God Satisfies Our Needs in Mysterious Ways to Save and Make US in Communion - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

In juxtaposing the First Reading (2 Kings 4:42-44) and the Gospel Reading (John 6:1-15) of the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, we see God’s generous and caring will to satisfy us in meeting our needs, as reflected in the Responsorial Psalm (145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18). But, there is a mystery that we cannot fully comprehend with our minds.

Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, must have thought that it would be impossible to feed 100 people out of 20 loaves of Shavuot offering loaves of first fruit barley breads (Leviticus 23:17), brought by a man from Baal-shalishah, when Elisha commanded to feed them out these loaves (2 Kings 4:42-43). Nevertheless, all of them were able to eat, and there were some leftovers, as God had said to Elisha (2 Kings 4:44).

Philip thought it would be too expensive for Jesus and his disciples to feed a great crowd of at least 5,000, because even wages for 200 days would not cover the cost (John 6:5-7).

Andrew must have thought that Jesus was out of his mind for thinking to feed the great crowd out of the five loaves of barley breads and two fish (i.e. John 6:8-10).

So, out of mere five loaves and two fish, Jesus fed the great crowd to their satisfaction, and there were plenty of leftovers (John 6:11-15).

Thinkings of Gehazi, Philip, and Andrew, are typical human thinkings. But God thinks things differently, because His thoughts transcend ours, for His mind is higher than ours (i.e. Isaiah 55:18-19.

Though we the humans cannot practice creatio ex nihilo (creating something out of nothing),  God sure can, as He created things with forms out of תֹּהוּ/tohu (formlessness, emptiness)  - תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ/ṯohu wabohu (without a form)(Genesis 1:1-2). As the Creator, God can make something new and draw water where there was no water (i.e. Isaiah 43:18-19). And He made the Virgin conceive His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-35), because there is nothing impossible with God (Luke 1:37). So the Son multiplied the five loaves and two fish to feed the great crowd of at least 5,000 to satisfaction so that the crowd would not be dispersed (John 6:1-15), after turning water into wine to keep the guest sat the wedding (John 2:1-11).

Whether creating something new out of nothing or making the Virgin pregnant or feeding a crowd to satisfaction out of a scanty amount of food, it is possible with God, as he wills and as He speaks (i.e. Hebrews 11:3). In multiplying the five loaves and two fish, Jesus spoke in thanksgiving (John 6:11).

Jesus’ mighty deed of feeding the create crowd of at least 5,000, out of five loaves and two fish (John 6:1-15) was just an introduction to what he really feeds us for eternal life, calling himself as the bread of life (John 6:35) and the living bread of life (John 6:51). And the bread he offers us to eat is his living flesh (σὰρξ/sarx) (Ibid.), not dead meat (κρέας/kreas). Because it is his living flesh, Jesus also offers us his blood to drink (John 6:53-58; cf. Leviticus 17:14).

So a typical human mind will ask, “How can bread become living flesh of Jesus?” And this is a question that many people ask about the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, bread becoming the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi) and wine becoming the Blood of Christ. (Sanguis Christi) , though no change is observed in our eyes even when the bread and the wine are consecrated by a priest during Mass. So a human mind asks, “How can the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine become the Blood of Christ even though the bread still looks and taste as the bread, and the wine still looks and taste as the wine??

The Body and the Bood of Christ were transubstantiated out of the species of the offered bread and wine, as St. Thomas Aquinas argued (Summa Theologiae, III-q78), by the power of the Holy Spirit in Epiklesis, as a priest prepares for the Eucharist during Mass. Because this is what God wills and what the Son spoke (Matthew 26:26-30//Mark 14:22-26//Luke 22:14-20).

To typical human mind and thinking, feeding 100 out of 20 loaves, feeding a crowd of at least 5,000 out of 5 loaves and two fish, and turning bread into the living Body of Christ and wine into the Blood of Christ, seem impossible and incomprehensive, because out mind is not like God’s. But we can only believe and graciously accept such mysteries as God’s will for us to be fed, even though we may not fully understand. And such are not just to feed us but to bring us as one, make us in one communion not only with each other but with God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as reflected in the Second Reading (Ephesians 4:1-6).