Come to the Water: Reflections on the Readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

If you haven’t already read the readings you can find them here.

Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 145
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21

The richness and the love of God are basic parts of our Catholic faith. As we have read the past several weeks in the gospels, Jesus began many of His parables with, “the kingdom of heaven is like ...” This leads to a royal feast, living water, the love of God through Christ, and the Eucharist which are all related in today’s readings. The word of God is what feeds us and sustains us, not only in our spiritual lives but also in the day-to-day challenges of life itself.

The first reading is from one of the more frequently quoted chapters of Isaiah, especially because of its prophetic nature, pointing toward Jesus. We read another part of it just a few weeks ago, talking about the Word from God’s mouth “achieving the end for which I [God] sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) Today the selection calls us to come to the water. Recall Jesus and His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus offers her living water, something only God can provide. Here the prophet is telling us that God does not want us to waste our time and effort on things that do not satisfy (such as false idols). Jesus tells the Samaritan woman the same thing.  “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

As other parts of this chapter of Isaiah point to Jesus, the prophet in verse 6 tells us to “seek the Lord while He may be found.” Another important part of this chapter (verses 8 & 9) reminds us, as Dr. Peter Kreeft notes, “God has to keep reminding us of the two most obvious truths in the world: that we are not Him, and that He is not us.” (Food for the Soul, Cycle C)

When the apostles ask Jesus to teach them to pray He notes that the Father knows our needs before we ask. Here the words of the psalmist reflect that sentiment. “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” We hear that the Lord is compassionate, just and holy “to all who call upon Him in truth.” Most importantly we learn that “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.” This is of great benefit to us as St. Peter tells us, “The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) As we heard in the parable of the wheat and weeds last week, God will wait until the harvest and then separate out the wicked from the good.

With the second reading we continue going through St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. In this selection Paul brings up the topic of suffering. In the verse not read (36) he brings up the question asked in Psalm 44 about why the righteous must suffer. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (ICSB) explains: “For Paul, this is the cry of the believer who lives faithfully in Christ but who bears with Christ the curses of suffering and death that weigh upon the world (Gen. 3:17-19; Gal 3:13). As a result, we are not crushed by suffering; rather, we conquer through it in a redemptive way (Rom 8:37; Acts 12:22).” Thus suffering and the forces that might attack us are not a separation or denial of God’s love but actually unite us with it through Jesus.

In moving to the gospel we come to feeding of the five thousand, also referred to as the “Loaves and Fishes” event. This event is recorded in all four gospels and clearly points to the Eucharist. Again from the ICSB, “Matthew reinforces [this] by using the same series of verbs (taking ... blessing ... gave) here (14:19) and at the Last Supper (26:26; Mk 14:22).”

In chapter six of John’s gospel, the connection is further emphasized in that, the day after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus goes into the Bread of Life discourse. We also see Jesus following the same formula He used at the Last Supper as well as to the two disciples on Resurrection Day in Emmaus: “he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples,” who then fed the crowd. Similarly, today the priest at Mass does the same thing using the words of consecration at the Last Supper and then distributes the Body of Christ to His followers.

There are some who have tried to basically deny the miracle of this event by claiming that, once Jesus had them recline, the people suddenly pulled out this abundance of food and shared it among themselves. However, a careful reading of what took place, according to the gospel writers, at least two of which were eyewitnesses, shows this to be a specious and deceptive argument.

In all accounts, after Jesus said the blessing and broke the bread, he then gave the food to the apostles to distribute. In John’s gospel we also read that “When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.’” (John 6:14) Similarly, as John describes the crowd following Jesus the next day, their dialogue initially revolves around Jesus having provided them with bread. If the crowd had eaten of their own food, they would not have followed to see what other miracles He might enact, nor would they have challenged Him on their ancestors’ receiving manna in the desert.

Today we live in the desert of the secular world. But we have hope, hope because we have the Bread of Life. And, if we recognize this, like the Jews in John’s gospel, we will ask, “Sir, give us this bread always.” (John 6:34) This is what it means to go to Mass. It is not an obligation, it is an opportunity, an opportunity to receive the Bread of Life, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. So much of the New Testament points to this and yet there are those who would deny the real presence, call it merely a symbol, or take it for granted.

I had a friend come up to me recently and thank me profusely for my helping him become a Eucharistic Minister. We talked briefly of the joy we could see in the eyes of many (sadly not all) who came to receive and the magnitude of the grace we have by being able to physically give Jesus to others. Ask yourself, how do you see Jesus in the Eucharist.