Feeding the 5000

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to God. One of the saints, many of the

saints, tell us that the church, the liturgy

in particular, raises us up to heaven, presents

us all to God. who is above all. When we hear

the words of the beginning of the liturgy, blessed

is the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and

of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, to ages of

ages. This is Christ. You hear this. You see

this. The gospel book is raised. We sing amen.

This is Christ opening our spiritual eyes so

we can See the kingdom of heaven. Feel it. Be

satisfied. Be fed. Those who trust in the Lord

lack no good thing. There were 12 baskets left

over. It was abundance beyond abundance. And

when we hear the words, blessed is the kingdom,

we can say, this is what I choose for my life.

The church takes us and raises us up and presents

us to God himself, but is that what we feel?

Is that our experience? Does our soul have the

means of perception? Can we spiritually feel

that, spiritually understand that, sense that,

grasp that? Some days, maybe. Speaking for myself,

some days, maybe not. For whatever reason. But

it's God, be convinced, that gathers us together,

that assembles us. This is why we have to take

that beginning, blessed is the kingdom, where

we hear the words and Christ is opening the kingdom

to us. That's why we have to take it so seriously.

We want to hear that. We want to be there to

begin that together. St. Paul said in the epistle

we just heard, so that we are all perfectly united.

in one mind and in one judgment, meaning intention,

for us to praise God. Now, to be here today,

it may seem like we're doing all the work. We're

setting up, we're trimming the wicks, we're bringing

the candles out, we're putting out the candles,

we're going back and forth, we get here early,

we're cleaning up, we're singing, we're reading,

we're doing all kinds of things, but really,

it's not us that are doing the work. We are laboring

so we can be with the Lord, each one of us, in

our own way here. But it's Christ who is ministering

to us today in every liturgy. It is Jesus Christ

who is serving us. Maybe it will help us to understand

if we just look at Christ. where he was in this

gospel, doing what he always did. Feeding the

people, teaching the people. St. Matthew relates

to us in chapter 14 how Herod had killed John

the Baptist. And we remember, please remember,

we commemorate that beheading on August 29th,

which is a strict fast day, which totally makes

sense, doesn't it? John's disciples came and

took his body. and buried it. Then John's disciples,

says St. Matthew, went and told Jesus. When Jesus

had heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat,

privately, to a secret and solitary place. The

gospel doesn't get into psychology and emotion.

But you can imagine, this is the forerunner.

This is Jesus' cousin. He goes to pray. He goes

to be by himself. He goes because he is not only

God, but God made man. He goes, no doubt, to

also mourn his dear friend, but to also know

what his friend was about to do in the depths

of Hades, to even announce as the forerunner

the coming of the Messiah and the end of death,

the end of the destruction of sin. Jesus goes

to a solitary place. But hearing this, says St.

Matthew, the crowds followed him by foot. They

see Jesus in his boat going across the lake.

And many, many, many people. Well, we have the

fresco right here on the north side showing the

event of the gospel that we read about today,

which is recorded in all four gospels. The crowds

followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus

landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion

on them and healed their sick. Our Lord is the

compassionate one. He was with these people,

teaching all day, blessing them, healing them,

strengthening them. We're here at the liturgy.

For two hours, maybe, hour and a half. It's not

all day. It is the Lord's Day. And we keep that

in mind on Sunday, that we dedicate this day

to worship God, to pray to God, to do good works,

to do what we need to do, but to keep it focused

on Christ in whatever way we can. Many of us

struggle through the hour and a half that we

are here. To be united, as St. Paul says, with

one mind and one intention? Let us remember again,

we have been gathered together. Let's not do

anything to betray that. Let's be with Christ

while we're here at the liturgy. I'm not talking

to parents with young children, by the way. They

have their own path, and God has blessed them

abundantly, which in whatever way, they have

to work that out. But it's essential for us.

To take that gathering seriously and to remain

with Christ so we can be taught. We can be healed.

We can be fed. As evening approached, the disciples

came to Jesus and said, this is a deserted place.

It's remote. It's late. Send the people away,

Lord. Let them go to the villages. Find some

food to eat. And Jesus replied, they do not need

to go away. You give them something to eat. And

no doubt, this was yet another occasion for the

disciples to be confused. And our own relationship

with Christ is like that a lot, isn't it? So

we don't despair. The Lord finds the way through.

And what happens next is that Jesus shows that

he is what everyone is waiting for, the Messiah,

the prophet Ezekiel, in their minds. They know

the scriptures. The Lord says to Ezekiel, I will

set over them one shepherd, my servant David.

Christ is the child, the descendant of David.

And he will feed them. He will feed them, and

he will be their shepherd. And St. Matthew then

says that Jesus took what these disciples found.

A boy had five loaves, two fish. He gave thanks,

he broke, and he distributed. Exactly what we

are going to experience today. It's the Lord's

hands that will bless. that will offer us up

to the Lord, God, Father, Almighty. Send down

thy Holy Spirit, we say, upon us and upon these

gifts here present. And then we are changed also.

And he gave it to the disciples, and the disciples

gave them to the people. St. Hilary. He says

this, the wonder of the miracle of Jesus feeding

the 5 ,000 surpasses human understanding. Of

course it does. What is most amazing, however,

is what this miracle teaches us about compassion

and the grace of God in Christ. Never forget,

dear people, the Lord is compassionate. Never

think that because you sinned, Or you disappointed

yourself that God is angry with you and holding

you over the fire, ready to drop you. That is

not our God. That is not the God that Jesus Christ

himself shows us what his Father is like. No,

not at all. Jesus feeds us. He heals us. He teaches

us. He has compassion and mercy upon us. Since

Hillary goes on, he says, Just as the loaves

and fish never seem to end, so our Lord's mercy

more than covers our needs. More than covers

our needs. More than comforts us in distress.

And it is greater than our greatest tribulation.

St. Hilary goes on, our heart's desire, the needs

of our body and soul, our Lord, our Christ, meets

that. and then exceeds. And he goes on to say

that this miracle of the feeding of 5 ,000, not

counting women and children, you can calculate,

who knows, is the foreshadowing of the greatest

gift to us, that is the Eucharist, in which we

present to God five loaves too, and ourselves.

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end, says

Jesus. During the celebration of the liturgy,

Christ is with us differently than there and

with everyone celebrating the liturgy in every

place. And he still makes the paralyzed to walk

and the paralyzed to understand and the blind

to see and the blind to understand. He makes...

Why is the blind? We just sang it a few moments

ago. He returns the dead to life. When he nourished

the people there with his teaching, his food,

he does the same for us. This is not a memory

that we think about. It's Christ truly present

here with us, the teacher, the prophet, the miracle

worker, Christ who was crucified, Christ who

was raised from the dead, who was sent into heaven

and is now before us. And the goal of this...

The goal of this, the goal of being gathered

together, be united in one mind and one judgment,

one intention, is to be joined to God. So he

can make us to be each unique, each in our own

way, as he is. We don't know what that will be.

But when he comes, we shall be like him. says

St. John the theologian. We shall be as he is.

O Lord, grant us to partake more perfectly in

the never -ending day of thy kingdom, which we

share in this moment, where the sound is unceasing

of them that keep festival. and unending is the

delight of them that behold the ineffable beauty

of thy countenance. Amen.