Gospel: Mark 6: 34-44
“This is a deserted place and it is already very late.
Dismiss them so that they can go
to the surrounding farms and villages
and buy themselves something to eat.”
He said to them in reply,
“Give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?”
This exchange between the disciples and Jesus is worth reflection. We go to Jesus with a problem about hunger in the world. He tells us to feed people ourselves. Our response is to object, saying the price is too high.
This begs the question: what is more important than feeding people that we are not willing to pay this amount? Sadly we provide lots of answers to that question as human beings: weapons of war, sports stadiums, ballrooms. The list is endless. We would rather pray for a miracle to occur in order to feed people rather than feed them ourselves. We never pray for a miracle to construct weapons of war, or sports stadiums, or ballrooms. We always find the money for those things.
Jesus once again reveals himself to us in these days of Epiphany in this exchange. He also reveals something about ourselves. Today is a day for us to reflect upon our priorities as individuals and as communities of people. Rather than pray for a miracle, perhaps today we are called to be the miracle.
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