In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
Today's miracle, the multiplication of the loaves
and fishes, is one of the most significant miracles
that Jesus performs. First of all, it is recorded
in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. John's is a little bit more extensive,
and we'll get to that version of St. John's momentarily.
But St. Matthew situates this miracle within
this context. Jesus had just heard of the execution,
the beheading of John the Baptist. This, of course,
is an end of an era because John is the last
and the greatest of the prophets foretelling
the coming of the Messiah. So that's what's important
about the way Matthew situates this gospel. Secondly,
when I look over a passage, especially if I'm
going to prepare it to share some thoughts with
you, I try and look backwards and see if there's
some kind of Old Testament event that prefigured
this one. And then I also try and look, well,
is there something greater and deeper than a
simple multiplication of loaves and fishes? And
I'm sure that almost all of you have the answer
to both those questions already. This looks backwards
to the father who fed the children, his Hebrew
children, in the wilderness with manna from heaven.
He also, when they were hungry, rained quail
upon them. When they were thirsty, he had Moses
strike a rock so that water in the desert would
come forth from this rock. So God nourished his
people in the Old Testament with bread, and he
nourishes us today, the multitudes in today's
gospel, and he nourishes us today as well, because
he gives us a unique, kind of bread. And St.
John in his presentation of this miracle unpacks
this very clearly for us. Because Jesus tells
the multitude, your fathers ate manna in the
wilderness and they died. But the bread that
I will give you will be for eternal life. And
then one person in the crowd later on blurts
out, blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom
of heaven. Because in the kingdom of heaven,
looking beyond the Eucharist, the Eucharist is
a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven here on
earth. Looking beyond that, we are nourished
by symbolic bread, by God's grace throughout
all eternity. So this is a very important and
reliable and authoritative miracle here because
it shows how God is constantly taking care of
his people, the Hebrew people in the Old Testament
and the Christian people here in this world.
So this miracle looks backward as well as forward.
Momentarily lost my place. Yes, so that we are
nourished in the divine liturgy with Holy Communion.
I think sometimes because of the regularity and
the frequency, sometimes weekly, sometimes more
often. We don't think of the awesomeness of this
event. Jesus told the people when he was giving
his Eucharistic discourse, as it's related in
St. John's Gospel, your fathers ate manna in
the wilderness and they died, but the bread that
I will give will be welling up for eternal life
for them. And this precisely is this Eucharistic
bread, the Holy Communion, that we receive at
each and every divine liturgy. God also nourishes
us with the sacrament, which is the Eucharist,
as well as with the Word. The Word being, of
course, the written Word who becomes incarnate
in Jesus. the living word which came down from
heaven. And we are also nourished by his word
when we read the holy scriptures. As very wonderfully,
Father Nicholas encouraged us last night at Vespers
to read the scriptures daily. If you want the
Orthodox Study Bible or any Bible, anything that
is the word of God. particularly approved Bibles.
And so we nourish, God nourishes us when we read
the Holy Scriptures as well as when we receive
Holy Communion. Jesus is the bread of life. He's
the one who nourishes us, who gives us all the
spiritual nourishment we need in this world.
And the physical nourishment of food is only
a preview of that fulfilling, that fullness of
grace that we will receive in the kingdom of
heaven. So our Lord Jesus Christ, the living
word who came down from heaven, to him be glory
and honor as he nourishes us. forever and ever.
Amen.