We have here only five loaves and two fish

 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

- Matthew 14:13-21

 Yesterday we read that Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.  Because John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."  And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.  But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.  Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.  So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter."  And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it be given to her.   So he sent and had John beheaded in prison.  And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.  Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.   It would seem that Jesus is responding to the news of John's death in Herod's palace.  This would be a significant marker for His ministry; the herald, John the Baptist, is now martyred.  But according to Theophylact, when Jesus heard it refers not to John's death, but to Herod's comment that Jesus is John raised from the dead, since the account of John's death is given parenthetically in the text.  Nevertheless, this point in His ministry remains significant in either case:  state power has come to oppose John and now Jesus.

But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.  At this turning point in His ministry, in the midst of much rejection and news of martyrdom (as well as Herod's suspicions about Him),  Jesus seeks solitude.  But the multitudes who follow His ministry, who seek healing and direction, follow Him.   His first response is to be moved with compassion for them.    As they remain with Him into the evening, what follows is reported by all four evangelists.  It is the occasion in which Jesus feeds a great multitude in the manner in which the Israelites were fed in the desert (Exodus 16).  He is the same Lord, now incarnate as human being.  The Church Fathers see in this feeding in the wilderness an image of the Eucharist (more clearly developed in John 6).  It frequently appears in the Gospels that Jesus is moved with compassion (20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34; Luke 7:13).  My study bible comments that this shows that His power and authority are extended to those who suffer.  There is a traditional spiritual interpretation, my study bible tells us, that the five loaves indicate the five books of the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), which are broken open in Christ and thereby feed the universe.  The two fish represent the Gospel Book an the Epistle Book, the teaching of the fishermen.  The gathering of the leftovers by the apostles shows that the teachings which the faithful are unable to grasp are nevertheless held in the consciousness of the Church. 

In some sense, this feeding in the wilderness is a mid-point in Jesus' ministry.  He has sent out the apostles, His ministry has spread.  Great multitudes follow and seek Him.  But His ministry has also been met with rejection in many towns of Israel, in His hometown of Nazareth, and with open hostility from the religious leadership.  And just lately we've read not only of the martyrdom of John the Baptist, but also that Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, suspects that Jesus may be John raised from the dead, and this is the reason for the powers at work in His ministry.  That the manifestation of this great feeding miracle in the wilderness happens now is significant.  It prefigures His body which will be "broken and distributed" for all in the Eucharist.  As Jesus meets "worldly" power that is suspicious and hostile to Him,  that seeks to limit and reject His ministry, His own emptying or giving of Himself expands and grows to quite literally feed multitudes of people.  Prompted by compassion, this is clearly a miracle or sign prepared by the Father for this point in Jesus' earthly life and ministry.  There is a deep sense here of the coupling of both rejection and expansion of the depth of Christ's reach at the same time.  His miraculous power grows in its display, and the fulfillment of "type" from the Old Testament in this feeding miracle in the wilderness also links us to a far deeper reality at work than has been revealed.  I believe we must view this as a revelation of the working of the Kingdom in the world.  The rejection of this Kingdom doesn't really signal a time when somehow its influence will terminate.  Rather, rejection is occasion for recognition of new depth, a growth on new levels.  Jesus' ministry isn't going to be one that is limited to Israel, nor to the control of the religious leadership, nor even to the state power of the most extensive empire in the world.  It works on another level.  Not only does it reach out to the multitudes who need it, but He feeds the souls of those who respond to His love.  In the experiences of the mystics we may read or hear about, we find a tremendous joy and consolation to be had in an encounter with God.  We might find that these individuals are rare and great saints, or puzzling and strange in the stories of their lives.  But Jesus brings this encounter to all of us.  It's not just for an exalted and memorable few. Even those saints themselves are really bringing God more fully into our world; their lives and stories and experiences are precious and valued precisely because they are signs to us of God's dwelling within us and among us, rooting and anchoring the Kingdom firmly in our midst.  This is the compassion and emptying of God.  It will always come to meet rejection in its own way, with a deeper message that speaks to those who need it and can hear it.  We think of battle as a kind of meeting of those of like force; that is, those who battle with weapons geared for the same level of struggle.  But the battle for the world doesn't work that way.  The God whose love is all-supreme and transcendent of all things has weapons no one can imagine nor limit.  Strangely, this expansive and unthinkable power works in ways more subtle than earthly force can counter, and at levels more deep within us than we can possibly be aware of at all times.  In today's reading, the feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness is just such an example of God's power at work, revealing itself in an out-of-the-way place, and through unexpected and humble means.  When we limit God to our own expectations, we miss God's work in the world.  Our perceptions just aren't geared to the subtlety in which this Kingdom is at work.  Let us pray for spiritual eyes and ears for which to grasp its meaning for us in our lives today.  Let us feed our souls and be nourished with His life and His truth, and be consoled with the beauty of His love.