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The bread that came down from heaven
Traditionally, this miracle played an important role in announcing the Eucharistic meal that Jesus would institute with the apostles on the evening of the Last Supper. The day after the miracle, Jesus explained to the crowds that the true bread that had come down from heaven was himself (see John 6:22-59 The bread that came down from heaven). Already, during the temptation in the desert, he had announced that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).
But the theme of multiplication is also important for understanding the parables of the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 13 The Parables of the Kingdom), when Jesus says that the seeds that fell on good soil bore fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, one thirty (Matthew 13:8). Indeed, what God blesses multiplies. Wherever it is said that God blesses, that which is blessed multiplies. For when God utters a word, it’s to share, to spread his own good.
To share his joy and love, to offer it to the world. This means offering one’s own divine life, for God is love, and this love is relationship, an eternal, Trinitarian relationship, that is, a marvelous exchange between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In order to let us participate in this marvelous exchange that fills us with joy, the Son, who is the Word of God, associates us with him, offers us his life, his spirit. He comes to dwell in us, and his spirit itself dwells in us, the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son. This spirit is what links the Father and the Son, it is their love, love is spirit, God is spirit. To enter into God’s love, to share in his life and joy, is to love as he loves us, and therefore to love all our brothers and sisters as he loves them. It means discovering his love for all of us, for ourselves and for others, and in turn becoming capable of loving them as the Father who gives them life loves them. “Now we see through a mirror, in riddles, then, on the other hand face to face; now I know from the part, then, on the other hand, I will know by setting my gaze (epignōsomai) as also I have been known [epignōstēn known by the gaze that sets on me] (1 Corinthians 13:12). And also the apostle John reveals to us, “Beloved, now we are sons of God and what we will be has not yet been manifested. We know that if he is manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2).
In the heart and love of God there is room for all. To enter the kingdom of God is to enter into the fullness of his love. This love unites his creatures with him, who is the source of it, and unites the among themselves, in order to become one, like members of the same body, in harmony and complementarity, rejoicing in each other’s beauty. Christ is the head who gives life to the body through his spirit. This spirit is the life transmitted by the Father, and the Spirit unites the Father with his creatures like a mother with her children, for God carries his children within himself (see Ruach – The spirit of God is feminine). The whole world is in God and subsists through him, animated by his spirit that infuses it with life and unites it to him in the filial relationship offered to us by his son, who makes us members of his body. It is through the miracle of the Eucharistic meal that mankind is nourished by the life of the Son of God, bread sent down from heaven (see the articles Eucharistic meal and The bread that came down from heaven). We are thus invited to a meal that is a wedding feast, in which the bridegroom is Christ and the bride is humanity. The union of God and humanity is celebrated in this wedding. All human beings are invited to the meal (see Luke 14:15-24 Those invited to the Meal).
That’s why the apostles who bring the bread that came down from heaven to mankind will have more and more to distribute: twelve baskets full of extra pieces, one for each apostle who will be able to distribute more to others. Indeed, “in my Father’s house are many dwelling places”, says Jesus (John 4:2), and he never ceases to invite people to enter the Father’s dwelling place, his kingdom, his feast. It’s up to us to accept this invitation and enter right now, not after death, but right now. It’s a question of seeking the kingdom, that is, full communion with God and with our brothers and sisters. Acknowledging one’s faults and seeking reconciliation with all. If God’s grace multiplies everything he blesses, it’s because he expands each person’s heart so that it can welcome as brothers and sisters all creatures, men and women from all over the world, and the whole of creation as a precious gift from God. Through God’s blessing, human hearts never cease to grow, opening their arms to welcome even more brothers and sisters, down to the very last. God’s invitation is on a global scale. The word ekklesía, church in Greek, comes from the verb kaléō, to call. All God’s children are called, invited to take part in the wedding feast, and through baptism, God charges them to spread his call, to bear witness to his love for all his creatures. His blessing, which multiplies, manifests his action in the human spirit, which expands to welcome new creatures as brothers and sisters. This welcome to the dimensions of the world implies, of course, opening our arms and offering our cheeks to those who have offended us, in order to bear fruit a hundredfold and to share, from this very life, in the fullness of the kingdom, where God’s love is in all.
So here are the apostles, charged with bringing heavenly food to the world. First, they will bring baptism, by which the human being is purified and sanctified. Not only are faults erased, God takes no account of them, but through this gesture of filial trust, the gesture of the child who returns to the father, the creature enters into the filial relationship and the Father’s love fills him, fills him with joy. This is the gift of his spirit, through which the human being enters eternal life, that is, the eternal filial relationship with God and brotherhood with the multitude of his creatures.
John 6:1-15 (parallels in Matthew 14:13-21 and 15:32-38; Mark 6:30-42 and 8:1-9; Luke 9:10-17)
1 Μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπῆλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς Γαλιλαίας τῆς Τιβεριάδος.
1 After these things Jesus went away across the Sea of Galilee to Tiberias.
2 ἠκολούθει δὲ αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς, ὅτι ἑώρων τὰ σημεῖα ἃ ἐποίει ἐπὶ τῶν ἀσθενούντων.
2 A large crowd followed him, because they had seen the signs he did on the sick ones.
3 ἀνῆλθεν δὲ εἰς τὸ ὄρος Ἰησοῦς, καὶ ἐκεῖ ἐκάθητο μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ.
3 Jesus went up to the mountain and there sat with his disciples.
4 ἦν δὲ ἐγγὺς τὸ πάσχα, ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων.
4 Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
5 ἐπάρας οὖν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ θεασάμενος ὅτι πολὺς ὄχλος ἔρχεται πρὸς αὐτὸν, λέγει πρὸς Φίλιππον Πόθεν ἀγοράσωμεν ἄρτους ἵνα φάγωσιν οὗτοι;
5 So when Jesus looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these may eat?”
6 τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν πειράζων αὐτόν- αὐτὸς γὰρ ᾔδει τί ἔμελεν ποιεῖν.
6 He said this to test him: for he himself knew what he was about to do.
7 ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὁ Φίλιππος Διακοσίων δηναρίων ἄρτοι οὐκ ἀρκοῦσιν αὐτοῖς, ἵνα ἕκαστος βραχύ τι λάβῃ.
7 Philip answered him, “The breads of two hundred denarii are not enough for them for everyone to take a little.
8 λέγει αὐτῷ εἷς ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, Ἀνδρέας ὁ ἀδελφὸς Σίμωνος Πέτρου
8 One of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, said to him:
9 Ἔστιν παιδάριον ὧδε ὃς ἔχει πέντε ἄρτους κριθίνους καὶ δύο ὀψάρια- ἀλλὰ ταῦτα τί ἐστιν εἰς τοσούτους;
9 “There is a young man here who has five barley breads and two small fish: but what is this for such a number?”
10 εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ποιήσατε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀναπεσεῖν. ἦν δὲ χόρτος πολὺς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ. ἀνέπεσαν οὖν οἱ ἄνδρες τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὡς πεντακισχίλιοι.
10 Jesus said to him, “Make the men lie down. There was indeed much hay in that place. The men, therefore, lay down in number of about five thousand.
11 ἔλαβεν οὖν τοὺς ἄρτους ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εὐχαριστήσας διέδωκεν τοῖς ἀνακειμένοις, ὁμοίως καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀψαρίων ὅσον ἤθελον.
11 Jesus therefore took the loaves and having given thanks, distributed them to those who were lying down and likewise with the little fish as much as they wanted.
12 ὡς δὲ ἐνεπλήσθησαν, λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ Συναγάγετε τὰ περισσεύσαντα κλάσματα, ἵνα μή τι ἀπόληται.
12 When they had been filled, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the pieces that were left over, so that nothing is lost.”
13 συνήγαγον οὖν, καὶ ἐγέμισαν δώδεκα κοφίνους κλασμάτων ἐκ τῶν πέντε ἄρτων τῶν κριθίνων ἃ ἐπερίσσευσαν τοῖς βεβρωκόσιν.
13 They gathered, therefore, and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley breads that were advanced to those who had eaten.
14 Οἱ οὖν ἄνθρωποι ἰδόντες ὃ ἐποίησεν σημεῖον ἔλεγον ὅτι Οὗτός ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ὁ προφήτης ὁ ἐρχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
14 The men, therefore, having seen the sign which he did, said, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.”
15 Ἰησοῦς οὖν γνοὺς ὅτι μέλλουσιν ἔρχεσθαι καὶ ἁρπάζειν αὐτὸν ἵνα ποιήσωσιν βασιλέα, ἀνεχώρησεν πάλιν εἰς τὸ ὄρος αὐτὸς μόνος.
15 Jesus, therefore, when he knew that they were about to come and take him to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain, he alone.