Jn 6:1-15 Adding Him

Jn 6:1-15  Adding Him
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One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”

The Lord takes what we have and multiples it.  He takes who we are and adds himself to it. 

Five loaves of bread.  Bread comes from wheat.  We take wheat, add water to it and a bit of yeast and violà…bread!  The Lord takes bread and “adds” himself to it and violà…The Eucharist.  What we do with wheat is almost as surprising as what He does with bread.  Both bread and Eucharist give life, though differently.  Both nourish.  Both are taken and eaten.  Both are taken for granted.  Both are pretty much understandable (and nonetheless surprising).  The only difference between our Bread and His Eucharist is that the first is made by human hands; the other by heavenly hands.

How can we ignore the obvious?  Why do we ignore the miraculous?  Why do we turn our heads and ignore the obvious and miraculous fact that the Lord wishes to add himself to us?  Is he not constantly taking who we are and adding himself to it?  He is.  He is constantly taking what we do (or have) and multiplying it.  He seeks and wishes to reveal His Divine presence in so many ways.  Here are just a few examples that I have come up with thus far.  Does the Lord not add himself to our instinct to survive?  Does He not take this raw product and refine it?  You know, similar to what we do with the coco bean and the soy bean.  Do we not take our “mammal-ity” and turn it into humanity?   Does the Lord not take our humanity and turn it into Christianity?  Does he not make us more valuable, useful and exciting in giving than in receiving; in dying for one’s friend rather than surviving at any cost?  Does he not take our instinct-to-survive and turn it into an instinct-to-forgive?

Information comes from what we see, taste, smell, hear and feel.  Our brains enable us to gather intelligence, collect information, and finally make right judgments.  But where do ideas come from?  Where did the idea of God come from?  If God cannot be seen, touched or felt (although He was in the person of Jesus Christ), then how on earth did “God” come to be?  Where did this idea, found in all cultures and at all times, come from?  An atheist once told me, “In the beginning man created God.”  How?  How in the world could Jews create a loving, forgiving, caring and peaceful God from their unloving, unforgiving, uncaring and violent surroundings?  Maybe it was more like, “In the beginning man acknowledged God.”  Violà!  How did he do it?  Maybe the same way all ideas come from.  Maybe the same way the idea of a car or radio came to be.  Take for example a horse.  We can all see a horse.  But only Henry Ford saw horsepower.  And he was right.  We can all talk.  But only Guglielmo Marconi saw the radio.  And he was right.  We can all see Jesus.  But only Christians saw the Lord.  And they were right!  Maybe God saw man…and he was good.

From His revelation and our reflection we find God and our true selves:  who we are and who we were meant to be.  We can get the right ideas of who He is when we make ourselves more like Him. 

Let’s take what we have and multiply it.  Let’s take who we are and add Him to it.  Let’s take our hormones and add His morals to them.  Let’s take our hormones and add His love to them.  Let’s take our strange addictions and, instead of publicizing them (or supporting them), have Him remove them.   Let’s take our mistakes and add His blessing upon blessing to them.  Let’s take earth and add Our Father to it.  Let’s take our touches and add His touch to them.  Let’s take our hands, designed to grasp and handle, and offer His beautiful sacrifice through them.  Let’s take our simple meal and turn it into His banquet for five thousand!  Let’s take our five loaves and two fish and let the Lord take it from there.