This week we enter the crowds that followed Jesus to His passion. We step back in time to the feeding of the five thousand….

Scripture for today: Matthew 14:14-22

At that time when Jesus went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

Scripture for reflection: Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

We learn from Fr. Ted: The miracles of Christ as reported in the Gospel were all signs of the Kingdom of Heaven. They were intended to make people aware of this other reality, a life beyond this life and a Kingdom not of this world. Jesus did not feed 5000 daily. He did not open a free restaurant and distribute food to the hungry every day. In the Gospels there are only two references to Him performing such a miracle. This would tend to indicate that though He had miraculous – divine - power, He used that power judiciously. He was not mostly a miracle worker as such miracles were done sparingly. They were used to give people a foretaste of “something other,” of heaven breaking into this world, of God’s Kingdom touching this earth, but not yet fully revealed. He was, however, the one in whom the Kingdom of God had been united to the people of earth. The crowds were satisfied with what Jesus gave them – the bread and the fish, at least. Would they have been so satisfied if all He gave them was a promise of a Kingdom which was not yet but was to come? They did crucify Him in the end. A king with no army to conquer the world wasn’t all that attractive to them, as Isaiah had predicted. The bread and fish satisfied for a day, but when it wasn’t given to them daily, they had little use for the impoverished itinerant preacher of love and an upside down kingdom. Maybe that is why the disciples wanted Christ to send the crowds away – they wanted the Kingdom and its marvels, but they were uneasy about the crowd (for whom Jesus had only compassion) and how easily the crowd’s mood does change. It’s as easy for the crowd to crown as it is to crucify their king. Many an American politician has experienced that. We who have been sent “to the other side” without the miraculous multiplying bread and fish, were sent to be witnesses (Greek: martyrs) of what Christ did long ago. We know the story. We know what it reveals. Are we willing to live accordingly? Are we willing to take the loaves and fishes, few as they may be, which we have received from God, to share with a hungry world? Our hands must not just be stretched out to God begging to receive blessings from Him. We are to stretch out our hands offering to the world what we have received from God. The disciples asked Jesus to send the crowds away – they barely had enough nourishment, resources for themselves. Instead Jesus takes from the disciples what resources they did have and says, “The crowd doesn’t need to go away, you feed them.” Our task as disciples, our test of faith, is to see whether we are so willing to be completely and cheerfully generous with what we have been given to make sure the crowd knows the marvels of God’s love and sees the signs of His Kingdom breaking into their reality today. Our own hearts must be changed first, before we can expect the crowds to want to follow Christ. http://frted.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/christ-the-crowd-you-feed-them/.

Prayer: Lord, during this Lenten Season, nourish me with Your Word of life and make me one with You in love and prayer. Amen. www.catholic.org.

My thoughts: Picturing myself as one of the five thousand fed by Christ, I wonder how I would ever become part of the crowd that yelled, “Crucify Him.” After all, I was hungry and He gave me to eat. Wouldn’t I stay faithful to Him for that reason alone. Apparently not, for just as the crowd turned against Christ when He wasn’t giving them something, or performing a miracle, we too often turn our backs on Christ if He doesn’t give us what we want. Let us reflect on the words of Fr. Ted, and instead of concentrating on our personal wishes and desires, concern ourselves with feeding our brothers and sisters with the words and love of everlasting life. It is the only food that matters.

Our Prayer to God: This week, as we concentrate on the third leg of our tripod, fasting, let us consider giving up asking for favors for one day, surrendering ourselves completely to the will of God, and do nothing but thank God, for one day. Maybe then we can become true Disciples of Christ, and not just one of the crowd.