How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?

 

 In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

 

- Mark 8:1–10 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples went to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon.  And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.  The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."  Then He said to her, "For this saying to your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."  And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.  Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.  Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.  And he took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.  Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed,  and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."  Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.  Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.  And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well.  He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

 

 In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.  Here is a second feeding of the multitude, which should not be confused with the first (see this reading from Tuesday).   These are two distinct miracles, which Jesus affirms later (Mark 8:19-20).  My study Bible cites the variance in the number of loaves as significant.  In the first instance (see Tuesday's reading), there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law.  Here, however, there are seven loaves.  Seven is a number that symbolizes completeness.  Here, my study Bible says, it indicates spiritual perfection.  So, therefore, in the first feeding in the wilderness, Christ reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law, but here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  My study Bible asks us to note also that these crowds had been with Christ for three days, the same number of days Christ would rest in the tomb.  It says that participation in Christ's perfection can only come through being united to His death (see Romans 6:3-5).  

 

Why two feedings in the wilderness?  As my study Bible pointed out, the differences are important, and distinguish the two from one another.  We do know that the prior event in St. Mark's Gospel is the casting out of a demon from the daughter of a Gentile, a Syro-Phoenician woman, who continued to make this request of Christ although at first He refused (see yesterday's reading, above).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus interestingly spoke of food and feeding, as a way to refer to His ministry and what He offers.  In a reference to "the children" of Israel, He said, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."   For this answer, Jesus healed her daughter.  As St. Mark's Gospel then immediately takes us to the feeding of the four thousand, with its images of fullness and perfection, we might assume this is a kind of symbolic reference to the Christ's message being carried to the Gentiles.  We see in this second feeding a kind of expansion and evolution of Christ's ministry, just as the early Church itself would continue to expand.  Feeding is also, of course, symbolic of the Eucharist, in which Christ Himself becomes our food.  The four thousand would seem to symbolize an expansion of notions of the number four; these would include the Cross with its four arms, the four points on the compass symbolizing the world, and perhaps God the Trinity and humankind.  Again, the symbolic understanding here is of Christ and the world, not only the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24).  In St. John's Gospel, Jesus says, "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:33), and, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).  Perhaps the key to the fullness and perfection symbolized in today's reading is here, in the bread of God given for the life of the whole world, meaning all of the created order, the cosmos.  St. Paul writes, "Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28).  "All in all" begins with a few disciples, but continues to expand, with no discernible limit in terms of the creation itself.  Let us be grateful for this food which we receive from Him for the life of the world.  When we find ourselves in the wilderness, so to speak, we should remember this ever-expansive, creative gift.  For it is given to us freely, and it is the gift of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, "See here!" or "See there!" For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you

 

Christ Pantocrator (Almighty) icon, 6th century.  St. Catherine's monastery, Sinai, Egypt

 

 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  

 

Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!'  Do not go after them or follow them.  For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.  But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

 

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:  They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.  

 

"In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away.  And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.  Remember Lot's wife.  Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.  I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:  the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together:  the one will be taken and the other left.  Two men will be in the field:  the one will be taken and the other left.  And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?"  So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

 

- Luke 17:20–37 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."  And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?  But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well."

 

 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."    My study Bible explains that the kingdom of God is a spiritual reality present within the Christian believer and within the community of the Church.  Within you can also be translated "among you" or "in your midst."  The varied shades of meaning in the words of the Gospel are important; they are to be held and considered at the same time.  

Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!'  Do not go after them or follow them.  For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.  But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation."    The coming of Christ will not be something that is hidden, or divulged only to a few.  It will be as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven; that is, it will be known to all immediately.  But first Christ's Passion must take place, His suffering and rejection on the Cross.

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:  They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."  My study Bible comments on this passage that the warning not to be preoccupied with worldly matters applies both to believers and to parishes. 

 

 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away.  And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.  Remember Lot's wife.  Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.  I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:  the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together:  the one will be taken and the other left.  Two men will be in the field:  the one will be taken and the other left."  My study Bible notes that Christ's second coming will entail a sudden revelation of judgment.  It says that one will be taken to heaven and the other left for eternal condemnation.  The separation of the saints from the wicked will happen on "the day when the Son of Man is revealed" and not, as some speculate today, at an event that occurs before His return. 

 

And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?"  So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."  My study Bible says that the body refers to Christ, while the eagles refer to the angels and the saints.  

 

Today's reading begins with the theme of the kingdom of God, with the Pharisees asking when it would come.  Christ's gospel has been the gospel of the Kingdom, His preaching saying that the kingdom of God has come near.   But the nature of this Kingdom is significant, and Jesus teaches the Pharisees that it is within (or among) people.  Note that this works on both a communal and individual level.  But then Jesus takes that question to a new perspective when He addresses the disciples, and begins to speak about what we call "end times."  This is important, in that it is at that time that the fullness of the Kingdom, even the fullness of the present age, occurs.  That time, that fulfillment of the present age, comes when Christ returns, at His Second Coming, and in that time -- importantly -- will also occur a sudden revelation of judgment, in the words of my study Bible.  It is for that sudden revelation that He wants us, His disciples, to be prepared at all times.  From the picture Christ gives of the fullness of this time, it is understood that we are in "end times" now; this is the era initiated by the Incarnation.  As we await Christ's return -- even in that sudden sense which He describes as a flash of lightning which shines from one end of the sky to the other -- we await the fullness of this age of the "end times."   This happens at the return of the Son of Man, and that is truly when His authority will be clear to all.   It is most telling that He says then, "But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation."  For what this does is set the Cross at the very center of the history of the world, in between all that has come before, and all that will come until this fullness of the end, when judgment will be revealed and life in this world as we know it will shift absolutely to a different type of life altogether.  The way that Jesus adds this assertion is not only to warn the disciples about the shocking events to come, but to place the Cross fully at the center of everything.  It tells us how absolutely necessary Christ's Cross -- His Passion, death, and Resurrection -- is to all the fullness of time and of life in this world.  Also, it tells of the necessity of these events for judgment, for without them He will not be given the fullness of the throne which is His.  In Greek, this position on His throne in the Kingdom is that of the Pantocrator, the "Almighty."  (See the icon above, and the two sides of Christ's face, reflecting His human life and divine.)  And the Cross is also at the very center of that identity, the requirement that in His obedience to the Father, Jesus, our Lord and divine Son, will also experience everything there is of human life, and even human death.  He will be all in all.  In the Creed, we declare that we "look to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come."  Let us understand all that we have been given, the love that drives Christ to the fullness of His Incarnation for us, and the judgment that is to come as He brings to us the Holy Spirit at work in the world until His return.  For the kingdom of God is within us, among us, the Holy Spirit everywhere present and filling all things. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember Lot's wife

 

 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!'  Do not go after them or follow them.  For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.  But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.  

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:  They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.  

 

"In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away.  And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.  Remember Lot's wife.  Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.  

 

"I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:  the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together:  the one will be taken and the other left.  Two men will be in the field:  the one will be taken and the other left."  And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?"  So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

 

- Luke 17:20-37 

 

Yesterday we read that as He went to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."  And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?  But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well."

 

 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; now will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  My study Bible comments that the kingdom of God is a spiritual reality which is present within the Christian believer and within the community of the Church.  Within you, it says, can also be translated "among you" or "in your midst."

 

Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!'  Do not go after them or follow them.  For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.  But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation."   Jesus emphasizes the suddenness and completeness of the day of His return, even as He is warning the disciples of His coming Passion and rejection.

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:  They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."  My study Bible comments that this warning not to be preoccupied with worldly matters applies both to believers and to parishes.  

"In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away.  And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.  Remember Lot's wife.  Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it."  This latter statement is one which we read many times from Christ in various forms.  In teaching about who will enter the Kingdom, He said, "There are last who will be first and first who will be last" (Luke 13:30).  When He taught that each must take up one's own cross, Jesus said, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it" (see Luke 9:23-26 for context).  Here, His teaching reflects this similar idea that our lives must be led by our faith in God, and a willingness to let go of what stands in the way of where our faith would lead us, even to our ideas of who we are or who we must be.  Hence, the example of Lot's wife (see Genesis 19:15-26), which is tied to the judgment of God.

"I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:  the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together:  the one will be taken and the other left.  Two men will be in the field:  the one will be taken and the other left."   My study Bible comments that Christ's second coming will entail a sudden revelation of judgment.  One will be taken to heaven and the other left for eternal condemnation.  The separation of the saints from the wicked will occur on "the day when the Son of Man is revealed" (verse 30, above) and not, as some speculate, at an event that occurs before this return.

And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?"  So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."  My study Bible tells us that the body refers to Christ, while the eagles refer to the angels and the saints.

Christ uses this memorable phrase in today's reading, "Remember Lot's wife" (referring to the story of Lot's wife who looked back, and became a pillar of salt; see Genesis 19:15-26).  According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, "To resist the temptation to look back is what it means to lose your life in order to save it."  There's another phrase to which St. Cyril refers us in commentary on this passage, asking us to remember that Christ also said, "No one that puts his hand to the plough and turns back is fit also for the kingdom of heaven" (Luke 9:62).  St. Cyril comments, "It is our duty to maintain our religious exertions without wavering and to persevere in them with undaunted wills or else we may suffer the kind of fate that befell the woman at Sodom."   St. Cyril was Patriarch of Alexandria in the fifth century (from 412 to 444), a time when the city was at its height and power of influence within the Roman Empire.  He played a decisive role in many controversies of the time, which continue to be studied.  But it seems to me that it is important that we look at his commentary and think about how it applies to us today.  What does it mean to put our hand to the plow, and not to look back?  What are the ways in which we might place our faith and trust in Christ, but then be tempted to turn away, to look back, to see things in our earlier lives which we have discarded in following the path of Christ and wistfully turn to what we left behind?  Some early commentators suggest that what is left behind and looked back upon are possessions we may have given away in the spirit of charity, for example.  Perhaps, in terms of today's phrases and concerns, we might have left a particular element of a "lifestyle" behind us.  Perhaps we seek to be less materialistic than we used to be, or we've changed our goals in life to reflect less of a concern with what everybody is doing, or what everybody else thinks of us, and more of a concern with where God seems to want us to go instead.  It seems to be clear that in the midst of all of this discussion of the end times, of Christ's second coming and sudden judgment, Christ is asking us once again to be prepared to pay the price, but with a deeper sense of conviction than before.  He seems to be suggesting that for every generation and every believer, these questions and challenges will come upon us, but we must be prepared to stay the course, and to remember how important that is, and how much depends upon it for our lives and our salvation.  There's another interesting commentary on this passage by St. Ambrose, in which he points out that Christ says He will return at night:  "I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:  the one will be taken and the other will be left."  St. Ambrose explains this by suggesting that Christ's return will happen "at night" as it will be the time of darkness because of the Antichrist.  We contrast with the various times Jesus refers to His return as "the day."  This is particularly true of Christ's statement, "For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day." The brilliance of this flash of lightning shining out of one part under heaven to the other part is a sign of the illumination which Christ brings, and that He is, in fact, the Light (see John 1:5, 9).   In this perspective, just as John has written that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness but the darkness did not comprehend it, so Christ's return will be the sudden illumination and flashing of that light shining in the darkness for all, at once, and for the fullness of time.  But for now, we must again return to our present circumstances:  where we are, what our own lives are about, where we find our current struggle for faith.  As we once again keep in mind that, at this stage in Luke's Gospel, Christ is now firmly on His way to the Cross, bound toward Jerusalem.  With that understanding, these issues take on even starker juxtaposition.  Christ will be judge of all; He is in fact the Light, that true light that will shine for all -- but for now we may find the darkness at times daunts us and shakes our faith, and so we need to remember and to consider His words.  Whether we are St. Cyril in Alexandria of the fifth century, or St. Ambrose in the smaller and less influential Milan of the fourth, or we find ourselves in our own particular kind of struggle with the darkness we find in our own times and places, let us remember Who is the true light, and Who tells us -- warns us -- to remember Lots' wife, and not to look back but forward, despite the struggle.  Let us remember who we are, and Whose we are.