the other side of the lake

Friday 

in the 

Second Week of Easter

April 24th

READING: John 6: 1-16

Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 

Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

REFLECTION

Scholars have at various times flirted with, amongst others, two keys to this passage. Some, persuaded by a social justice worldview, have seen in this scene, a challenge to the Christian community to generate a milieu of compassionate sharing. It has some merit in today’s world – even without factoring medical supplies, PPE, and Covid-19 into the equation, it is no secret that there are vast proportions of the planet’s population with insufficient food, even though there is more than enough food produced to go around. One seventh of the world’s population are undernourished, while globally one third of all food produces is trashed. The young lad who spoke with Jesus, didn’t have much kai, but I the hands of the right people, one third of the world could do an awful lot towards sharing a bit with the one seventh who are going without.

But was the author of the Fourth Gospel really thinking about tucker? Other scholars have suggest that a eucharistic motif underlies this scene. The eucharist – from which for good epidemiological reasons we are all currently barred, has often become a meal of exclusion. Don’t eat if you don’t understand, don’t eat if you’re not saved enough. Eucharist: kai for the holy? I don’t think so. Kai for the broken, hungry, desperate or just puzzled, this passage suggests.

The two interpretations of this scene must never be separated. If we feed on the body and blood of Christ, then we must feed the world. No ifs, no buts. And the love that fills the stomachs of the hungry will overflow and overflow, even to the impossibilities of twelve baskets of overflow thousands of people later. We must also medicine the world: covid-19 is flattening in the Global North, even the USA: it is about to explode across the have-nots, the Global South. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” That boy is me and that boy is you. Those loaves and fishes are food and they are medicine and they are PPE.

And yes, I preach to myself as well.