Jesus
went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw
the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and
there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he
said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to
test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of
them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon
Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two
fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people
recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men
reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave
thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of
the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his
disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So
they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the
five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw
the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to
come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry
him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
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Reflection:
Do you
believe that Jesus can do miracles in your life?
The
precursor to Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fish was a boy who had five
barley loaves and two fish; we cannot speak of this miracle without him. The
boy was generous enough to give what was for him alone, he did not mind if he
would be hungry; he simply shared his food for others to eat.
Out of
the selfless heart of the boy, Jesus miraculously multiplied the five barley
loaves and two fish and they were able to feed the more than five thousand
followers. And they still had some more to gather and filled twelve wicker
baskets.
We see
here the enormous benefit of selfless sharing; sometimes we don’t share because
we think that what we have is only enough for us. However, if we would learn to
share we will also notice that what we share comes back to us a hundredfold. It
is already immaterial how big or small the food that we share what is important
is we are very much willing to share whatever blessing that we have.
There
are similarities in the institution of the Eucharist and this miracle of the
multiplication of the loaves. Jesus instituted the Eucharist in remembrance of
the Passover meal and coincidentally Jesus did this miracle of the loaves when
the Passover feast was near. Jesus also took the loaves and gave thanks and
distributed it to them. These are actions that He did during the Institution of
the Eucharist.
Why
did Jesus tested Philip? Because Philip had a shaky faith, he was with Jesus
all along witnessing His miracles and all. Yet he was still doubtful that’s why
Jesus tested him. Are we not like Philip once in a while? We are impatient sometimes
and we doubt if Jesus would grant our dreams.
If
only we know that Jesus will never abandon us, yes there would be testing of
our faith. For as long as we hold on He will always be there for us in His own
time of choosing. Let us be patient and
wait, let us pursue and not give up on our life’s aspirations, ambitions and
visions. He will eventually help us achieve what we want.
After
doing the miracles of the loaves and after having so much fragments leftover.
Naturally the crowds were amazed. Who would not be? So it’s time now to hail
and exalt Jesus with praises. But Jesus would have none of it. True to his
humility and self-effacing character He simply walked away to the mountain to
be alone perhaps to pray and thank God for the blessing of the miracle of the
loaves.
In
this occurrence we see how different is Jesus from us, we love it when we are
being honored, praised for the things that we do. We are tickled pink by it and
our ears flap in agreement, often times we don’t do things without people
noticing us. We want people to see what we do and we want them to praise us
(like politicians and public officials). Let us all wake up from this egotism
and selfish attitude. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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