This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late

Loaves and fishes, Byzantine mosaic, c. 480.  Church of the Multiplication, Tabgha, Sea of Galilee, Israel

 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 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 the 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 at that time in Christ's ministry, 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 to 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.  According to Theophylact, the phrase when Jesus heard it is not referring to the death of John the Baptist.  Instead it refers to Herod's comment that he believes Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead.   This makes sense in context, as the story of John's death is given parenthetically, as an explanation for Herod's fear about Jesus (see yesterday's reading, above).   This is one of several times that Jesus withdraws to be out of the public spotlight for a time when He hears that authorities, whether of the state or religious power, are hostile to Him.

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."   Once again, as happens several times in the Gospels, Jesus seeks to withdraw from public attention, but He cannot be hidden.  The multitudes followed Him on foot from the cities.  This is why this crowd is in a deserted place.   We note that we are frequently told that Jesus is moved with compassion, a phrase in the Greek that indicates a feeling deep in the center of the body (using a verb which literally references the spleen, denoting the area of the physical heart).   When Christ is "moved with compassion" we are to understand this phrase as giving us a strong glimpse of Jesus' incarnate nature.   His response is to heal their sick.  My study bible cites the several times this phrase is used (20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34; Luke 7:13), explaining that it shows that Christ's power and authority are extended to those who suffer.

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 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 the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.   This feeding miracle is an extension of Christ's compassion.  It is reported by all four evangelists.  It is an image of Christ as the same Lord who fed the Israelites in the desert (Exodus 16), but now incarnate as human being.  My study bible reports that the Church Fathers see in it an image of the Eucharist, an idea which becomes clear in John 6.  There is a spiritual interpretation in tradition that teaches 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 and the Epistle Book, which is the teaching of the fishermen.  As the apostles gather the leftovers, it symbolizes the fact that whatever teachings the faithful cannot momentarily grasp are nonetheless held in the consciousness of the Church.  We also note Christ's giving thanks, an example set for us to give thanks to God before eating.  Moreover, the terminology points to the Last Supper (26:26), leading to a eucharistic interpretation of the miracle.  My study bible says that as the disciples distribute bread to the multitudes, so also Christ feeds the Eucharist to all His flock through the hands of His bishops and presbyters.

The text tells us that those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.  We normally think of this as the feeding of five thousand, but that ancient system of counting was a method whereby it was the men who were counted, as the text says.  But if we should truly imagine the scene as it was, we know this was an event at which there were also women and children present.  It is an image of the whole world being fed by Christ, and even in whatever wilderness within which we may find ourselves at any point in life.  It is an image not only of Christ's dominance over nature -- and therefore His divinity, but also of our possibility of encounter with Christ when we are far away from solutions for our problems, even within a remote and deserted place on whatever level that problem exists.  There are times when we may feel we are in a deserted place emotionally, through betrayal, or neglect, or other forms of mental and emotional difficulty.  There are times when we might go without some material need, such as these men, women, and children who find themselves in the wilderness after following Christ.  There are yet other times in our lives when we may feel that spiritual sustenance is far away, and that a deep need in us is going unfulfilled.  At all of these times in our lives, we should think about this feeding in the wilderness, and turn in prayer to Christ.  The miracle teaches us that Christ is divine as it expresses a dominance over nature, but we should remember that this divine nature is that which is capable of extending to us through every medium of existence.  That is, on whatever level we need help, guidance, and a framework for life, even life in abundance.   Our prayer is a sign that we trust in Christ to guide us toward the life that we need, even when that guidance takes the form of shattering our idols and false beliefs.  Christ's initial expression of compassion in today's reading is to heal the sick.  We can imagine a miraculously cured person, but we should not ignore the fact that healing often takes forms which also involve difficulty:  an operation necessitates that we temporarily suffer to remove what ails us, an infection may require the taking of powerful drugs to combat its cause, with side effects we endure for the sake of overall healing.  There are any number of ways in which compassion and healing may be expressed even with temporary difficulties that are necessitated by the process of healing.  So we also should not be surprised if our calling upon Christ in our own need might be accompanied by a time of difficult choices, even sacrifice of some type for the sake of a full healing.  The image of the 5,000 men (and more women and children) in the wilderness gives us a picture we can draw upon when we feel we are in need and don't know where our healing resources will be coming from.  Christ sets an example by giving thanks to God before all else, seeing what is at hand, and then trusting to God for what else is necessary, and the future journey we need from there.  The fragments taken up in the twelve baskets are symbolic of what will "feed the world" through the work of the apostles to come, but in this image we can also take the promise of the fullness of the Church, and what my study bible calls the teachings we cannot for the time grasp, but which nevertheless are being held for us.  This is the way we need to think of our faith and the process of living that faith.  How do you call upon Christ today, and for what?  Let us consider the image of food as nurturing and guiding us to where we need to go for healing and sustenance, the Eucharistic image as that which we draw upon for what ails and where our needs are.  We may always begin with prayer, as Jesus does in this wilderness.