DAILY GRACE
April 24, 2020, Friday in the Second Week of Easter
Scripture: John 6:1-15
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him.”
Today we start reading chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, which is about Jesus, the Bread of Life. John begins it with the scene of Jesus miraculously feeding the crowd. Even though Jesus knows what he was going to do, he tests Philip by asking him where they can buy enough food for the great crowd. Why does Jesus test him? It could be because John is presenting Jesus in a way similar to Moses. For example, Jesus goes up the mountain like Moses, and Jesus’ walking on water (the next section of chapter 6) recalls the miraculous escape through the Red Sea. When Moses led the people through the desert, God sent them the gift of manna. But he placed conditions on it: “Thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not” (Exod. 16:4). In a similar way, Jesus is testing Philip’s faith. Philip seems to fail the test, though, because he can’t see beyond the bread to what Jesus is really asking. Despite this, the ever-patient Jesus feeds the crowd by miraculously multiplying the loaves and fish.
Jesus feeds us too, not with ordinary food but with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We don’t have to buy this food because he freely gives it to us. “You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk” (Isa. 55:1). Though freely given, the gift of God’s food still requires something of us: the test of faith. Through faith, we can see that Jesus’s gift of bread and fish points us to his greater gift of the Eucharist. This Gospel is a test for us, too: what do we most value in life?
Enthusiasm sweeps through the crowd for Jesus, the miracle worker who could supply free food. But those in the crowd don’t grasp the deeper reality of Jesus. He will unfold it for them through his teaching, but they will end up rejecting him. What about us? Are we eager to receive him? Will we pass the test of faith?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are the Bread of Life, the Bread that sustains us on our spiritual journey. I thank you for giving us your Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Help me to always receive this sacrament with great faith and trust in you. Transform me day by day into your image, so that I may reflect your grace to all I meet.
Contemplation
Jesus, I believe in you.