Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:1-3
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21

The gospels are as remarkable for what they do not say as for what they reveal. Consider for a moment how Peter and John might have told the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes to their fellow disciples. “And then,” Peter said, “Jesus blessed the bread and told us to give it to the people. I broke the pieces from the loaves sparingly and then with growing confidence. Soon I found myself distributing great hunks of bread, always more impressed by the fact that no matter how much I gave away, there was something left.” Peter’s look of astonishment was echoed in the looks of the men to whom he told his story.

In another part of the village, Jesus sat at the feet of his mother and told the story of the day. “And then,” Jesus said, “I told the disciples to give away the food we had. Of course, there was enough.” “Of course,” Mary acknowledged and asked about how many were added to the ranks of the faithful.

In the story of the feeding of the crowd, Jesus makes a dramatic attempt to break people of the scarcity habit by revealing the reality of abundance. His teaching is simple: the world operates by the law of scarcity. The gospel truth is abundance. The pathway from scarcity to abundance is called community.

Most of us have learned the truth of abundance from our mothers, from generations of women who have added a little water to the soup. Consider for another moment the way Jesus’ disciples address the issue of scarcity. They want to disperse the crowd, break it up into isolated individuals and send them out into the marketplace. What did Jesus do instead? He does what powerful leaders always do. He asks his followers to discover what they have to give. Then, he takes the faceless crowd and divides it into small groups. The anonymity of the crowd dissolves and people begin to see their friends. Community starts to happen. Why? Because the Lord knows that abundance is always present if we act in community. The disciples who were asked to feed the crowd thought food was scarce, but Jesus performed a miracle to reveal how abundant food is even when there is none in sight.

The story of five loaves and two fish is a story about the fact that our deepest hungers can always be fed. The illusion of scarcity is not limited to food. The crowd looked for a teacher because it thought that truth was scarce. Jesus taught so that he could reveal that truth is abundant.

Throughout his life and public ministry, Jesus makes a dramatic attempt to break people of the scarcity habit by revealing the reality of abundance. His teaching is simple: the gospel truth is abundance.

This is a truth that we need to bring to the world so that the good that people seek is available to all.