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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:1–3; Romans 8:35, 37–39; Matthew 14:13–21
Jesus withdraws to a deserted place.
He wants to be alone.
John the Baptist has been killed.
Jesus needs silence.
He needs time to grieve, to pray, to rest.
But the crowds follow Him on foot from the towns.
And when Jesus sees them, He does not say:
Not now.
Come tomorrow.
This is my private time.
Do you not see that I am tired?
No.
He sees their need.
And His heart is moved with compassion.
This already tells us something about God.
God is not closed.
God is not too busy.
God does not grow tired of our hunger, our wounds, our need.
As Isaiah says today:
“Come to the water, all you who are thirsty.”
The disciples also see the crowd.
They see the problem.
The place is deserted.
The hour is late.
The people are hungry.
Their solution is simple:
Send them away.
Let them go and buy food for themselves.
There is a kind of compassion that stops at referral.
Let someone else help.
Let another office handle it.
Let the people solve it themselves.
But Jesus says:
“They do not need to go away.
You give them something to eat.”
This is the moment when the Gospel becomes dangerous.
Because Jesus turns need into mission.
He places the hunger of the crowd into the hands of the disciples.
And they have almost nothing:
five loaves,
two fish,
and thousands of hungry people.
But this is how Jesus works.
He does not ask first for what we do not have.
He asks us to bring what we have.
Small resources.
Poor strength.
Limited time.
A tired body.
A hesitant heart.
Then He takes it.
He blesses it.
He breaks it.
He gives it back as food for others.
Was this a miracle of multiplied bread?
Yes.
But perhaps it was also a miracle of opened hearts.
People who were afraid to share began to share.
Hands that were closed began to open.
The little that each one had became enough when placed in the hands of Christ.
There are miracles that heal the body.
And there are miracles that heal selfishness.
The second may be the harder one.
So let us bring Him what we have.
And let us watch what compassion can do when it passes through the hands of Christ.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
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