GOD GIVES US BREAD NOT STONE


MONDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Jer 28:1-17; Ps 119:29,43,79-80,95,102; Mt 15:13-21

The Word of God our Daily Bread

The interaction between Jeremiah the prophet and prophet Hananiah in the Temple in Jerusalem teaches us the importance of believing the word of God and not the figments of human imagination. At the time of this encounter, the word of God spoken by Jeremiah about the Temple in Jerusalem and the people of Judah has been fulfilled to an extent, for the Babylonians have already attacked the kingdom of Judah and the Temple. They have carted away the precious vessels in the Temple of the Lord and taken some of the people captive to Babylon. Hence, Jeremiah was still mediating between the people and God, urging them to faith in God and submission to the king of Babylon as decreed by God. Thus, Hananiah’s contrary prophecy to what Jeremiah prophesied to the people and was still urging submission to God’s will came as a shock to Jeremiah but pleasant to the people eager to hear positive prophecy. Jeremiah went away from there after the purported prophecy of restoration and the symbolic action of breaking the yoke that Jeremiah was wearing to indicate the divine yoke Yahweh has put on all nations, not exempting Judah, to serve Nebuchadnezzar. Evidently, Yahweh did not send Hananiah to prophesy restoration.

Hananiah committed a grave sin against Yahweh by prophesying false things. When the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, it was to confirm the original prophecy Yahweh gave to Jeremiah and to punish Hananiah for leading the people astray. We have an idea of how grave it is to speak in the name of the Lord when he did not give his word. The word of God is sacrosanct, and we must treat it with great respect, for it carries the weight of God’s presence and dignity. Peddling the word of God is sinful enough; to peddle a fake word of God is even worse. One who proclaims falsehood in the name of God serves the people stone in the guise of bread. We know the damage a stone can cause when mistakenly located in our food. God will not deal kindly with such a person, for he plays the role of the evil who twists the word and the will of God for the destruction of the people and their faith in God. We must remember that God’s will is unchangeable, and whatever God has proclaimed must come to pass, for God is not a man. This understanding offers us a way of discerning the truth of the proclamation of people who claim to be of God. The word of God must be consistent when considered holistically. Hence, St. Paul tells us not to believe any Gospel from an angel from heaven or even from himself that is different from what he originally preached.

We have the fullness of life when we follow the word of God. The gospel illustrates this for us. It narrates where Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, looked with pity on the people following him and fed them with bread and fish. This feeding of the five thousand people with five barley loaves of bread and two fish is a symbolic gesture of God's providence over us when we follow the word of God and do his will. Again, the people did not ask for food before Jesus gave them bread and fish. God knows our needs even before we ask him in prayer. The conversation between the disciples and our Lord is also enlightening. “When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.’” No one comes to the Lord with faith and goes away in need. Jesus healed the people of their sicknesses, satisfied their spiritual needs by proclaiming the word of God to them, and satisfied their bodily hunger by feeding them with bread and fish. This is usually the order of divine providence in addressing our needs. The healing is usually both spiritual and physical; he removes impediments to believing in him, and faith receives the word of God that gives spiritual life and physical restoration. Spiritual and physical blessings complete our restoration. All these are done according to the will of the Father.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to receive your healing word with purity of intention and answers to our prayers, so that glorying in you as our Creator and guide, you may restore your love deep within our hearts and keep safe what you have restored. 

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