Readings (Year B):
2 Kings 4:42 – 44
Psalm 145:10 – 11, 15 – 16, 17 – 18
Ephesians 4:1 – 6
John 6:1 – 15
Reflection: They had more than enough to eat
At the Zamzam camp in the city of El Fasher in South Sudan, a young mother in her early thirties sits in a corner with her two children. The youngest, about two years old, cuddles on his mother’s lap as the older starts into a bleak and uncertain horizon. Famine and hunger have cut short the lives of many Sudanese because of lingering conflict and environmental disaster. People in Ukraine, especially women and children, have suffered a similar plight since war broke out two years ago, triggering hunger and famine in a region known for grain production. In Eritrea, the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that 60% of the population do not have enough nourishment. Delivering food to the displaced people of Gaza involves challenges as hunger and famine overwhelm those in camps across the region. We have witnessed people running to their deaths, chasing after foodstuffs dropped from airplanes. And even in our neighborhoods and cities, we see hunger and poor nutrition among struggling families and our growing homeless population.
In this context, considering the challenges of hunger, starvation, malnutrition and food shortage, we hear the prophet Elisha’s summons to give the people food, and Jesus’ determination to feed the crowd. Both Elisha and Jesus turn insufficient food into more than enough. Both Elisha’s servant, and Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, expressed concern about food insufficiency as they try to avoid embarrassment for Elisha and Jesus. Practically, they discern the disproportion between available resources and human need. But Elisha and Jesus perceive the proportion of available resources from the amount of generosity, on the part of the man and the boy in these stories.
These stories manifest the power of God’s providence to nourish the children of God. The prayers we say over meals, expressing our gratitude to God for the nourishment we have received, and our invocation of God’s providential care over our wellbeing, have profound implications for our bodily and spiritual nourishment, just as Elisha literally receives God’s assurances of nourishment for the crowd, and Jesus receives God’s blessings as he prays over the boy’s loaves and fish.
The generosity of the man and the young boy, who willingly place their apparently insufficient food items into the hands of Elisha and Jesus, is an inspiring remainder of the true meaning of the gospel invitation to kindheartedness and generosity. They share their food not from a place of abundance and plenty, but from a place of deep connection with the humanity of the famished crowds who are about to benefit from their benevolence. These two remind us that we can make an impact in people’s lives even out of our meager resources. Uncertainty about the insufficiency of available resources did not come from the benefactors, but from Elisha’s servant and the disciple Andrew.
In the gospel, Jesus Christ quickly discerns that the crowd intends to make him their leader on account of the food he has given them. The plan of the crowd revealed the central place food security occupies in our daily lives. Jesus and Elisha both supply one of the necessities of life by invoking God’s abundant favor, and this merits recognition from the crowd.
This Sunday, the church presents us with the invitation to make an impact on our communities by working towards ending hunger even with our little resources. Whatever we can do to prevent one more person from going hungry or dying from starvation is our response to the gospel invitation to be our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, by sharing the resources of the earth that God has placed on our hands. These examples prompt us to care for our communities and the world by entering into solidarity with those who are hungry and starving around us.
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