Monday, April 02, 2007 Alipio: Sharing the necessities of life By Fr. Jose Alipio The Yoke
Mk 6:33-44
MANY of us read the miracle stories of Jesus as efforts to prove his divinity. "How could an ordinary man do the wonderful things he did?" we ask ourselves. "He must have been divine because only God could do the things that he did."
This line of reasoning is especially convincing when we think of the so-called "nature miracles." The healing miracles we can understand in terms of psychosomatic illnesses and the power of suggestion. But no such rational explanation is available to account for Jesus walking on water, or cursing the fig tree, or calming the tempest.
Even these miracles might be explained as amazing coincidences. But no such rationalizations are possible when we confront the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Only a divine being could feed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.
But there is good evidence that the early church took these miracle stories in an entirely different way. They interpreted them symbolically rather than literally. These stories were great allegories or parables of faith. Take the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Many New Testament scholars interpret this story eucharistically -- as a story that shows that Jesus feeds the multitudes with his own body and blood.
Others see this story as a reminder that Jesus was concerned for the whole person. He meets physical as well as spiritual needs. Still others interpret this incident as a story of the power of generosity. No matter how small our gift, God can multiply it many times over. He can feed the multitudes if we give him our talents and our possessions.
