Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle A)
Readings:
Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21
All Scripture passages are from the New American Bible unless designated NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The Messianic Banquet
This Sunday's readings remind us that the LORD is faithful to
His promise to satisfy our spiritual hunger, and nothing can separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus. In the First Reading, through His 8th-century
BC prophet Isaiah, God extended the invitation to a future Messianic banquet. Isaiah's
oracle was a call for conversion to receive the salvific gifts freely extended
to the covenant people and all nations who turn to the Lord God of Israel. The
oracle also referenced the renewal of the Davidic covenant and a future everlasting covenant.
Christians read this passage as an invitation to participate in the new and everlasting covenant sealed by the Blood of Jesus Christ, the heir and inheritor of the Davidic covenant. God promised a future Davidic Messiah would inaugurate a new and eternal covenant in a Messianic banquet. Jesus and His Kingdom of the Universal Church fulfill Isaiah's prophetic oracle. Jesus invites all who are "thirsty" to come to the "living water" of Christian Baptism (Jn 4:10, 14; 7:37-39). He also offers food to satisfy the spiritually hungry at the altar of His Eucharistic table, where they can receive His Body and Blood to nourish them on their journey to eternal salvation.
In today's Responsorial Psalm, we sing, "God gives us food in due season." Our Almighty Lord is the Creator and Master of the earth. Humanity looks to Him to provide food from the earth in all seasons. Our LORD rules His Kingdom with justice coupled with mercy. He responds with compassion and salvation to everyone who invokes His holy name and seeks communion with Him.
In our Second Reading, St. Paul offered a hymn praising God's love and faithfulness. Paul wrote that Jesus Christ frees those who accept Him as their Lord and Savior from the dominion of sin and death. He does this by releasing us from being enslaved by sin, the bonds of the old ritual Mosaic Law, and from a self-centered life to a new Christ-centered life. Through their rebirth into the family of God in the Sacrament of Christian Baptism, Paul assured Christians that they receive freedom and power over the forces that drag humanity down into iniquities that lead to the destruction of both the body and soul. By assuming humanity's fragility, God the Son has triumphed over sin and the grave through His death and glorious Resurrection. He has not only conquered all those destructive forces, but He has communicated that victory to those who have accepted His call to eternal salvation and a bodily resurrection at the end of time.
Jesus's miraculous feeding of more than five thousand men in the Gospel Reading recalls other miracle feedings from the Old Testament. Matthew's account of the miracle is meant to remind us of Jesus's compassion and prepare us for the promise of a greater miracle. The Jews in the crowd saw Jesus's feeding miracle in the context of the miracle of the manna feeding during the children of Israel's Exodus out of Egypt and forty years in the wilderness. The people in the crowd recognized Jesus as the new Moses, who had come to liberate His people. They also saw Him as the new David, who came to re-establish the eternal Kingdom God promised (2 Sam 7:16, 23:5). Jesus's feeding miracles in the Gospels and the Bread of Life discourse looked forward to the day when Jesus, the Davidic Redeemer-Messiah, would give His flesh and blood as food and drink for the salvation of humanity (Jn 6:51, 53-56). Jesus continues to keep that promise as He gives His faithful the spiritual nourishment they need at the Eucharistic Banquet of His earthly Kingdom of the Church that will sustain them on their journey to eternal salvation and the Banquet of Jesus and His Bride, the Church, after His return in glory in the heavenly Kingdom (Rev 19:6-9).
Be aware when you celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist that you are taking part in an even greater miracle than Jesus's feeding of more than five thousand on that mountainside in Galilee over two thousand years ago. Jesus, the eternal Bridegroom, calls you to come to the altar table of His Messianic banquet of the New and eternal Covenant. In the Eucharist, Jesus nourishes you with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity on your journey to eternal salvation. It also provides a foretaste of the promised Wedding Banquet of the Lamb and His Bride (the Church) in the heavenly Kingdom after He returns in glory at the End of the Age. Blessed are you if you are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb!
The First Reading Isaiah 55:1-3 ~ Invitation to the
Banquet of the Lord's Covenant
1 Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to
the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without
paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! 2 Why spend your money for what
is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat
well, you shall delight in rich fare. 3 Come to me heedfully, listen, that you
may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits
assured to David.
The Lord's invitation to the covenant banquet in Isaiah, Chapter 55, is part of the second section of the Book of Isaiah called "The Book of Consolation," which began with a prologue in Chapter 40. The oracle is a call for conversion and an invitation to receive the salvific gifts of the Lord that are freely extended to God's covenant people and to all nations (verses 1-2) who turn to the Lord. In verse 3, Christians read the reference to an everlasting covenant and the renewal of the Davidic covenant (see 2 Sam 7:16; 23:5; 1 Kng 2:4; 11:9-20; 1 Chr 13:5; Sir 45:25) as an invitation to take part in the new and eternal covenant sealed by the Blood of Jesus Christ, the heir and inheritor of the Davidic covenant (Lk 1:32-33).
Jesus' New Covenant promises a Messianic Banquet as a present and future reality. Jesus repeated the invitation in the words He spoke to the woman of Samaria (Jn 4:10-14), to the Jews worshiping at the Temple on the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:37-38), and when He instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, saying: "This is my body, which will be given for you ... This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you" (Lk 22:19-20). Isaiah's oracle also looked forward to the future reality of the Eschatological Banquet of the Saints, the "Wedding Feast of the Lamb" at the end of the Messianic Age when Jesus will return in glory to collect His Bride, the faithful of His Universal Church (Rev 19:6-9).
Pope Paul VI wrote about the Messianic Banquet of the Eucharist: "How could we fail to take part in this encounter, to partake of the banquet that Christ has lovingly prepared for us? Our participation should be dignified and filled with joy. Christ, crucified and glorified, comes among his disciples to draw them all into the power of his resurrection. It is the pinnacle, here on earth, of the covenant of love between God and his people: the sign and source of Christian joy, the preparation for the eternal banquet in heaven" (Gaudete in Domino, 322).
Responsorial Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18 ~ A Song of Praise for
all God Provides
The response is: "The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers
all our needs."
8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
of great kindness. 9 The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his
works.
Response:
15 The eyes of all look hopefully to you, and you give
them their food in due season; 16 you open your hand and satisfy the desire of
every living thing.
Response:
17 The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his
works. 18 The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him
in truth.
Response:
The title of Psalm 145 is A Song of Praise. Of David. This alphabetical Psalm, ascribed to King David, begins and ends in praise of the LORD, Yahweh (Ex 3:14-15). In verses 8-9, the psalmist focuses on the grace and mercy of the Lord, quoting from God's revelation of Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7. Those verses refer to God's attributes of goodness, the covenant He formed with Israel, and the love He extends to everyone (verses 8-9).
Since God is the master of the earth, humanity looks to Him for the food that comes from the land in all seasons (verses 15-16). God's Kingdom is one of justice (verse 17) because He responds with compassion and mercy to everyone who invokes His name and seeks His truth (verse 18).
Notice that verse 18 tells us how we should pray. St. John of the Cross wrote: "There is no better way to be granted the petitions that we hold in our hearts than to put all the strength of our prayer into what is most pleasing to God; for then he will not only grant us what we ask—our salvation; he will also give us what he sees we need and what would be good for us, even though we did not petition him for it" (Ascent of Mount Carmel, 3.44.2).
The Second Reading Romans 8:35, 37-39 ~ The Love of Christ
35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the
sword? [...] 37 No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who
loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, 39 nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
At this point in St. Paul's letter to the Christians of Rome, his words burst forth in a hymn extolling God's love and faithfulness. He assured them (and us) that nothing can separate us from God's love. Paul wrote that Jesus Christ freed Christians from the dominion of sin and death, from a disordered love of self and slavery to the old Mosaic Law with its many purity rituals. He assured Christians that their rebirth into the family of God through the Sacrament of Christian Baptism gives them freedom and power over the forces in life that drag humanity down into iniquities that lead to the destruction of both body and soul. By assuming humankind's fragile nature, Jesus Christ has allowed humanity to triumph through His defeat of death and His glorious resurrection. Jesus has conquered all those destructive forces and communicated that victory to those who have accepted God the Father's call to eternal salvation. He did this for those who have been molded to the pattern of his Son ... those that he called, he justified, and those that he has justified he has brought into glory (Rom 8:29b-30). They are the ones Paul first wrote about in Romans 1:17: The one who is righteous by faith will live! Now, in a jubilant hymn of praise, Paul summed up all the gifts of divine love that humanity has received through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
St. Paul began his hymn with a rhetorical question in verse 36. It is as though Paul was assuming the role of a prosecuting attorney in a law court examining the Christian called to testify to his faith. Old Testament parallels can be found in Job chapters 1-2 and Zechariah chapter 3. In verse 37, Paul answered his question with a definitive "NO!" and offered a list of temporal hardships that cannot have power over us or remove us from the love of God.
In answer to his question, spoken on behalf of the Christian responding to this examination, Paul affirmed God's dominion over the entire cosmos and all that it contains. In verses 38-39, he listed powers subject to God's authority.
However, there is one force Paul did not name—our free will. Can Christians, exercising their free will, rupture their union with God? In Romans 8:35-38, St. Paul noted trials and forces but not sins; it is a clear distinction from what he had to say about the list of sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. The misinterpretation of this passage led Martin Luther to believe that even sin couldn't separate us from Jesus Christ. Luther concluded that man suffered from total depravity of nature, but Christ's sacrificial death covered our sinful nature like snow covers a dunghill. The Catholic Church rejects Luther's doctrine of the depravity of nature and teaches that we are not simply covered, as in the covering of sins in the Old Testament, but we are reborn and transformed (CCC 168, 403). Our new life in the Spirit provides the fertile soil in which the Holy Spirit continues to provide Christian growth as long as we seek to imitate Christ, live in obedience to His commandments, and reject sin.
Many Protestants, confused in their understanding of faith and works, have come to understand through the teachings of Martin Luther that nothing, not even sin, can separate us from our salvation. Some Protestant churches have understood this doctrine to mean that once one is "saved," their salvation is eternally secure. Luther's doctrine is often called "the doctrine of eternal security" or "security of the believer." Luther did not see sin as a hindrance to salvation as long as one prayed and confessed sins. Quoting from the letters of Martin Luther:
Luther was not advocating sinning for grace to abound all the more, but that repentance eliminated the stain of sin and offered complete restoration with no ill effects. He taught that as long as one prayed and confessed the wrong, the sin could not cost one's salvation since Jesus forgave the sin through His sacrifice on the Cross. Luther believed that so long as one was indeed "saved" through a profession of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord (the false doctrine of salvation through "faith alone"), one was saved no matter what sin one committed. St. James refuted this doctrine in James 2:24, and it is the only place in Scripture where the words "faith alone" appear. Using the Canaanite woman Rahab as an example, James wrote: See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (bold added for emphasis).
St. John the Apostle taught that prayer could not heal all sins and distinguished between venial and deadly/mortal sins (see 1 John 3:3-10; 5:16, and CCC# 1854-61). Mortal sin requires confession to a priest who hears the confession "in the person of Christ." God can forgive all sin, even mortal sin, but it is necessary to address one's accountability for sin through an act of penance. Forgiveness is one thing, but justice through accountability is another. Confession, genuine contrition, forgiveness, and an act of penance are necessary to restore fellowship with God.
Some Protestant brothers and sisters point to Romans 8:38 as proof of the doctrine of "eternal security"/"security of the believer." However, this verse refers to God's love; it does not address our salvation. The verse lists demons (powers and principalities), angels, and things of creation, but it does not mention sin. Jesus commanded St. John to send seven letters to seven churches in the Book of Revelation. The "perfect" number seven, in essence, represented all the churches that formed the one true Church of Jesus Christ. In those letters, Jesus warned that only those who persevere to the end and prove victorious (Rev 2:7, 11, 17; 3:12) would receive the gift of eternal salvation. If salvation is already assured, why is such a warning necessary, and why is there a need for perseverance?
In his letters, St. Paul continually warned the faithful that salvation was a process that took place during their journey through life. They must carefully guard their salvation on that journey: So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). And Paul said of himself: The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18, emphasis added). Paul also wrote about safeguarding his salvation like someone who is running a race with a clear goal: that goal being his salvation. He concluded the passage by writing: No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor 9:27). And just before the passage in our reading from Romans 8:38-39, Paul wrote in Romans 8:24-25: For in hope we are saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. If St. Paul was concerned about carefully guarding his salvation, all professing Christians should have the same concern.
Paul wrote that we "hope" for Heaven because, even if we have been justified through our baptism and are exercising faith in our journey to salvation, we know we still might lose our salvation through our own free will by entering into mortal sin. Therefore, we must cling to Christ's promises, knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and only we can separate ourselves from the salvation Christ has won for us. In the sixth century AD, St. Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, wrote: "Spiritual souls are not separated by torments, but carnal souls are sometimes separated by idle gossip. The cruel sword cannot separate the former, but carnal affections remove the latter. Nothing hard breaks down spiritual men, but even flattering words corrupt the carnal" (Caesarius of Arles (470-542), Sermons, 82.2).
The Gospel of Matthew 14:13-21 ~ The Miraculous Feeding
of the Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted
place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their
towns. 14 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with
pity for them, and he cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples
approached him and said, "This is a deserted place, and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves."
16 Jesus said to them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some
food yourselves." 17 But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we
have here." 18 Then he said, "Bring them here to me," 19 and he ordered the
crowds to sit down [anaklino = recline] on the grass. Taking the five loaves
and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the
loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 20
They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over, twelve
wicker baskets full. 21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, not
counting women and children. [..] = literal translation (Interlinear
Bible: Greek-English, vol. IV, page 42).
The story of the feeding miracle of the five thousand begins with Jesus withdrawing to a quiet place, probably to pray and grieve over St. John the Baptist's suffering and death. St. Mark wrote that Jesus invited the disciples to join Him to "rest a while" and to go by boat to "a deserted place," which St. Luke records was near Bethsaida on the lake's northeast side. In the fourth Gospel, St. John includes the information in 6:3 that Jesus went up onto a "mountain." The Greek word is oros; also see Mt 14:23 and 15:29, where the inspired writer uses the same word. It is a significant addition since the word "mountain" has symbolic significance in Scripture associated with revelations of God (cf., Gen 22:2; Ex 19:16-19; 24:12-13; 2 Chr 3:1; Mt 5:1; 17:1-2; Acts 1:11-12; etc.) See the chart "Holy Mountains of God."
Many people saw them leave and followed them, arriving before them (Mk 6:30-33). Taking pity on the crowds of people because "they were like sheep without a shepherd," Jesus began to teach them (Mk 6:34). Sts. Mark and John set the event of the feeding of the five thousand in the early spring when the grass was green. Large crowds of Jewish pilgrims and Gentile converts were journeying from Asia Minor and Mesopotamia through Galilee to Jerusalem for the annual festival of Passover and the required pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread that together covered eight days (Mk 6:39; Jn 6:4). It was the second Passover of Jesus's ministry. The first was when He went to Jerusalem after the miracle of the wedding at Cana in John 2:13-17 and the third Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread was His last week in Jerusalem (see Jn 12:1).
At first glance, this story of the feeding miracle seems to be only concerned with Jesus's compassion and supernatural ability to meet the needs of the people; however, there is so much more to understanding the significance of this event. His miracle feeding recalls other miracle feedings from the Old Testament and allusions to King David, anointed by God to "shepherd" His "flock." For example, see Ex 16:4-13, 35; Num 11:31-34; 1 Sam 16:11-13; 2 Sam 5:1-2; 1 Kng 17:8-16; 2 Kng 4:42-44 and Ps 23:
And there is the allusion to Jesus as the David-like shepherd who cares for His flock and leads them to lie down in a green pasture as He prepares the table of the Messiah's banquet before them (Ps 23). Jesus is the new Moses, the new David, and the prophet to whom the people must listen, promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
Matthew's telling of the miracle of feeding more than five thousand men is not only meant to remind us of God's compassion in the Old Testament but also to prepare us for a greater miracle. It prepares us for Jesus's Bread of Life Discourse, which occurred the day after the miracle feeding. In that discourse, the Jews saw Jesus's feeding miracle the day before in the context of Moses's feeding miracle of the manna from Heaven. They recognized Jesus as the new Moses, who came to liberate His people, and the new David, who came to re-establish the eternal Davidic Kingdom (see Jn 6:14-15; 30-31). In the Bread of Life discourse, Jesus promised that He would one day give His flesh and blood as food and drink for the salvation of humanity (Jn 6:22-65). His miracle feeding and the discourse the next day foreshadow the giving of Christ in the Eucharist.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus miraculously transformed five loaves of barley bread (only St. John includes the detail that it was less expensive barley bread in Jn 6:9) and two fishes into enough food to feed the crowd. First, He told them to recline in groups on the grass (Mark's Gospel records that the groups comprised fifty and one hundred people in Mk 6:39-40). Then Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave the food to His disciples to distribute to the people. Scripture records that five thousand men were fed, not counting the women and children, so the number feed was perhaps twice or three times as many.
This miracle feeding was a supernatural event and not an example of the people sharing food they already brought with them. The number five symbolically represents power and grace, and any multiple signifies an abundance of the symbolic nature of the number. In this case, the number points to the abundance of God's grace and His supernatural power in meeting the needs of His people. The five loaves and two fishes may also have symbolic significance. Together they add up to the number seven; it is also one of the "perfect" numbers (3, 7, 10, and 12), signifying perfection, fullness, and completion, especially spiritual perfection (see the document "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture").
Notice how carefully Matthew provided several similarities between the miracle feeding of the (more than) five thousand and the miracle feeding at the Last Supper that fulfilled the promise of the Messianic Banquet by the prophet Isaiah in our first reading (see Mt 26:20, 26-30). Matthew used the same wording and in the same order:
| The Feeding Miracle of the More Than Five Thousand | The Last Supper |
| 1. It was evening when the meal took place (Mt 14:15). | 1. It was evening when the meal took place (Mt 26:20). |
| 2. They (the crowd) reclined to eat (Mt 14:19). | 2. They (the disciples) reclined to eat (Mt 26:20). |
| 3. Jesus blessed the food (Mt 14:19). | 3. Jesus blessed the food (Mt 26:26). |
| 4. He broke the loaves (Mt 14:19). | 4. He broke the loaves (Mt 26:26). |
| 5. Jesus passed the food to the disciples (Mt 14:19). | 5. Jesus passed the food to the disciples (Mt 26:26). |
The miracle feeding of the five thousand foreshadowed the first Eucharistic banquet at the Last Supper, but in no way was it the same miracle. It was not a sacred feast like the Passover sacrifice at the Last Supper on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In the feeding miracle of more than five thousand men, the bread was barley bread (Jn 6:9), not unleavened wheat bread, and they ate fish, not the roasted lamb or goat kid of the Passover sacrifice. The miracle multiplication of the loaves and fishes prefigured the miracle feeding of the Eucharist to the faithful of the world and the promise of the eschatological banquet after the "final harvest" of souls at the end of time (Is 25:6; 62:8-9; 65:13-14; Jer 31:12-14; Ez 44:16; Rev 19:7-9).
The Catechism interprets Jesus's two miracle feedings of the five and four thousand: "The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributed the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist. The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus' glorification. It manifests the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father's Kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ" (CCC 1335).
The Jews who took part in the feeding miracle certainly understood it as a miracle similar to the feeding miracles in the Exodus journey (Jn 6:14, 30-31). The Gospel writers and the early Church Fathers also understood the miracle as prefiguring the feeding miracle of the Eucharist (see Jn 6:22-65). They also saw it as a prefiguring the promise of the coming eschatological banquet in the heavenly Kingdom (see the verses listed above), recalling the promises of the prophets like Isaiah in our first reading and Isaiah 26:6-8 ~ On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain, he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken (Is 26:6-8). The feeding miracle of the five thousand (not counting women and children) appears in all four Gospels (Mk 6:31-34; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-13).
18 Then he said, "Bring them here to me," 19 and he
ordered the crowds to sit down [anaklino = recline] on the grass. Taking the
five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing,
broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the
crowds.
Significantly, Jesus gave the food to the disciples to distribute
to the crowd. When Jesus's Kingdom came, His disciples, the priests of
the New Covenant order, were responsible for feeding the children of the
Kingdom Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharistic banquet. Notice in the blessing
in verse 19 that Jesus took on the role of the Jewish father in blessing the food
before the meal.
20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up
the fragments left over, twelve wicker baskets full. 21 Those who ate were
about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
That each person had enough to satisfy their hunger may be an
allusion to the promise in Deuteronomy 8:9 that covenant obedience would mean the
people will always have bread and where you will lack for nothing. However,
the next verse contained a warning: But when you have eaten and are
satisfied, you must bless the LORD, your God ... (Dt 8:10). The warning is
followed by God's command to remember the provisions He made for His people and
be grateful (Dt 8:11). We should act upon this command for gratitude whenever
we receive the Eucharistic "bread of Christ" in the sacrifice of the Mass, and
not take the gift for granted.
It is also significant that after everyone ate until they were satisfied, the disciples collected twelve baskets of leftovers. The Greek word kophinos in verse 20 describes large baskets made of wicker. It is the same Greek word for the basket used to lower St. Paul over the wall of the city of Damascus (Acts 9:25). In the symbolic significance of numbers in Scripture, twelve is the number of divine order in government (i.e., the twelve sons of Israel who were the physical fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles who became the spiritual fathers of the new Israel of the New Covenant Church).
In St. John's Gospel account, the word translated "fragments" or 'scraps" is plural in most modern translations. However, in the Greek text, the word is singular and not plural (Jn 6:12). The Greek word, klasma (Strong's #2801), in the singular, means a single piece of the "scrap or fragment left over, indicating one whole (IBGE, vol. IV, page 265). The Gospel of John emphasizes the identity of the fragment (singular) with the original loaves left over from the meal of the five barley loaves (Jn 6:13 NJB). The unique meaning of this passage was obvious to the early Church as indicated in the Eucharistic Prayer found in the early Church document known as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, or more simply as The Didache [Teaching]: "Concerning the broken bread: 'We give Thee thanks, Our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy Servant. To Thee be the glory for evermore. As this broken bread was scattered over the mountain and then, when gathered, became one, so may Thy Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom'" (The Didache, 9:3-4, Eucharistic Prayer; written circa AD 50-120; underlining added for emphasis added).
Many scholars believe this early Eucharistic prayer originated in the Holy Land. The idea of Israel being "scattered" and then "gathered" was familiar to the Jews and Israelites (see Dt 28:25; Jer 34:17; Judith 5:23; Ps 146:2; Ez 34:5-6, 11-12, etc.). Don't miss the symbolism in Jesus's feeding miracles of the food scattered among the people and the remains gathered again. St. John's Gospel tells us that this event occurred before the Passover festival when pilgrims from across the Roman world were making their way to Jerusalem for the Passover sacrifice and the week-long pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread (see Jn 6:4; Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Dt 16:5-17; 2 Chr 8:13). One aspect of the mission of the Messiah was to gather in the scattered tribes of the "lost sheep" of Israel (Ezek 34; Mt 10:6; 15:24).
In this feeding miracle, twelve baskets of leftover food were collected, one for each of the twelve Apostles. Beginning in the Holy Land that was once the covenant nation of Israel, but where the covenant people came to be "scattered" among the Gentile nations of the earth, Jesus was symbolically "gathering" the whole of Israel. He began by gathering to Himself the descendants of the twelve tribes born from the twelve physical fathers who were the sons of Jacob-Israel. His mission was to establish His Kingdom by renewing and redeeming His covenant people under the leadership of the twelve spiritual fathers of the new Israel, the Apostles, who would carry His Gospel of salvation to the "ends of the earth" (Mt 28:20; CCC 877).
St. Cyprian beautifully developed the idea of the "gathered into one" to illustrate the unity of Christ and the Church, which is "gathered" to Him (see Epistle 63.13; 69.5). Also, notice the plural "We give Thee thanks" in the Didache's Eucharistic Prayer, which survives from this ancient prayer in the Ordinary of the Mass today and exemplifies St. Peter's characterization of the entire Church as "a holy priesthood" (1 Pt 2:5). Be mindful today when you celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist that you are taking part in an even greater miracle than Jesus's feeding of the more than five thousand on that mountainside in Galilee over two thousand years ago. In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, Jesus calls you to come to the Messianic Banquet of the New and Eternal Covenant. He feeds you, not with fish and bread, but with His very Body and Blood to sustain you on your journey to eternal salvation and to prepare you for the future Banquet of the Lamb and His Bride in the heavenly Kingdom when He returns in glory (Rev 19:5-8).
Catechism References (*indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 55:1 (CCC 694*, 2121*);
55:3 (CCC 762*)
Psalm 145:9 (CCC 295, 342*)
Matthew 14:13-21 (CCC 1335*, 2614); 14:13 (CCC 2614, 2633, 2815); 14:16-17 (CCC 729, 2615); 14:18 (CCC 788); 14:19 (CCC 1329*)
"Give us this day our daily bread" (CCC 2828*, 2829, 2830*, 2831*, 2832, 2833*, 2834, 2835*, 2836*, 2837*)
"And lead us not into Temptation" (CCC 2846*, 2847*, 2848*, 2849*)
The miracle of the loaves prefigures the Eucharist (CCC 1335*)
The fruits of Holy Communion (CCC 1391*, 1392, 1393*, 1394-1395, 1396*, 1397*, 1398-1401)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2014; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.