When I was a
child, it was always a special treat when I could go to a local
arcade gallery and have some fun playing the games. My trips to the
arcade weren't all that frequent, and I never got that good at any of
the games, but I still had fun when I could go. When I got to the
arcade, I would of course beg my mother for some money so that I
could play. I can't remember how much my mom normally gave me, but
I'm sure I asked for more on occasion. I doubt I was ever successful
at getting more, but I'm sure I asked. Since this arcade didn't take
regular quarters, I needed to take the money to a token machine to
change it into arcade tokens. It was probably 25 cents per token.
So if you put in $5, it would count out 20 tokens. I don't know
where I got this idea from, but I remember being convinced that there
was a secret way to trick the machine into giving you more tokens
than you had paid for. For some reason I thought that if I put the
money in the machine a special way (like at an angle), or if I hit
the machine just right, or perhaps if I didn't touch it at all and
stood back a bit, the machine might make an error in my favor and
give me some extra tokens. I was hoping for some extra play time.
Looking back
I realize now how silly I was. I obviously had no idea how this
machine worked. The machine was designed to only give as many tokens
as had been paid for. I could hold my breath and stand on one leg
with my arms flapping like a bird for all it cared, it wasn't going
to give me extra tokens. But I sure wanted them.
I think we
can all relate to times when we knew that we had received enough of
something, but it would be fun if we had more. I'm not talking about
greed or gluttony where we are obsessed with getting more and more.
I'm talking about those thoughts we have when we think it would be
neat to have a little extra. Like when you are at a restaurant and
you hope for a nice large portion of your favorite food, or you hope
for a little extra ice-cream with your dessert. I love it when I
travel by airplane and I ask for a coke and instead of only giving me
that small glass they give me the whole can! It's a small thing, but
I feel like I won the jackpot!
Our Readings
for today talk about God's loving and giving nature. Not only does
He give us what we need, but He also gives us much more than we
expect. We see this first in the Second Book of Kings with the
prophet Elisha. A man brings twenty barley loaves made from the
first fruits of grain. This is made from the first barley grains
that had been harvested for that season. Farmers would traditionally
give the first fruits of their harvest as a sacrificial gift to God
as a way of giving thanks for a successful harvest. When you think
about it, it is a very humbling gesture, giving back to God what is
truly His. After all, He is the one who gave us the plants and
animals and food to eat. In the same way, the first born son was
often consecrated to God by the parents as a way of acknowledging
that the gift of birth and offspring is from God. This man is giving
these loaves, made from the first fruits, to God by handing them over
to the prophet. God then tells the prophet what to do with the
loaves: “Give it to the people to eat”. We are talking about
giving twenty small loaves (about the size of a dinner roll) to
around a hundred people. Of course the servant objects, pointing out
that this will be impossible. Elisha simply repeats the command and
gives the prophecy, “They shall eat and there shall be some left
over”. And the prophecy comes true.
Now, it is
important for us to understand that the typical Jewish believer of
Jesus' day knew the stories of the Old Testament like the back of
their hand. So when we come to the Gospel for today and hear this
story about an even larger crowd of over five thousand being fed with
an even smaller amount of food of only five loaves and two fish, we
can be assured that the Apostles and all those who were present there
knew the story of Elisha and the barley loaves very well. As the
people watched the miracle of the multiplication unfold before their
eyes they would have noticed the connection with the Old Testament
story very quickly. They would have quickly seen that Jesus was
acting in much the same way as Elisha did hundreds of years before.
We even see at the end of the Gospel that the people got so excited
that they even tried to carry Jesus off to make Him king. They knew
that God was doing something special for them, something well beyond
a simple meal.
This story
begins a section of St. John's Gospel called the “Bread of Life
Discourse”. We will see next week that the people will be so
excited about this miracle that they will follow Him, asking for
another miracle and another meal. Jesus will be explaining for the
next several weeks, that the people are not looking for regular
bread, but the bread that gives eternal life: the Eucharist.
Even with
just this Gospel story alone, we can see that Jesus is doing so much
more than just giving a meal. Elisha is giving more than just a
meal. In both cases, God could have simply given just enough food to
get them to the next town where they could buy their own food. Or He
could have produced just enough for them to be satisfied for that
day. Instead, in both cases, He gives them what they need, plus a
whole lot more. Twelve wicker baskets full of leftovers in the
Gospel. That's a lot more than a couple extra tokens at an arcade.
And that's just on the surface of these stories. Imagine what God
can do for us spiritually, if we just ask.
Jesus gives
Himself to us each and every day, but especially when ever we come to
Him in the Church and in the Eucharist. When we receive Christ we
receive not just what we want or need, but so much more. Let us come
before Christ, ready to receive.
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