Please read the passage before the commentary.
Matthew’s story of how Jesus fed the five thousand kingdom follows his account of the banquet Herod had given in which he had had John the Baptist beheaded. Jesus gives a banquet of life, free for all who came to him.
The people of Isaiah’s time were poor. They had little financial resources, not enough even to purchase water or grain, let alone a good meal in times of drought and famine.
Isaiah prophesizes to them rich food and drink, free, not from their conquerors but from the Lord himself.
Matthew described a banquet of five loaves and two fish for five thousand men, not counting women and children. It is as if the Lord had shouted out, “All you who are thirsty and hungry come to the feast, receive rich fare without cost. Come have life, not Herod’s style but God’s style.
God continues to call us to the mountain for Christ’s banquet. It is bread and wine, not bread and fish. It is life not death. It is banquet not a quick lunch. It counterbalances all the banquets of all the Herods in the world.
It was a banquet. The people sat; they did not scramble, pushing and shoving for the food. They sat and the disciples distributed the food. All ate and were satisfied. This was not said about Herod’s banquet.
We still call out to everyone to come without paying, without cost, and you shall eat well and have life. The bread is the Eucharist. The bread is the Church in which we live. The bread is the life of Christ given us and nourished in us through the sacraments and the grace of God given to each of us in life.
We are the disciples and there is bread and fish for all. The Lord has given it to us to give to others. There will always be leftovers because God gifts are infinite and boundless. It is free. It is here. Come, eat and drink to your heart’s content’
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