17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reflection
Scarcity creates insecurity. Our own human experiences prove that point. Go back to the times you felt very little was left in your pocket or in your food cabinet. Did we not feel insecure and worried that nothing will be left for us? Did we not feel insecure about giving because we felt we need it more than anyone else? Scarcity not only creates insecurity. It can also serve as the seedbed for selfishness.
A different altitude is displayed in our gospel reading for this Sunday. We find many people are hungry. There is very scarce supply of food to feed the hundreds of people who have been following and listening to Jesus and his preaching. Jesus feels compassion for them. He tells his disciples to feed them. But his disciples were so overwhelmed by the multitude of people to be fed. The enormity of their needs was so tremendous. They only saw how little they have. What was available were only two pieces of fish and five loaves of bread. So little for so many. Clearly, the scarcity mentality was at work. But Jesus tells them to give to him the little food that was from the boy and commands his disciples to tell the people to sit on the grass. We are told that Jesus took the two fish and five loaves. He blessed it and broke the little amount of food available and gave it to the hungry multitudes. It echoes the Eucharist. Not only were they satisfied but there were some leftovers even.
On many levels we can bring this gospel lesson in our world, country and personal situation. We see much hunger in the world. Some see it and say there is very little food available so we should reduce the population. Or could it be there is more than enough food but the distribution and sharing are absent? We look at our country and see many have no means of livelihood and opportunities. Many don’t have decent houses to live in, the roads are bad, medicines are so expensive and services are appalling. Or is it because a few are hoarding great amounts of money, wealth and profit for themselves and are stuck in mediocrity and self-serving concerns? And what about the feeling that we have very little to give, a few talents to offer and a lack of time to share? Clear signs of a scarcity mentality.
Clearly, when Jesus said “Give them to me,” referring to the scarce supplies of food that was available, he still needed the two pieces of fish and loaves of bread of the boy to perform a miracle. He needs the little that we think we have so he can make something marvelous and abundant. When we give to Jesus the little time we have, the under-appreciated talent we possess, he turns them into blessings that would benefit many.
Response
Every time we come to celebrate the Eucharist, we are being called to commit our human resources for the benefit of others. He challenges us to make his word the food that will satisfy the deeper needs of our and each others’ hearts. Give to the hands of Jesus the little you think you have. Only then can scarcity mentality be replaced with the attitude of abundance.
