Cooperate with God’s providence

FROM A READING FOR JULY 29, 17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
‘I...beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another
in love...” — Eph 4:1-2

With Sunday’s Gospel (John 6:1-15), the Church initiates us into an extended meditation on chapter 6 of John’s Gospel.

The Gospel readings for the next several weeks will come from this great teaching of Jesus, which contains the Eucharist and what we mean when we say “Amen” to the Body and Blood of Christ. It is not a symbol; it is His real presence under the appearances of bread and wine.

How we come to that belief is unfolded in John 6. In Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the beginning of the chapter and are invited to reflect upon God’s providence and how He provides for our needs.

The first reading (2 Kgs 4:42-44) lays the groundwork for understanding this. Elisha, a prophet of the Lord, miraculously feeds 100 men after being offered some loaves. He simply commands that the loaves be distributed; he states that God has declared that they will eat and have some left over. It happens just that way. Through God’s power and Elisha’s word, the miracle occurs.

This foreshadows what happens in the Gospel. Jesus also performs a miraculous feeding, but the details are different. The crowd is much larger (5,000 instead of 100); the initial offering is much smaller (five loaves and two fish instead of 20 loaves and more grain).

Participation, please

Jesus is able to perform the miracle, but look at how the Gospel emphasizes human mediation and our role in cooperating with God’s providence: first, Jesus notices the problem and points it out to Philip (“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”). Philip, in essence, says they can’t. At that point, Andrew brings forward a boy with a meager offering of five loaves and two fish, but it seems impossible that this will do any good.

Notice that Jesus does not act to feed the crowd until the disciples have participated in the solution by bringing Him what they have. God allows us and expects us to cooperate in providence. We are told not to be overly anxious about our needs, but we are never told to just sit back, open our mouths and do nothing.

Our offering, like the little boy’s, may be infinitely small, but the point is the willingness to bring what we have and let God’s largesse take over.

Jesus takes the boy’s offering, through the hands of the disciples, gives thanks and gives it back to the disciples to distribute it. Notice how this gift, which foreshadows the Eucharist, is handed out through the Apostles, just like the Eucharist is given out through bishops and priests.

Keep on giving

The whole crowd is filled to satisfaction and there are 12 baskets left over. Jesus has the disciples collect the fragments so that nothing is wasted: in other words, once you have what you need, gather the extra so that nothing is lost.

God’s gifts are not meant to be discarded, but cared for; we ought not waste what God provides for us.

Just as God provides for our needs on a material level, so He provides for us on a spiritual level. What is a possible response to God’s lavish giving? Paul answers that question in the second reading (Eph 4:1-6): Live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received.

Paul spells out what that means: Bear with one another through love; strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit.

God is over all, through all, and in all; look for His providence everywhere. Respond, cooperate and be nourished by Him.