“FILLED WITH CHRIST”
Saint Mark 8: 1-9
7th Sunday after Trinity: 15 July Anno Domini 2018
Father Jay Watson SSP
The multitude was very great in “those days” because the multitude has always been great. For God so loved the “world.” And not because it was great, that is the multitude of people, but because God is love. The many, the crowds, are like sheep without a shepherd. Their loss, their pain, death, and damnation, moves the Lord deeply. He weeps for Israel, all the lost children of God. He doesn’t weep in the shrine of His heart, “thinking good thoughts for the sick and lost,” sending “prayers out,” but rather acts. He comes and gets His hands dirty, very dirty.
Those days are these days and will be tomorrow’s days. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” [Heb. 13.8]
Was the great crowd with Jesus only because of the miracles? Yes. Was the large throng with Jesus only because He was teaching and preaching and talking to them all like no one had ever done so before, with authority? Yes. Was the flock of lost lambs groping as close to The Nazarene as possible because He seemed to be a light in a very dark, dangerous, and deadly world? Yes.
The feeding of the four thousand demonstrates with power and mystery who the Rabbi from Nazareth truly was. Not quite creatio ex nihilo (creation of something from nothing) which He did as The WORD at the beginning of time, but nonetheless something only God can do: transubstantiate, CHANGE, seven loaves of bread into hundreds and hundreds and likewise a “few” small fishes into an almost endless buffet of seafood.
The feeding of the multitude is more clearly the ongoing reality of Christ’s care and concern for His Church—His brothers and sisters. Again, He does not show His love with wishes and hidden thoughts. He acts. He gets dirty. He sweats and sits amongst all the refuse of this world—then and now.
The God/Man speaks the word and it is done—finished. “Let there be light,” done! Eucharista, “He…gave thanks,” done! And at the pinnacle, the completion of all His passive obedience, His suffering and death at Calvary for all of you “multitude” “Father Forgive Them…It is finished,” done!
IT is finished but IT isn’t over. Your Redemption is purchased in Christ’s sacrificial Blood—Blood from His precious Body. Your life is restored—back from the dead—by His death. Your life is forever by His Resurrection from the dead—the First Fruits of all the multitude now found in Him by Grace.
Many that day came from far. In all days God calls, gathers, and enlightens His sinful and dying flock—from Jews, Gentiles, and all others on the face of the slowing decaying world.
This Gospel pericope from Saint Mark testifies and actually affects reality this very morning. You too are from far away—your daily trespasses that cause separation and distance between you and The Blessed Trinity. You too are hungry beyond words…hungry for THE WORD of Heaven which cometh down from above. Jesus came down in the early first century and did all the preparation for the meal, the rescue, the resurrection, and the making Holy. The Word echoes forth until He returns in Triumph at the Parousia! But now at this hillside of Heaven foreshadowed, a few small loaves and a few humble ounces, will be placed before you, as they are being placed before you brothers and sisters all over the world who likewise have been brought to The Feast for Faith—the giving of Grace in Jesus’ true Sacramental Presence.
The Messiah speaks The Word, and IT is done—finished.
“Take east this IS MY BODY, for you.”
“Take drink this IS MY BLOOD, for you.”
So you do eat forgiveness and peace, and are filled.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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