“What if?” is such a powerful pair of words. It can be so crushing. What if I lose my job? What if she/he never loves me? What if I don’t get into that class? What if I fail? Two words that can ruin a day. But that’s not all they are. “What if” need not be a bad pair with doom and destruction in their wake. What if has the power to make our lives beautiful. They are words that can lead us to dream and plan a new vision.
In this Gospel, Jesus refers to Moses and his people eating manna in the desert when they wandered for forty years. God provided this heavenly food to sustain them - after all, other food would spoil and you can’t grow much in the desert anyway! It’s the same for us. In our world we can often plant many seeds that bear no fruit, or find many things we’ve put our hopes in spoil or go rotten. It can feel like a real desert out here.
Every day the world reminds us how small we are; how seemingly insignificant we are and our actions are. But not with Jesus. His coming paved the way for us to reach the many. How? He gave thanks (John 6:11). He had faith that his Father would provide. He knew that his humble actions would reach the hearts of the 5000 and beyond.
This gospel feels at first like a lesson in good self-care, because the disciples are so flat out they’re not eating properly and Jesus, the wise leader that he is, steps in and takes them away for a break. But when Jesus sees the lost, hurting, confused, broken and tired crowd who beat him and the disciples to their getaway, he can’t help but look after them.
At the end of every Mass, I am challenged by the invitation from the celebrant. "Go and proclaim the Word of the Lord!" How often do I actively proclaim the Word straight from the Gospel? Sure, I live a Catholic life and love speaking about the faith when I can, but it's hard to specifically proclaim the Word!
The people in Jesus’ hometown were comfortable too. So set in their ways, that Jesus could do no work there. Nothing! Jesus couldn’t perform miracles because the people in the town wouldn’t let him! They did not believe he was who he said he was, they sneered at his radical ideas and slumped back into their status quo sofa, and were not changed.
It was the woman’s faith that saved her, she knew and had the faith to believe that if she could just touch his cloak, she would be healed. It was the father’s faith that Jesus could raise his daughter from the dead that allowed the power of God to manifest in that time and in those places. And it’s the same with us today. When we let our faith be strong and we have even a small amount of faith God can do so many things in our lives.
