Loaves and Fish Fr. James Jorgenson

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

of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.

Today's miracle, the multiplication of the loaves

and fishes, is one of the most significant miracles

that Jesus performs. First of all, it is recorded

in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and

John. John's is a little bit more extensive,

and we'll get to that version of St. John's momentarily.

But St. Matthew situates this miracle within

this context. Jesus had just heard of the execution,

the beheading of John the Baptist. This, of course,

is an end of an era because John is the last

and the greatest of the prophets foretelling

the coming of the Messiah. So that's what's important

about the way Matthew situates this gospel. Secondly,

when I look over a passage, especially if I'm

going to prepare it to share some thoughts with

you, I try and look backwards and see if there's

some kind of Old Testament event that prefigured

this one. And then I also try and look, well,

is there something greater and deeper than a

simple multiplication of loaves and fishes? And

I'm sure that almost all of you have the answer

to both those questions already. This looks backwards

to the father who fed the children, his Hebrew

children, in the wilderness with manna from heaven.

He also, when they were hungry, rained quail

upon them. When they were thirsty, he had Moses

strike a rock so that water in the desert would

come forth from this rock. So God nourished his

people in the Old Testament with bread, and he

nourishes us today, the multitudes in today's

gospel, and he nourishes us today as well, because

he gives us a unique, kind of bread. And St.

John in his presentation of this miracle unpacks

this very clearly for us. Because Jesus tells

the multitude, your fathers ate manna in the

wilderness and they died. But the bread that

I will give you will be for eternal life. And

then one person in the crowd later on blurts

out, blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom

of heaven. Because in the kingdom of heaven,

looking beyond the Eucharist, the Eucharist is

a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven here on

earth. Looking beyond that, we are nourished

by symbolic bread, by God's grace throughout

all eternity. So this is a very important and

reliable and authoritative miracle here because

it shows how God is constantly taking care of

his people, the Hebrew people in the Old Testament

and the Christian people here in this world.

So this miracle looks backward as well as forward.

Momentarily lost my place. Yes, so that we are

nourished in the divine liturgy with Holy Communion.

I think sometimes because of the regularity and

the frequency, sometimes weekly, sometimes more

often. We don't think of the awesomeness of this

event. Jesus told the people when he was giving

his Eucharistic discourse, as it's related in

St. John's Gospel, your fathers ate manna in

the wilderness and they died, but the bread that

I will give will be welling up for eternal life

for them. And this precisely is this Eucharistic

bread, the Holy Communion, that we receive at

each and every divine liturgy. God also nourishes

us with the sacrament, which is the Eucharist,

as well as with the Word. The Word being, of

course, the written Word who becomes incarnate

in Jesus. the living word which came down from

heaven. And we are also nourished by his word

when we read the holy scriptures. As very wonderfully,

Father Nicholas encouraged us last night at Vespers

to read the scriptures daily. If you want the

Orthodox Study Bible or any Bible, anything that

is the word of God. particularly approved Bibles.

And so we nourish, God nourishes us when we read

the Holy Scriptures as well as when we receive

Holy Communion. Jesus is the bread of life. He's

the one who nourishes us, who gives us all the

spiritual nourishment we need in this world.

And the physical nourishment of food is only

a preview of that fulfilling, that fullness of

grace that we will receive in the kingdom of

heaven. So our Lord Jesus Christ, the living

word who came down from heaven, to him be glory

and honor as he nourishes us. forever and ever.

Amen.