Gospel: John 6: 1-15
Recall just a few weeks ago Jesus stood before Pilate, and Pilate asked: "You are a king, then." Jesus replied: "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world my followers would be rising up to rescue me. But as it is my kingdom is not here." Today in this miracle of the multiplication of loaves the people want to make him king, and Jesus runs away - alone - to a mountain to escape this fate.
Recall too that after God fed Israel in the desert with manna, the people established a nation, and over time the people wanted a king to rule over them like other nations. God did not want this, knowing that the people would no longer regard God as king. And so it happened; the kings of Israel lead the people away time and again.
No matter how many times Jesus insists that his kingdom is not of this earth, no matter how many times Jesus runs away when people rush to make him a king, his followers throughout history have made him a political king for their own purposes and designs: Jesus is made into a Barabbas for crusaders, inquisitors, devotees of monarchies and political parties and movements of our own times. Jesus is scourged beyond recognition each and every time. But each time Jesus rises again, overcoming our misrepresentations to shine ever anew in our world as a beacon of hope and love for all. For Jesus will be found in the fellowship of the meal shared together, not in the palaces of the powerful.
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