Notes from the Pastor

In our First Reading today (Genesis 16:24, 1215), God gave the Israelites bread from Heaven to sustain them on their Exodus journey from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. The manna appeared on the ground each morning near the place where the people had camped. They could gather only what they needed for that day. If anyone tried to hoard more than a day’s portion, it would spoil overnight and could not be eaten the next day. Only on the sixth day (Friday) could they gather and save enough Manna for two days so that they could observe the Sabbath rest on Saturday and avoid the work of gathering Manna on the Sabbath. This manna truly was their daily bread, and God provided it in this way so that they could learn to trust that God would look out for them and provide for them.

The miracle in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15) is well known. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew each have two accounts of a multiplication of loaves and fishes, while the Gospels of John and Luke both have one such account. Large crowds were following Jesus because he had been curing the sick. Jesus saw that they were hungry. After asking his disciples where they could buy enough food for them to eat, Andrew told him about a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus took the food, gave thanks, and distributed it. Amazingly, Jesus fed about five thousand men and an uncounted number of women and children.

Jesus was often surrounded by crowds. They followed him through the countryside and gathered around him in the cities. They pushed their way into homes where he was staying. In one instance, they even tore away the roof tiles to reach him that he might cure a paralytic.

Do you remember being out at recess during school and teams being picked for baseball or dodgeball or some other game? It could be scary, thinking about how it would turn out. Will I be the last one picked? Will everybody laugh at me? Will I be good enough? Many of us may approach our faith and relationship with Jesus the same way, asking whether or not God will choose us; whether or not we are “good enough.” The Good News for each of us today is that God has already chosen us, and send us out on a mission that we can accomplish through his grace, power, and authority.

Today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 6:1- 6) is quite revealing. Those who had gathered in the synagogue that was located in Jesus’ “native place” clearly were familiar with Jesus because they began to name his family – Mary, his mother; his brothers, James and Joses, Judas and Simon. They even mention his sisters. It is important to note that this identification as brothers and sisters must be taken within the context of the culture and language in which Jesus was living. These “brothers and sisters” would be more like extended family, perhaps cousins. This passage in no way contradicts the truth that Mary conceived Jesus by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and that she remained ever-virgin, having had no other children.

One important message that we hear in today’s Scripture Readings is that God created all things for good. Still, we cannot deny that there is evil in the world. Illness, poverty, injustice, and war are frequently in the news, but these things do not come from God. Pain, violence, and death came into the world as a result of sin – of man’s disobedience and belief in the lies of the devil.

“Quiet! Be still!” With these words, Jesus calmed the storm that was threatening the Apostles as their boats were being tossed about and filled with water in today’s Gospel (Mark 4:35-41). It must have been a fierce storm indeed to have frightened these men, several of whom were seasoned fishermen who had made their living on the sea before becoming disciples of Jesus. They were so frightened that they woke up Jesus who was asleep in the boat. They needed him to be present to them in their panic and fear.

Today’s First Reading (Ezekiel 17:22-24) presents the image of the growth of plants. It is God who regulates what will prosper and what will not. This image will be used in the Gospel where Jesus applies it to the question of how faith grows. God will bring down the mighty and arrogant and will lift up the lowly and the humble. This is a theme we hear in the hymn sung by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Magnificat, found at the Visitation in the Gospel according to Luke. In Ezekiel’s day, the mighty and arrogant were represented both by those who refused to repent of their evil ways in Judah and by the nation of Babylon, which had conquered the kingdom if Judah and sent its leading citizens into exile.