So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them

 

 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.  

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.  Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?"  So he sought to see Him.

And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.  When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."  And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."  For there were about five thousand men.  Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty."  And they did so, and made them all sit down.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

 

- Luke 9:1–17 

 

Yesterday we read that, when Jesus returned from the country of the Gadarenes, the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.  And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.  And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.  But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.  Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment.  And immediately her flow of blood stopped.  And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?"  When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me."  Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.  And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.  Go in peace."   While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead.  Do not trouble the Teacher."  But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."  When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl.  Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.  But He put them all outside, and took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise."  Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.  And He commanded that she be given something to eat.  And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

 

 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.  Jesus appoints the twelve disciples now as apostles.   The Greek word for disciple means "learner," and the word from which we derive apostle literally means "one sent out."  Thus, the twelve are called, interchangeably, both disciples and apostles.  My study Bible comments here that Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, while Jesus performed miracles and cast out demons by His own power and authority.  Here Jesus gives them instructions for how to carry out this first apostolic mission, especially emphasizing humility in their conduct in several ways.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.  Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?"  So he sought to see Him.  In Luke's Gospel, it is told that Pilate sent Jesus to this same Herod during His trial (Luke 23:7).  He is the son of the Herod (known as Herod the Great) who slew the innocent infants in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16).  One can read the incident of the beheading of St. John the Baptist at Mark 6:14-28.

And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.  When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."     My study Bible notes that Christ's commission, You give them something to eat,  is a type and preparation for the apostolic ministry which the disciples will perform after Christ's Resurrection (and we note they have just returned from their first apostolic mission).  They will feed the world with the word of God and with the Eucharist. 

 

 And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."   For there were about five thousand men.  Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty."  And they did so, and made them all sit down.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom on this passage.  On the five loaves and two fish, St. Chrysostom says that Christ is the same Creator "of both the earth and the sea, who in the beginning brought fruit from the earth and life out of the water."  On the text telling us that Christ look up to heaven, St. Chrysostom comments that Jesus does so "not as receiving power from elsewhere, but as honoring the Father who begot Him."  That Christ blessed and broke the bread teaches us "not to touch any meal until we have given thanks to Him who gives us food."   My study Bible notes that this blessing also presents a clear Eucharistic image and directs us to pursue spiritual food greater than that which is earthly (see John 6:26-27). 

 

So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.  My study Bible comments that Theophylact sees a liturgical parallel with the feeding of the five thousand.  (In the historical method of counting, the text notes five thousand men, but there were also additional women and children present.)  Theophylact notes that Christ first healed and spoke of the gospel, and then fed the multitude with the miraculous bread by the hands of the disciples.  In the Church, a person is first healed through baptism; then at the Liturgy, the gospel is preached and the bread of life and the cup are received from the hands of the ordained clergy.   Let us note also that the twelve baskets of the leftover fragments symbolize the food of the gospel, with which the twelve would be sent out to feed the world.

If we consider those twelve baskets of leftover fragments after this feeding, we're likely to ask ourselves what kind of food we need.  The number twelve is surely significant here, because of the twelve apostles that would carry out the gospel message to the rest of the world, bringing the church into and out of the world, spreading the Eucharist to all.  This action continues today, although we might not recognize it.  But with every generation, with every new technological development of communication, with every new person who hears the gospel message preached, those twelve baskets and the twelve disciples continue to spread this message into the world.  So, it's important to think about it in terms of food, in terms of what we consume, and what we need to "take in" to make us healthy, and to address what ails us.  This is spiritual food.  But lest we be tempted to think that because something is "spiritual" that makes it non-substantial, we might consider what it means to build up a life from what we consume based on this notion that the gospel itself -- Christ's message -- is something we take in.  It is something from which we feed ourselves.  It is a substance that feeds us with new concepts, inspiration, and ideas about what kind of a world we want to live in and what kind of persons we become in life.  Jesus always asks us to follow His commandments; that is, we are to live out the gospel He preaches, and in so doing, we become the people who carry the Church into the world.  In acting His commandments, and manifesting His teachings, we manifest a kind of shape of the world.  Since the beginnings of the Church, it's also been clear that we are to consider carefully what we "take in," and how we nurture ourselves.  We're to be discerning, to "take heed how we hear" (Luke 8:18).    We should beware of things that feed us with corruption, such as the notion that what we do doesn't really matter, or that going along with the crowd is always the best and safest idea.  Our faith teaches us anything but that -- which should be clearly obvious to anyone reading this passage.  We consider here that the apostles are sent out into what would soon be a very hostile world, with Christ's teachings on humility to guide them.  It is important to know that they were disciples before they were apostles, because our discipleship becomes exceptionally important as we are called to become what Christ wants in the world.  It takes discipline to know what humility asks of us.  It takes discipline to remember Christ's commandments and to live them to our best capacity to do so.  It takes discipline to know our gospel message, and to apply it in all kinds of circumstances, and especially to those for which experience hasn't prepared us.  The world moves forward with all kinds of ideas and "food" of its own that would suggest our faith is not the stuff it needs or seeks.  It takes discipline and insight to understand the fallacies and half-truths behind such ideas.  Part of our job as disciples is to learn to discern such things, and to cling to what we know in faith.  It takes discipline to learn how to properly love one another (Christ's "new commandment"), an idea that asks us for constant growth.  Some will find ways to tell us that the spiritual life doesn't even exist.  But that is a way to strip out from the world the food it truly needs in order to build up what is good for human beings, and a foundation for what we want our world to reflect.  Essentially, how we live and the quality of our lives, the standards of our world and communities, all depend upon the things with which we feed ourselves.  Let us not be fooled into giving up what is most precious, and cling more dearly to this gift "for the life of the world."