Sunday, July 31, 2011 - Sermon at Mass

Disclaimer: I am not a biblical scholar nor am I a good Catholic, but neither of that is going to stop me from analyzing a sermon :)

I attended an evening mass Saturday and watched EWTN last night. Both masses talked about the beheading of St. John the Baptist that upset Jesus who went to a quiet place and the feeding of a hungry crowd that followed him. They wanted be with Jesus. It was probably a long day and Jesus knew that they were hungry. Without enough food to feed them, he performed a miracle. He blessed five loaves of bread and two fish then asked his disciples to feed that to a group of 5,000, not counting women and children. When all were fed and full, they had seven baskets of leftovers.

I've always wondered why Jesus could not have saved St. John who baptized him. One of my friends said there could not be two leaders and therefore John the Baptist had to die so that Jesus could take the lead. That kind of makes sense since St. John's job was to baptize people, getting them ready for Jesus. With Jesus around, there was no need for St. John and he was dispensable. The explanation was too logical, too calculating, too economically expedient and a bit cold, so I am going to sugarcoat it by saying that God's plan for John the Baptist was preordained, just as Jesus' death was also preordained. John the Baptist's death was quick in comparison to the suffering of Jesus before and during his crucifixion on the cross.

I always see Jesus as more human than part of the Trinity. I think he went to a quiet place after knowing John the Baptist was beheaded because he wanted to reflect on his own mortality, on God's plan for him which was coming and on his death which was not going to be easy like John's. There was nothing symbolic about him trying to get away from these sinners and ingrates whom he had come to save, who had no idea of the sacrifice he was having to make. Yet he took pity on them. Seeing that they were hungry for his teaching and hungry for food, he fed them.

The EWTN priest said this feeding was symbolic in that Jesus was the lamb and he fed them. I suppose by eating the food they would be full physically and fulfilled spiritually even though they ate fish and not lamb and there was no record of Jesus preaching to them afterward. I nonetheless like the symbolism, for a connection can be made between (a) what was occupying Jesus' troubled mind at the time, John the Baptist's death that started the clock ticking for Jesus' own holy death on a cross that triumphed over sin, symbolizing spiritual food, and (b) what was fed to the crowd, satisfying physical hunger.