Our Venerable Father Theodore of Syceum (613)
Acts 5:21-33; John 6:14-27.
Read John 6:14-27
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
When I had a chance to visit the Holy Land for the first time, our Jewish guide took us to the shore of the Lake of Galilee and promised to show us the site where Jesus performed his greatest miracle. I was a little perplexed by the very idea, since in my opinion the greatest miracles of Jesus were his incarnation and resurrection, but they both took place far away from the lake. The place that our guide wanted to show us was a small Benedictine convent built on the spot where Jesus fed 5,000 men. Up to the present day, the Jews are waiting for the Messiah who will be able to “feed the hungry” and to “free his people” from the external enemies, so they would not have to worry about their future or resolve their existential problems by themself. Therefore, when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, they started to see the possibility of using him for their own purposes and bringing him into play as their new king who will fulfil their own dreams. It made Jesus disappointed and extremely sad.
Are we so different? Are we ready to listen to Jesus’s words or do we just want to go on with our own schemas and ideas? Do we want to accept his plans and wishes or do we want to use him instead of allowing him to use us? What satisfies our hunger? The physical food or something much greater that can only be satisfied by him? Jesus is the True Bread of Life. He is the abundance of truth, life and love. Only he is able to satisfy our spiritual hunger, so we can no longer be hungry or thirsty. He leaves us his Word and his Blood and Flesh, so we can never search for satisfaction in the places or circumstances where we can never find them.
Praying on the high hill, Jesus did not forget about his disciples and he approached the boat at the very moment when the apostles thought that they were about to perish in the darkness of the night and in the waves of the storm. But as soon as He appeared before the sight of the disciples, they forgot about the time and about the distance to their destination. They did not even realize when they “reached the shore where they were heading”, because “in the presence of Jesus the longest journey is shorter and the hardest battle is easier” (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible).