Saturday, July 25, 2015

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - B

     Readings:
Reading 1:                     2 KinGS 4:42-44
Responsorial Psalm:     PSalm 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18
Reading 2:                     EPHesians 4:1-6
Gospel:                          JohN 6:1-15

     What do you think happened to that boy? You know, the boy with the basket that had the loaves and the fishes? He disappears out of the picture once his loaves and fish are multiplied and used to feed over five thousand people. What do you think happened to him after this?

     Putting yourself as one of the characters in the Gospel story, or imagining other aspects of the story that are not told is one way to pray with Scripture – it sometimes provides deeper insights into familiar people and scenes. So what do you think happened to him? What do you think the rest of his life might have been like?

     Chances are he told everyone he saw for quite a while about what he had witnessed on that grass-covered hill – that Jesus had fed thousands with just a few loaves that he had had in his basket. And I can imagine that he spoke with some surprise, at least, that he had had a role in that miraculous event. I wonder how he was received – apathy? Skepticism? Ridicule?

     I can imagine that this experience had a deep and profound impact on him – and I like to think that maybe after what he witnessed he became a very generous person, a person who became very giving and selfless – that he did for others what he had seen Jesus do for the crowd.

     And I wonder why he had that basket of loaves and fishes – maybe he was on his way from the market or a family member’s house. Five loaves and two fishes were probably enough to feed his entire family for a week. But he gave it up willingly – all that he had - when asked by Jesus.  When they gathered up the fragments, I wonder if he got his basket refilled. We don’t know what happened to the twelve baskets that were gathered up. Maybe he got even more than the five loaves and two fish that he had originally.

     His experience of Jesus was probably a life-changing event. He was a different person after seeing what compassion, generosity, and the power of Jesus do when put together.

     What about you?


     You are here at this table to celebrate and remember a miracle – not just of the transformation of bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Jesus- but Jesus offering his own life to save us. Because you have witnessed it, do you go out to tell others? Or is it something you keep to yourself?

You are here at this table to celebrate and remember the gracious generosity of God and how extravagantly God has provided for us with everything we need to grow and to thrive. Has it made you a more generous person? Have you become more selfless and giving? Do you look for ways to do for others what Jesus had done for the crowd?

     You are here at this table to celebrate and remember how Jesus took what appeared to be so little and miraculously used it to create a community, a feast, an icon of the Kingdom of God. Do you willingly give what you have and who you are to Jesus, knowing that he can take your gifts and use them to help bring about the Kingdom?

I do wonder what happened to that little boy because of his encounter with Jesus.

What happens to you?

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