It Wasn't a Buffet!

It wasn’t a Buffet!

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church

Memphis, TN, USA

July 26, 2009

A buffet is a meal system where customers generally serve themselves. It is a popular method for feeding a large number of people with minimal staff. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants and many social events. At a buffet, different kinds of food are displayed in such a way that they would be seen by all, and customers are expected to serve themselves. There is no waiter to ask you what you want to eat. The food is already on display. All you need to do is to grab your plate and your silverwares and serve yourself. At a buffet, you can eat as many times as possible. You can eat any quantity you want. You can pile up your plate and eat till you can take no more. The quantity of food one eats is not regulated. Eat as much as you can. One interesting thing about a buffet is that the one who ate just one plate and the one who ate four or five plates pay the same amount of money. The prize is flat.

In today’s gospel taken from John 6:1-15, Jesus fed about five thousand people with just five barley loaves and two fish. Incredible! In the first reading taken from 2 Kings 4: 42-44, Elisha fed a hundred people with twenty barley loaves. In the first reading, the servant of Elisha doubted the possibility of feeding a hundred people with merely twenty loaves of bread. The disciples of Jesus also did not believe that five loaves and two fish can feed a multitude of five thousand. They could not see beyond the five loaves and two fish. Somehow they forgot that the man who had worked even greater miracles is in their midst. They were looking at the situation purely from logical point of view. They were looking at the situation with human reasoning. Faith gave way to logic and common sense. They never saw any way of feeding the multitude. Philip was quick to point out mathematically that “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” But Jesus proves that God can make a way where there seems to be no way.

It was not a buffet, yet everybody ate to his or her satisfaction and even had left over that filled twelve baskets. God offers us more than we can ever imagine. The disciples of Jesus did not see any divine possibilities. Andrew acknowledged the presence of a boy with some loaves and fish: “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many?” (John 6: 9). Philip was the first to doubt the possibility of feeding the huge number of people: “Two hundred day’s wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little” (John 6:7). Logically speaking, the disciples were right. But they did not apply themselves to faith. They forgot that the one who raised the dead, the one who walked on the sea, who calmed the dangerous storm, drove out many demons and healed many people of their diseases was in their midst. There is nothing wrong in thinking logical, but in times of dire needs, faith may be the only thing that will see us through. No wonder St. Paul urges us in 2 Corinthians 5: 7 to “Walk by faith and not by sight”.

It was not a buffet, yet the Lord fed the five thousand people. It was not a buffet, yet there were plenty of food to eat. It was not a buffet, yet, everyone ate to his or her satisfaction. It was not a buffet, yet people could not finish the food. It was not a buffet, yet, there were left-over food the filled twelve baskets.

Dearest beloved, God offers us more than we can ever imagine. Our thinking right now may be how to make it till tomorrow. We might be thinking logically how to pay all the bills. School will soon resume, and already you are worried because of your children’s tuition. You are thinking of so many problems facing you. From human reasoning, there seems to be no end in sight. There seems to be no way out. The night seems to be too dark and long. The journey appears to be too far away. The mountain seems to be too high to climb up or too high to jump down. You seem to be at a cross road. You have run out of answers and have run out of time. You are so confused and seem to be loosing your mind. You need faith to see the future God offers to you.

It was not a buffet, yet thousands ate to their satisfaction. It was the miracle of food- bread and fish. Miracles have not ceased. When we are in need, God provides for us. When we are in trouble, he shows us the way out. When we are carrying loads that are too heavy, he lightens the weight. When you seem to be sinking deep like Peter on water, God reaches out to you to save you.

Dearest beloved, God will always provide especially when we are in need. All you need to do is to do your part. Do all you got to do well and uprightly then leave the rest to God. He will take care of the rest. When doubt sets in, when you begin to doubt the power of God to save you, when you start thinking with human logic, remember what happened in today’s gospel. He fed thousands of people with merely five loaves and two fish. When you begin to doubt, remember it was not a buffet, yet, thousands had their fill. That same miracle can as well happen to you. By the time the Lord is done with you, today’s responsorial psalm will be your song: The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.