us to fail, but rather He knows what He can and will do through us if we but allow Him to use us. We are not to withhold from Him the gifts He has provided. We are not to withhold from Him our obedience of faith but offer up ourselves and all He has so mercifully and graciously bestowed: our time, our treasure, and ourselves. ‘Tis true, what we bring may indeed appear far too meager, insufficient for what is before us, and inadequate. But, we serve Jesus, the Son of God. “Here, Lord, are two fish and five loaves. What are they among so many?” And, He says to us, “’Bring them hither to Me.’” “I will use what you offer to bestow My mercy and compassion, and in doing so, you will receive mercy and compassion likewise.” This is how our God works.
Now, Jesus could’ve offered to feed the 5,000 right away for He was well aware of the need. But, what does He do? He waits upon His Disciples – His Church – to pray, if you will, to supplicate on behalf of all those in need of food for the body as well as food for the soul. This is how God so often works – through His flock. Had He simply conjured up food out of non-existence as He did creation, what would’ve been said about Him? “This Jesus is inebriated with being a celebrity! He’s a showoff!” Or, had He fashioned bread from the plentiful rocks all around them – as He was once tempted by Satan to do in the wilderness when He was enhungered due to fasting 40 days (Mt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13) – had He succumbed to that temptation He would have fallen into sin, thus short-circuiting our salvation.
But, as God the Almighty Maker of Heaven and of earth, He chooses instead to work with His Church and through His Church on behalf of the world. In no way does this diminish or subtract from the miracle of multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000 plus men, women, and children. Make no mistake about this, beloved. This is not a story where the generosity of a little boy in the crowd giving the Disciples his bread and fish inspires the rest of the multitude to do likewise. This has been the explanation of Biblical commentators like the Protestant, William Barclay, whose popular commentaries have fed generations of souls. But this explanation is infected with rationalism that has influenced the higher forms of Biblical criticism that is the mainstay of many non-Orthodox seminaries. It cannot accept miracles, but instead seeks to explain them away, even, at times, denying them, claiming they are a fabrication of the fertile imaginations of the Biblical writers or that it demonstrates how unsophisticated the ancients were because they were not as developed as we are today. That, quite honestly, is hubris!
But, this miracle demonstrates that our God is a great God Who is omnipotent, Who oftentimes simply does by His own hand what He wills like feeding His ancient people in the wilderness with Manna, the bread of angels (Ex. 16:1-36; Ps. 77 [78]:23-29), or creating the entire universe from nothing (Gn. 1:1-2:3; 2 Mc. 7:28). While, at the same time, He is omnipotent He is nonetheless quite willing to allow us to share in His work by being His hands (synergy). When God finished creating, you recall, He placed His finest creation – the one bearing His divine image and likeness – in the Garden to minister on His behalf. So, here, the Disciples in priestly fashion listen to the Lord and they offer unto Him as priests that which God had already created and supplied – bread and fish – giving them into the hands of God so that He would bless and multiply these gifts there offered up for the benefit, if not the salvation, of all those souls – men, women, and children.
This is how our God operates, beloved. We give to Him because we know by faith what He can do. “And they all ate and were filled,” says the Evangelist. “And they took up the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full.” “For His mercy endureth forever!”
Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
PROPERS:
1 Cr. 1:10-18
Mt. 14:14-22