For the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”
But his servant objected,
“How can I set this before a hundred people?”
Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat.”
“For thus says the LORD,
‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'”
2 Kings 4:42-22
Does the miracle of Elisha in the Old Testament sound familiar? It, indeed, prefigures Jesus’ miracle with five loaves of bread and two fish that fed the multitude in this Sunday’s Gospel. And in both cases, the people standing by were incredulous. But then it did happen, because God is faithful to his Word, as spoken through both Elisha and Jesus.
The miracle event of John 6 prefigures the Eucharist. And I think it there is some magnificent timing occurring in Sunday readings this week and for the next few weeks. In the weeks following tens of thousands gathered before Jesus in the Eucharist—at the National Eucharistic Congress—the Church herself looks to the bread miracles found in the Scriptures this week. But it doesn’t stop there: We will be taking a deep dive into John 6, the Bread of Life discourse, for the next few Sunday Gospels.
Let us be attentive to what Jesus is saying in his Word. For he is faithful to it. He does not lie.
Jesus, give me true belief, for you are faithful and true.
