Wednesday in the First Week of Advent, December 1, 2021

Matthew 15:29-37

At that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.  Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

St. Matthew portrays Jesus as a steward at a wedding banquet in this reading from his Gospel.  First, the Lord assumes responsibility for feeding the crowd; second, he assesses the situation; third, he assesses what is available to him; fourth, he has his guests seated; and, fifth, he distributes the food through those under him.  We see his loving care in what he does and how he does it.  He could have spoken a single word and a feast of roast goat and calf, complete with wine, would have appeared.  He could also have performed a miracle so that the people did not get hungry in the first place.  But we would learn less about his love through these actions than about his power.  In the miracle St. Matthew recounts for us here, we learn of both.

In assuming responsibility for feeding the people, the Lord shows us that he is thinking about the people who have come to hear him.  They are not simply an audience; they are people he loves so much he would die for them.  He shows that he does not wait to be asked about the people’s hunger.  He acts first.  This is love in action, always thinking of the other and how to serve that other.  He does this most of all in his coming down from heaven to save us.  He assesses the situation of the people to determine what they really need.  Love does not force a solution on another person; love does not patronize.  It carefully determines what can actually help that person.  Jesus considers the bread and fish which are available to him for feeding the crowd.  He uses what is available.  He does not overwhelm the people with a feast.  His purpose is not to glorify himself by making a grand gesture, but simply to aid the folks in front of him.  He has the guests seated so that they may be served properly.  Order is a sign of divinity, not chaos.  The Lord insists on order so that the Apostles could make sure that each person was fed and that each person had enough to eat.  In this way, too, the people could understand the magnitude of the miracle the Lord was performing for them: they could see how much he loved them.  Finally, the Lord did distribute the bread and fish through the Apostles.  That is, he shared his care of the people with them.  This is a sign of how he would send them out, filled with the Holy Spirit, to preach the Gospel and to feed the new Christians the Bread of Life.