They all ate and were satisfied

Luke 9: 11b-17

Jesus spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close the Twelve approached home and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.” Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of [about] fifty.”  They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the left-over fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

Discussion Questions: 

1. What do you think Jesus meant when he instructed the disciples to feed the crowd themselves?
2. “Do this in memory of Me” Beyond celebrating the Eucharistic, how do you strive to keep Jesus’ memory and mission alive in the day-to-day of life?
3. “Give them some food yourselves.” When have you experienced the answer to your prayer as being redirected to your own resources?
4.  How would you describe your experience of receiving Christ’s love at Eucharist?

Gospel Context

Luke 9: 11b-17
Margaret Nutting Ralph PHD

Today, as we celebrate the great gift that we have been given in the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, our Gospel is not Luke’s account of the Last Supper but his account of the multiplication of the loaves. However, today’s story alludes to Luke’s account of the Last Supper, at which Jesus institutes the Eucharist. As we look at today’s story closely, remembering this allusion, we will see a meaning in the story that we may have previously missed.

On first reading today’s Gospel appears to be a miracle story: There is not enough food for everyone. Jesus takes action. Everyone is fed and there is lots left over. The lesson: Jesus can work miracles. However, a miracle story, a distinct literary form, has certain characteristics and a certain emphasis that this story lacks. In a miracle story the storyteller makes a point of claiming that Jesus’ mighty action brought about the miraculous result and emphasizes this fact by having the crowd react with awe (see Luke 5:12-16 as an example). Neither of these elements is present in today’s Gospel. As the story is told, if you had been a member of the crowd, you would not have known that anything of an unusual nature had occurred.

In addition, miracle stories have a precise function: they center the reader’s attention on the identity of Jesus, on Jesus’ divinity and authority. In today’s Gospel, the reader’s attention is directed away from what Jesus can do and onto what the apostles are asked to do. Why?

As the story begins, Jesus is attending to the needs of the crowd: As the story begins, Jesus is attending to the needs of the crowd: those who needed to be cured.” The apostles bring an additional need to Jesus’ attention: the crowd is hungry. However, the apostles are not asking Jesus to respond to this need. They are asking him to send the crowd away, to take no responsibility to feed them.

Jesus does not send the crowd away. Neither does Jesus say, “I will feed the crowd.” Rather, he says, “Give them some food yourselves.” With this response the storyteller puts the emphasis the emphasis not on what Jesus can do, but on what Jesus is asking his followers to do. The Twelve think that Jesus’ words are completely unrealistic. They say, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.”

It is in the next scene that Luke alludes to the Last Supper. He describes Jesus’ action with words that are very close to the words Jesus uses when he institutes the Eucharist. In today’s story Luke tells that “taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” In describing the Last Supper, Luke will tell us that “he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given you; do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). Today’s Gospel account is obviously alluding to the account of the institution of the Eucharist. Why?

Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd themselves. They felt that this was beyond their ability. With Jesus’ help, however, the crowd this was fed: “They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

By alluding to the Eucharist Luke is reminding his readers that they-we-are not alone. Christ is present in us through the Eucharist. With Christ’s help we have the power to respond to the hungry and not send them away. The twelve baskets left over symbolize Luke’s teaching that if we respond to the needs of the hungry, we will discover that there will be enough for everyone.

Hands and Voices at the Table

Spiritual Teaching
Deacon Jay Cormier

After serving for a while at the altar, communion ministers begin to notice people’s outstretched hands: Hands that are calloused and scarred from work. Hands that are gnarled and broken by illness. Hands that cook, plant, build, create, paint, make music. Our hands reveal the stories of our lives.

A communicant’s eyes reveal a great deal, as well. One day joy may illuminate a communicant’s eyes while, on another day, those same eyes betray sadness or stress or grief. Sometimes hurt and despair can be detected in the simple Amen. Some days we come to this table with grateful hearts and some days we come broken and distraught. Other times we come gratefully aware of God’s presence in our lives—while sometimes we come wondering if God is here at all.

But we come. Because we know that every time we come, the miracle happens.

What happens on that plain in today’s Gospel happens in our churches: the miracle of a collection of diverse, disconnected souls is transformed into a community of faith. We come here with our struggles and doubts and pains and sorrows, and, if the Eucharist is what Jesus intended it to be, we find support and compassion from those who come to the table with us.

Today’s feast of the Body and Blood of Christ celebrates Christ’s call to be both guest and waiter, participant and host at the banquet of God.

Selections from Breaking Open the Lectionary: Lectionary Readings in Their Biblical Context for RCIA, Faith Sharing Groups, and Lectors—Cycle C, by Margaret Nutting Ralph, Copyright © 2007 by Margaret Nutting Ralph. Paulist Press, Inc., New York/Mahwah, NJ. Reprinted by permission of Paulist Press, Inc

Jay Cormier, a deacon serving in the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, teaches at Saint Anselm College and Pope John XXIII National Seminary. He is author of The Deacon’s Ministry of the Word and is editor and publisher of Connections.