"GIVE THEM SOME FOOD YOURSELVES."

Homily for January 8^th, 2019: Mark 6:34-44,

          As the sun starts to sink and the shadows lengthen, Jesus’ disciples approach him with an urgent request. “This is a deserted place and it is already very late; dismiss [the crowds] so that they can go … and buy themselves something to eat.”

          Jesus’ response surprises us: “Give them some food yourselves.” He was having fun with them – teasing them. Jesus knew perfectly well what he was going to do. Not realizing this, the disciples point out that what Jesus has asked them to do is impossible: all they have, the disciples say, is five loaves and two fish.

          Jesus has the disciples tell the people to sit down in orderly rows. Then he takes the loaves and fish, looks up to heaven, blesses these hopelessly inadequate supplies, and gives them to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. “They all ate and were satisfied,” Mark tells us, adding: “and they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish.” But of course: there were twelve men doing the distribution.

          What does this tell us? Two things. First, when we entrust our pitifully inadequate resources to the Lord, they are inadequate no longer. Second, when the Lord gives, he gives not only abundantly, but super-abundantly. We come repeatedly not because the Lord limits his gifts, but because our ability to receive them is limited.

          The early Christian community loved this story so much that we find it told six times over, with variations, in the four gospels. We heard Matthew’s version of the story last August. The reason this repetition is clear. The story reminded Jesus’ friends of what he does in the Eucharist. We offer him a little bread and wine – and these modest gifts come back to us transformed into his Body and Blood: all his goodness, all his love, all his compassion, patience, and purity. And when have him, we have everything!