Focusing the Gospel
Key words and phrases: dismiss the crowds, buy food for themselves, give them some food yourselves, are all we have, Bring them here to me, he said the blessing, all … were satisfied.
To the point: The disciples ask Jesus to dismiss the crowds so they can buy food. Jesus tells them simply to “give them food yourselves.” But the disciples cannot satisfy the crowds' hunger until they give Jesus all they have—a meager five loaves and two fish. Jesus blesses these gifts and returns them to the disciples who then have enough to feed the crowds, even with “fragments left over.” It is not the meager resources we have that count, but what Jesus can do with these resources when we give all we have to him.
Connecting the Gospel …
… to the First Reading: Come! Come! Come! So compellingly and urgently does God invite us to a feast of rich fare that God provides freely and without cost. Come!
… to experience: Marketing is always playing on our appetites—eat this! buy that! get more! Marketing offers us the false hope of satisfaction. True satisfaction comes only from our giving what we have to God who returns it to us in abundance.
