A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint John. Jesus crossed. Of course, it now we've we're back in the biography of Jesus, the history of his life. So Jesus crossed the Sea Of Galilee to the shore of Tiberias. That's the Eastern shore.
A fast crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was performing for the sick. Now the crowds, of course, had to go around through this around the land, around the northern shore of the lake. Anyway, this the text says it was a vast crowd, and they were following Jesus. Why? Because they saw the signs that he was performing for the sick, and everybody wants to have health, you know.
Jesus then went up to the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. And when Jesus looked up and saw the vast crowd coming toward him, he He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat? He knew well enough what he intended to do, but he asked this to test Philip's response. Well, Philip replied, not even with two hundred days wages could we buy enough bread to give each one of these people even a mouthful.
One of Jesus' disciples, Andrew Simon, Peter's brother, remarked to him, there's a boy here who has five barley loaves and a couple of dried fish. But what's good is that with so many people? Jesus said, get the people to sit down. Even though the men numbered about 5,000, there was plenty of grass for them to find a place on the ground. Jesus then took the loaves of bread, gave thanks, passed them around to those reclining on the ground.
And he did the same thing with the dried fish as much as they wanted. And when everybody had had enough to eat, he said to the disciples, gather up the crusts that are left over so that nothing go to waste. At this, the disciples gathered up 12 baskets full of pieces left over by those who had been fed with the five barley loaves and the few fish. When the people saw the sign that Jesus had performed, namely feeding them, They began to say, this is undoubtedly the prophet who is to come into the world. At that, Jesus realized that they would come and that they would carry him off and that they would make him king.
So he fled back to the mountain alone. And this is the gospel of the lord. Praise to you, lord Jesus Christ. The name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen.
And it is pretty dramatic, isn't it? And, of course, you know why they wanted to make them king make him king. They wanted to eat for free. Everybody likes a free meal. I wanna go back to the first reading this morning.
It's the continuation of the troubles that the early disciples had, and notice they had trouble with the sanatorium. Because they were still members of the synagogue or of the temple, they were still practicing Jews. Now they're hailed before the sanitary. Once again, remember, there's one reasonable, sensible voice raised. And he tells them, look, if these fellows are just another phenomenon, and we've had others, he says.
And he and then he recalls a couple instances of where they had a pop some kind of a popular figure getting a big following, and then dying or being killed or something like that, and then the thing just peters out. Nothing happens. So he says, look. See, he's talking to the sanity. Sanity.
These are the religious leaders of the people. These are the men who lived their lives, and in many ways they did it. Don't ever forget that. Their lives were surrounded with literally thousands of tiny little details, which kept them in a groove of external service to God. Keep that in mind, and these weren't a bunch of thugs.
Now these were God fearing men, and they were so god fearing that they were jealous of their god and held it within their power to preserve god's dignity and honor and worship and all of that. And here you had a few of these nondescript characters coming from someplace up there in the North and causing this trouble, this disturbance in the temple. Something had to be done in the name of God. Something had to be done. And since we are God's representatives, we'll do it.
Off with their heads. See, it's that simple. But you you see the back see that thinking back there. And in many ways, the thinking was right. But here's a lone voice that is raised.
It says, look. Take it easy fell fellows. Take it easy. Just supposing this is the work of the lord. How about that?
Well, now if it is and you can't decide that. If it's the work of the lord, it will succeed in spite of you. If it's not the work of the lord, it'll fail. And just look at these instances. And he gives them the instances, and they're convinced somewhat somewhat.
But so all they do is is to have the, disciples whipped a bit, beaten up a bit, and said, get out of here, and don't use that man's name. Don't speak that name in this temple. This is God's temple, and you are usurping it. It's blasphemy. See, notice that.
I've just been reading a book by a Jewish woman. It was given to me. I have no idea who she is really, but she's she no, she's not practicing Jewish at all at all. But, she looks upon Christians as having destroyed God by the worship of this upstart called the sun. That's the book that was just published this year.
So so these good men are trying to defend God's honor, worship, right. They are trying to preserve the people from being guilty of blasphemy. They are trying to safeguard the worship of God. See, aren't these good things? And so that's the attitude they take.
Now, this has always struck me as extremely applicable in our daily lives, extremely so. You know, every man every single mass we say, in a very solemn part of the mass, we beg God to be freed of sin and anxiety. And the the Latin word in the text is just as good as the English. It means anxiety. Now notice, anxiety doesn't mean that you're not mean, that we When you say to be freed of anxiety, that doesn't mean you don't plan.
It doesn't mean that you don't look into the future. It doesn't mean that you don't take precautions. It doesn't mean that you don't use your intelligence to use means to goals and to ends. It doesn't mean any of those things. Anxiety means that you're worried, that you're afraid.
And that, of course, amounts to lack of confidence in God, doesn't it? And that's what we're praying to be freed of, anxiety. Now, these good men were anxious about the worship of God, so they felt they had to do something about it, and they acted as if they were in control. They act as if they were behind the in the driver's seat. They act as if the whole world and God's whole kingdom rested upon their poor fragile shoulders.
I called them fragile, course, they thought they were pretty strong. But here's this voice says, look, cool it. Cool it. It. After all, God is God.
He's running this show, I'm not. If he wants something done, it's going to be accomplished, whatever I do. The only difference about achieving the goal is what it does to me. It's not going to affect God or God's plans for the universe. That's for sure.
Now how you how you I know some of you are immediately thinking, how do you how do you mesh this in with free will? That's another problem, and a big one. I I'm the first one to admit that. But let's not face that one this morning. The thing is is this is God's universe.
He's running the show. And if he wants my life to be in a certain way, it'll be that way. I have my contract and Cardinal Newman has dealt with this, and he's dealt with it as only he could deal with it. That we are aware, or we should be aware that we have a work to do. We think we know what it is in some instances.
Sometimes we're not sure what it is. We call it vocation, and we all have that. All of us. You were called when you were baptized. Now the question is whether you will achieve it.
Now just the other morning, I I brought in two things. I said, what's the second question of that old catechism? Why did God make you? And I said, if you wanted if you wanna judge any economic system, it's very simple. How does this help me to salvation?
If salvation is my ultimate goal? And so, we have the same thing here. We are anxious about many things. We are all Martha's. And let me tell you, we have to be Martha's.
We have to be Martha's. It was Martha who put the food on the table, Mary didn't. So we can't escape it. There's no merit in saying I'm not going to be a Martha, I'm going to be a Mary. The point is you have to eat.
We in other words, we have obligations. We have responsibilities. I have a life to lead, and as Newman said, I have a work to do. And if I don't do it, it'll never be done. This is true.
But on the other hand, I don't do it alone. Without me, our lord said, you can do nothing. Nothing. So keep this in mind. You put your shoulder behind the wheel.
You do what you can. You make your plans, but you know that you are in a partnership. Never forget it. Never forget it. And you have one only in the last no, I say last analysis.
I'm not talking about the immediate, the proximate. Ultimately, Ultimately, you have only one question to answer in any situation. Does this further my salvation, or does it detract from it? It's that simple. And if you say it does it it detracts, then you don't want any parts of it.
But you see, sometimes we can't make that judgment. We don't see enough. We don't understand enough. And so then's when we rely on our partnership. Then we then we realize, look, I'm not doing this alone.
Let me get my thinking straight. I do what I can. But when I've done everything I can, have to say, lord, not my will, but you are thine, yours be done. After all, you are God, and you do know a little more than I do. And if I wanna be saved, remember, you want me to be saved with all the love that God has for me.
Think about that. In the name of the father, and the son, and holy spirit, amen.