Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa: XVII Sunday Of Ordinary Time

Below you can find the Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for the XVII Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sunday 28 July 2024.

Jn 6 : 1,15

The Sunday readings from the Gospel of Mark for Year B, which we've been exploring, will come to a pause. We will now delve into chapter six of the Gospel of John, commonly known as the chapter of the bread of life.

This chapter is rich in references and symbols; hence, we will linger here to understand its core message.

The initial reference provides us with the essential understanding and structure of the text, centered around the exodus and, consequently, the Passover. Jesus crosses over and a great crowd follows him (Jn 6:1), much like the Israelites who followed Moses out of the land of slavery to become the Lord's people.

Verse 4 confirms that Passover is the focus of this event: “The Jewish feast of Passover was near” (Jn. 6:4).

A second reference is the mountain (Jn. 6:3), an important symbol related to the Exodus. On their journey through the desert, the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, where God made a covenant with them.

The third cross-reference is the grass. While it may seem like an unnecessary detail: what does it change that there is grass, or that there is not? Next to important symbols, such as the mountain, and the bread, what can the fact that there is grass possibly mean?

Grass signifies abundance in several passages in the First Testament, all related to the abundance of food and water. God leads his people there as he is the good shepherd who leads his flock to green abundant pastures (cf. Psalm 23).

Finally, the central symbol is bread. During the Exodus, the question of who would feed the people in the desert arose, and God provided manna. In today's passage, there is a lack of bread, and the crowd is large and hungry. Jesus asks the disciples where they can buy bread to feed everyone (Jn. 6:5).

Just as in the desert, the Lord will provide, but here the bread comes from a humble gift—a boy's small offering (Jn. 6:7). Though it seems insufficient, in Jesus' hands, it becomes enough.

Yet with a fundamental difference. In the desert, bread was manna, which came down from heaven. It was freely given to everyone every day, enough to go out and collect it, without taking too much because one had to learn to trust in the God who is a father and provides every day.

The disproportion is obvious and clearly says that that little bread could never be enough for everyone. It is too few, but it is also utterly necessary…

This Meditation was originally published on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please click here to read the full text.