“And they all ate and were satisfied” (Mt 14:20)
One of my academic interests is to examine the psychological impact of Christian contemplative practice on people. A pattern emerges from the formal interviews that I have conducted, and the informal conversation that I have had. The participants speak of what I call, ‘a 3D spirituality,’ there is an upward movement of the heart towards God, there is an inward movement towards the self, and there is an outward movement towards others. This is something I strive for in my own personal life, and I offer opportunity for people to experience through my own ministry. These days I add a fourth dimension to this, inspired by the spirit of the Laudato Si’: the outward journey is also towards the rest of creation!
3D Spirituality. In the gospel text of today, we see Jesus living out the 3-dimensional spirituality. It begins with these words: Jesus “withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart” (Mt 14:13). It is an inward and an upward journey. Jesus has been told about the death of John the Baptist (Mt 14:10-12), and he wants to process this loss: perhaps a personal loss for Jesus, but surely a preemption of what could be his own fate. He withdraws inward into himself, so as to commune upward with his Father.
Jesus is not denying his emotions, nor is he avoiding them. He just lives through them and processes them. His contemplative life is not an escape from life. He is not running away from the world – of people. After that brief moment of contemplation, “as he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them” (Mt 14:14). Compassion is the third dimension of 3-dimensional spirituality – the outward movement that reaches out to those in need. One of the primary qualities that the gospel-writers attribute to Jesus is compassion (RSV, Mt 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; Mk 6:34; Mk 8:2; Lk 7:13; 10:33; 15:20). I am particularly drawn to the description by Mark that adds a dynamic aspect to the compassion of Jesus, “he was moved with pity” (Mk 1:41; perhaps it is just a difference in the translation).
Compassion has two components. Firstly, it is an emotion of empathy – “suffering together with”: the literal meaning of compassion. This compassion or pity or loving-kindness of Jesus is not only an emotion. When this empathy is combined with courage, it moves us to action. That is the second component of compassion. As we hear in the gospel of today, Jesus “healed their sick” (Mt 14:14c). And when the need of the people changes, he is willing to “give them something to eat” (Mt 14:16). And what a giving! There is fullness, abundance, satisfaction.
They all ate and were satisfied. The gospel text of today which is very similar to the accounts in other gospels (Mk 6:30-44; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-14), is full of numbers. These numbers give us a clue to at least one level of meaning in the text. Within the context of the Gospel of Matthew, we also recognise Jesus in this event as the New Moses who “gives them bread from heaven.” But I would like to focus on being filled and satisfied.
The disciples hint to Jesus that there was a situation of need. But they are not willing to do anything about it – there is no mention of the two hundred denarii in Matthew –Jesus invites them to take responsibility. The disciples claim in a reluctant manner, underestimating their own resources, “We have only five loaves here and two fish” (Mt 14:17). What they don’t realise is, five plus two equals seven, and seven is fullness, perfection, ‘generativity.’ Particularly, when all that they have is brought to Jesus, there is going to be a new creation of order and abundance.
“And those who ate were about five thousand men” (Mt 14:21). In a culture where taking a head-count was a taboo, the ‘thousand’ could be a symbolic way of referring to countless people. ‘Five’ could imply the number of books of the Torah, and hence ‘five thousand’ would simply mean a countless number of Jews. “And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over” (Mt 14:20). The ‘twelve’ stands not only for the tribes of Israel, but also the new community of the Twelve that Jesus has founded (see Mt 10:1). This community will be a source of abundance not only for “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 10:6), but for the people of all nations (Mt 28:19).
And today we are part of this community of abundance. We not only draw satisfaction from this fullness for our own selves, but we are invited to be the source of generativity for all nations.