John 6:1-15
Something Greater than Miracles
by Rev. Robert J. Wagner
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington Catholic
Herald"
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John wrote to show that Christ was
the Messiah, the Divine Son of God.
Jesus
went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they
saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the
mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of
Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd
was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to
eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going
to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would
not be enough for each of them to have a little." One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has
five barley loaves and two fish'; but what good are these for so many?"
Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass
in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were
reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had
their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that
nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker
baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they
could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is
truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus
knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he
withdrew again to the mountain alone.In
this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus uses five loaves and two fish to feed a crowd of
five thousand. This miracle of multiplying loaves and fish is well-known to us
because it is included in each of the four Gospels; Jesus even performs this
miracle twice in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. The miracle itself illustrates
how the divine words and works of Jesus are beyond the realm of the natural
world. His generosity is seen not only in feeding the large crowd, but in the 12
baskets of fragments that are collected after everyone has had their fill.
The
crowd was astounded. “This is truly the Prophet,” they said.
Yet
this miracle — or any miracle — is not something meant to stand alone. Instead,
it is a sign pointing to a greater reality — that Jesus is truly the Son of God
and Savior of the world. He is to be trusted and His words believed, for He is
the way, the truth and the life that leads us to eternal joy.
Too
often, however, the miracle is preferred to Jesus and the salvation He offers.
We see it in the Gospel today, as we hear that those following Jesus were not
there for His preaching. Instead, they followed Him because of “the signs He was
performing on the sick” (cf. Jn 6:2). They were amazed at His healing power, so
they stayed close to Him. Then they were amazed again with the miracle of the
loaves and fish, so at the end of this Sunday's Gospel, they want Jesus to be
their king (cf. Jn 6:15). They wanted Him for the wrong reason: to provide for
them in an earthly sense. They preferred the miracles — not the Savior and His
message.
It
is hard to blame them. We long for stories of miracles — healings, visions,
levitating saints and other supernatural events that show God's power at work.
We are astounded when God can heal our illnesses when science and medicine have
fallen short. We rejoice that God can bring a wandering Catholic back to church
with a personal miracle or providential encounter. Miracles are signs of God’s
power and of His love for us. Often, they increase our love of God and our trust
in Him.
The
problem rests not in our fascination with miracles, but in our desires stopping
there. Too often the miracle is all that we seek, and we cannot look past them
to see what they point to: the truth that God loves and loves us so much that He
sent His Son to teach us, to suffer and die to free us from our sins and to rise
again in order to conquer death and bring us eternal life. In the end, this is
what we really need.
Sometimes,
we find our prayers are asking for something amazing from God, some sign that He
is present, something we can point to that will give us the boost we need to
believe and trust Him more. But we must recognize that these are just signs. God
promises and provides so much more. He promises His unending love for us. He
promises His forgiveness for our sins. He promises to give us and our loved ones
everything we need to strengthen us that we may come to know and love Him more
in this world and the next. Our prayers may be answered by a miracle, or He may
answer them in another way. In either case, we must have faith that His will is
done and His faithfulness and love endure.
In
the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus walked away from the crowd because people desired
His miracles and desired He become their king for their earthly benefit. His
plan for salvation did not involve the establishment of an earthly kingdom.
Instead, He established an eternal kingdom and brought about our redemption
through His death and Resurrection. Jesus is Our Savior, and we place our faith
in Him.
As
we meditate on this passage, let us pray that we grow to love God more and more
for who He is and what He promises. May we hear the truth of the words He speaks
both in the Scripture and the church. May we meet Him in the sacraments,
especially in the miracle of the Eucharist at each Mass. Finally, let us pray
for the faith that knows that even when He does not grant us the miracles we
seek, He is there, providing all we need to fulfill His promise for our
salvation.
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