EATING HIS GOSPEL OF LOVE

 

In the gospel of today we have John’s account of the multiplication of five barley loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand people. As Christians we have two great commandments to follow: to love God and to love one’s neighbour. In this multiplication scene Jesus shows these two commandments in action.

Love for One’s Neighbour: Jesus presented the parable of good Samaritan as a response to the question; who is my neighbour? We don’t have any defined neighbour to whom we have duty to fulfil. We ought to become neighbour to whomever we could irrespective of where and in what condition we are. In this multiplication account Jesus becomes neighbour to the people who had come to listen to His preaching. Jesus did not have any personal relationship with those people, they neither ask nor grumble to Jesus about their hunger and need for food, yet Jesus sensed their need and responded – This is the attentiveness of the good steward. Jesus becomes their neighbour by willingly steeping inside to help them to overcome their problem.

Love for God: This multiplication account shows Jesus as new Moses who gives food to the Israelites. In the Old Testament, God through Moses gave manna to Israelites in the wilderness. In the New Testament, God through Jesus gives food to the Israelites in the wilderness. This event precedes Jesus saying about Himself as food from heaven. We human beings are combination of body and soul. Both of these components need nourishment. Body needs material food to live in the world. Similarly the soul also needs spiritual food to live in God. We eat material food for the body to have life and act. In the same way we have to eat spiritual food to live our life well, to orient our lives, to form our character, to mould our conscience… in modern language we call this spiritual food as knowledge, which we gain in the course of our life to make us live better day by day. Jesus after this multiplication event would speak about Himself as food from heaven, whom God the father has given to the world to nourish the souls. We have to eat Jesus to form our lives. We have to eat the words of Jesus, we have to gain knowledge about Jesus and we have to inculcate His teachings in us. By taking His words in us we become influenced by His teaching. All our thoughts, decisions and actions being influenced by Him we live the life in accordance to His kingdom and its values. Thus, we become member of God’s kingdom. By accepting Jesus we allow His teachings to form our life. By practicing His preaching we are moved to love other which is the core of Jesus’ teaching. Hence, love of God leads to lover of one’s neighbour.

Jesus’ oneness with the Father led Him to love others. Today we are invited to follow Jesus to be one with God. To be with God is to follow Jesus’ teaching. Let us eat Jesus’ words to become neighbours to those are in need. In the second reading, St. Paul says to the Ephesians that all of us have one Lord and God (Eph 4:5-6). We are united by having Same ONE GOD as our master but we humans will be saved if only we all have eaten His gospel of love. Eating leads to living. Those who eat of Him will live, never die (Jn 6:57).