Seventeeenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
In the First and Second Books of Kings, there are two major miracle-working prophets, Elijah and his successor Elisha. The First Book of Kings narrates a long cycle of the works, the sufferings, and the miracles of Elijah. The dates of his prophetic ministry are approximately from 869-849 B.C. The Second Book of Kings narrates a similar cycle of works, sufferings, and miracles of Elisha. His dates are approximately 849-801. His prophetic ministry begins when his mentor Elijah is whisked off to heaven in a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire. Readers may expect the miracles of Elisha to equal or even excel those of Elijah because Elisha, at his own request, received a double share of the spirit of Elijah. One example of the upmanship of Elisha over his old master is found in 2 Kings 13:20-21. Elisha worked a miracle even after his death. Some Israelites were carrying a dead man outside a town for burial. A band of Moabite raiders was approaching. The bearers of the dead man quickly threw his body into the tomb of Elisha. When the body touched the bones of Elisha, the dead man “came to life and stood up.”
The first reading for this Sunday is a miracle of Elisha – though not as grand as some of his miracles. In a miracle preceding the story narrated in our first reading, Elisha restored life to a dead boy, the only son of his mother. From there he moves on to Gilgal for a gathering of the “brotherhood of prophets” and two food miracles. Even prophets get hungry. Elisha ordered a servant to cook a large pot of soup. When the prophets tasted the soup, they cried out to Elisha, “There is death in the pot (of soup).” Elisha threw some cornmeal into the pot and ordered the soup to be served. “And there was nothing harmful in the pot.” Now to our first reading. It takes place at Gilgal, where the brotherhood of prophets had gathered. It was also the location of a major shrine. This explains why a man brought twenty loaves of barley bread as first fruits or tithe to Elisha. The prophet commanded, “Give the bread to the people to eat!” An objection:
“But there are a hundred people.” Elisha repeated his command, “for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’” And so it was. Why this reading for this Sunday. Because the gospel reading depicts Jesus feeding five thousand with a few loaves of barley bread, yet there was an abundance of leftovers.
The Responsorial Psalm (145) continues the food theme from the first reading. This Psalm includes an appropriate before or after meal prayer. “The eyes of all look hopefully to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living being.” This part could be recited by the person presiding over the meal. To which all present could answer with the people’s response, “The hand of the Lord feeds us. He answers all our needs.” The second reading continues a series of selections from the Letter to the Ephesians.
Paul describes himself as a prisoner. Prisons then were dungeons, chambers of horror. Does the apostle complain? No, because he is concerned only with his “parishioners.” We have the over-riding theme of this Letter, a theme encountered in a previous second reading from Ephesians – unity of Christian Jew and Christian Gentile in the universal Church. Paul calls for unity and peace so that there may be “one body and one Spirit…, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father over all….” How are Christians to achieve the desired unity? “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love.” If this means “putting up with one another,” that is a persistent problem. But love conquers all. That is the ideal.
The gospel reading for this Sunday is a prequel to the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6. In the preceding chapter, Jesus had been in Jerusalem, where his critics were already so riled up against him that there were assassination plots. He returns to Galilee, his home province, a safer environment than the hotbed of his opposition in Jerusalem. He crosses the Sea of Galilee from west to east and arrives at a hilly (mountain) wilderness. It was Passover – the second one during Jesus’ ministry. A huge crowd, “a multitude,” followed him, “because they saw the signs
(miracles) which he did.” All of this in four verses. What can we know thus far about John’s catechesis in this chapter? There are key phrases and words: crossing the sea, signs (miracles), multitude, mountain, Passover. There will be more, but up to this point, we are to think about Moses, the multitude of Israelites, Mt. Sinai in the wilderness, the signs God worked through Moses on behalf of the multitude of Israelites.
The sign (miracle) of feeding five thousand in John 6 is not very different from the other gospels, except that John’s version speaks of barley loaves – thus bringing Jesus’ sign closer to that of his ancient predecessor Elisha in today’s first reading. The feeding recalls another key ingredient of the story – the manna which miraculously fed the Israelites in the Mt. Sinai wilderness. There was a common belief at the time of Jesus that when the Messiah came to his people, the manna would be renewed. Therefore John’s catechesis proclaims Jesus the long-awaited Messiah who feeds his people in the wilderness with the new manna. Towards the end of the story, the people say of Jesus, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world,” a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15-18. There Moses promises that God will raise up a prophet like him from among his own people, with this command, “Listen to him!” Jesus is that new prophet, and John’s catechesis demands that people “Listen to him,” in the discourse that follows. The final catechesis thus far: “Since Jesus knew that they were going to…carry him off and make him king….” The author(s) already bestowed this title on Jesus in 1:49. Now the multitude proclaims him as king just as the ancient Israelites proclaimed God as king.
