Look Beyond What You See!

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Sunday, July 26, 2015

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. The waiter is not going to ask you what you want to eat because 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. One interesting thing about a buffet is that the one who consumed only one plate and the one who ate two or three 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. But before this was done, his servant had 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 could 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 was in their midst. They approached the situation with human reason alone. Their faith did not carry them far enough. But Jesus proved to them that God can make a way where there seems to be no way.

The miraculous feeding of five thousand was not a buffet, yet everybody ate to his or her satisfaction and even had left-overs 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, with doubt in his mind pointed out mathematically that “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 didn’t apply one of God’s gifts to humanity-- Faith.  They forgot that the one who raised the dead, walked on the sea, calmed a 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 need, 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”.

Right now, you may be asking yourself: how do I make it today and 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 and steep. The mountain seems to be too high to climb up or too high to jump down. You seem to be at a crossroad. You have run out of answers and run out of time. You are so confused and seem to be losing your mind. You need faith to see the future God offers to you.

The feeding of the five thousand was not a buffet, yet thousands ate to their satisfaction. It was the miracle of food—bread and fish. Miracles have not ceased to happen. 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 we seem to be sinking deep like Peter on water, God reaches out to save us. He will always provide for those who love and serve him. All we need to do is to do our part. Do all you have to do well and uprightly, then leave the rest to God. He will take care of the rest. When you begin to doubt the power of God to save you, when you throw faith out of the window and begin to apply reason alone, remember what happened in today’s gospel. 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. Look beyond what you see. Look beyond your troubles. If your problems are great, God is even greater than all of them. Don’t forget that God is supreme, and that nothing tops supreme. 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.”