The Gospel reading must be intepreted from the perspective of a 1st Century Jew and what they knew and believed.
12 loaves of bread were kept in the temple, in the Holy Place outside of the Holy of Holies. These loaves were baked fresh weekly and the old loaves were replaced with new loaves. When the new loaves were placed on the golden table, the priests ministering to the temple were then able to eat the old loaves. We know this from Leviticus 24.
*** “And you shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the table of pure gold. And you shall put pure frankincense with each row, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion to be offered by fire to the LORD. Every sabbath day Aaron shall set it in order before the LORD continually on behalf of the people of Israel as a covenant for ever.** And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the offerings by fire to the LORD, a perpetual due.” (Leviticus 24:5-9)*
Notice that the Bread of the Presence of God was a
perpetual offering. What is little known about the Bread of the Presence of God is that a piece of it satisfied anyone who ate it. The Babylonian Talmud, a commentary written by Jewish Rabbis from the 4th century BC to the 2nd century AD, contains the following:
During the whole period that Simon the Righteous ministered as High Priest, a blessing was bestowed upon the omer, the two breads, and the Bread of the presence, so that every priest, who obtained a piece as big as an olive, ate it and became satisfied with some eating thereof and even leaving something over. (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 39a)
This should immediately bring to mind the feeding of the 5000 in the wilderness
**They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over --twelve wicker baskets full. **(Matthew 14:20)
1st Century Jews who were there would have immediately known what was going on. The bread in the Temple became holy and satisfied those who ate a small piece of it because it was placed in God’s presence. Before it was placed in front of the Holy of Holies in the temple, it was ordinary bread. After being in the presence of God, it became the “Bread of God’s Presence.” The five loaves at the feeding of the five thousand was ordinary bread which became holy and satisfied all who ate (with some left over) in Jesus presence and at his word. It was Jesus who gave them the bread.
If God’s presence can make bread holy and satisfying, and Jesus can give the same type of bread, what does that say about God and Jesus? Sorry Jehovah’s Witnesses.
You can rewrite the Bible and you can tell Catholics that its not what it really says, but you can’t rewrite history. It’s right there. Jesus is God :bowdown2:
(Jesus) said to them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves." (Matthew 14:16)
I love this passage. Jesus isn’t just being sarcastic. Far from it. It is a command. Jesus tells the disciples that they are to feed the 5000.
…and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. (Matthew 14:19)
Jesus enables the disciples to fulfill the command that they are to feed the crowd. Notice how he gives the bread to his disciples who in turn feed the crowd.
The gospel reading today is sublime. It speaks of the divinity of Christ and how church is to feed the crowds with miraculous “Bread of the Presence of God”. I was happy to have the priest at Mass today teach about how we are to be reverent when we receive the Eucharist because it is actually Jesus’ presence - the Bread of the Presence of God.
-Tim-
