18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

            Our Liturgy of the Word this morning begins with a bunch of whiners.  And such complaints from the Israelites become more egregious when we recall the context of this particular account.  The Israelites had just been freed from 430 years of slavery to the Egyptian.  They experienced the miraculous plagues by which God used natural phenomena to chip away at Pharaoh’s hardened heart, as they were free from harm.  This culminated in the great Passover Feast at which the Israelites were spared from the angel of death.  Then they left centuries of bondage in dramatic fashion—by walking through a sea on dry land.  Then they have the audacity to complain, “Would that we had our McDonald’s and Dominoes in Egypt.”

            A similar sentiment is expressed in our Gospel in which Jesus chastises the crowds for coming, not because of signs of God, but because of their fill of the loaves.

            The heart of the problem with both the Israelites’ and crowds’ lack of faith was in a misconception of Who God is.  In both cases, God is reduced to being nothing more than a sort of vending machine.  In our own society, many have this same view of God—He is nothing more than an abstract entity we go to when we need something.  Indeed, God is the first place we should go when we’re in need, but our relationship to God ought not be limited to this one quality.

            Yet God, in His faithfulness, shows His great love in fulfilling the physical desire—hunger—in both groups.  He rains down bread from heaven—manna—upon the Israelites.  Jesus multiplies five loaves and two fish to feed the multitude.

            Realizing that God cares about feeding the hungry gives us reason to pause and consider the stark reality of hunger in our world.  Millions of people every day go without adequate food.  And these people are not just from Africa or South America but in our own country—the richest in the world—our city and perhaps even our parish.

            How can you help feed the hungry in our world?  How is God calling you to use your time, talents and treasure to satisfy the needs of your neighbor?

            With all this said, we must not remain on the physical level.  Throughout the Gospels Jesus frequently, especially John, uses the physical to point to the spiritual.  Hunger is a great example of this.  As each of us faces physical hunger—I do many times a day—each of us faces a spiritual hunger that must be fed as often, or perhaps more, than our stomachs.

            Jesus gives us His Body and His Blood to do just this.  He said, “I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will never hunger, he who drinks from me will never thirst.”

            As we come to the Eucharist once more, thank God for this awesome gift.  Thank God for the spiritual nourishment He has given you.  And as you are fed with the Bread of Life consider how you may feed the hungry in your life, both physically and spiritually.