Generosity Sunday: Sharing is the Miracle we Need!
2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15
In our capitalistic world of today, the mentality is that of “I Before Others”. Today, the protectionism of rich countries is seen in this light – “I Before Others”. The West and China, before others. The near extinction of the other, especially when the other has no capitalistic value, draws contemporary society into the culture of death, death of the other; it further leads to the collapse of the human community, and the indifference with which societal needs are treated. Around the world, we experience the deafening cry of nations with no access to Covid-19 vaccines, even when their countries and citizens are used as cheap labor to manufacture these vaccines. Is there still any humanity in us? How many children go to bed hungry around the world, and how many patients die without access to medical care? We have world approved and established centers for the study of global poverty, without any laws to oblige the rich to feed the hungry. What a world we live in!
This Sunday is generosity Sunday, when sharing among nations and between neighbors is the urgent miracle we need!Our readings propose to us the origins of hunger and its panacea. Hunger is no respecter of persons, but we have invented laws to glorify greed and wastefulness! God proposes a different logic and law to us today – GENEROSITY BECAUSE WE’RE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN!
It was the law in Israel to share the produce of the earth with one’s neighbors (“There will be no poor person among you” [Deuteronomy 15:4]). The needs of the “other” is not left out of personal needs. The background to this law was that Israel herself was once in slavery and was liberated by God himself (Deuteronomy 15:15). It was the compassion of God unto Israel that reminds Israel of the imperative to help other people. The sense of the society was preserved because each person felt valued and everyone’s needs became everybody’s needs – together we stand, together we fall. The priest and prophets of Israel became distributors of this free food to those who needed them.
Interestingly, the prophet Elisha, in our first reading, tells us how even our needs for food is solidly part of God’s care-giving. Our God worries about all those who go to bed without food, and all those whose wages are held back, on account of which they could neither buy food for themselves and those who depend on them nor could they wriggle out of poverty. Indeed, the salvation God brings to and provides for his people is an integral salvation. It is a salvation that eliminates hunger, diseases and all forms of poverty. The elimination of poverty is not the exclusive prerogative of God, human beings have their indispensable role to play in bringing about the redistribution of wealth. If the prophet Elisha, whose name means “God-is-salvation,” orders that food be given free-of-charge to people to eat, it is because somebody brought that food to him; it is because God wants the alleviation of hunger among his children, because the hunger of anyone is the hunger of God himself.
The presence of poverty and starvation in our society today is proof of human greed and lack of generosity. The refusal to share among one another the rich resources of the earth is at the root of the collapse of humanity today. As Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying, “the world has enough for every person’s need, but not for every person’s greed.” Greed makes some human beings go hungry while others become obese. The extravagance of some denies others the necessities they need to survive. The ration meant for others is robbed from them by the wastefulness of some. Indeed, there are countries and parastatals that dump food into the Atlantic and pacific oceans, not to mention grocery shops whose garbage dumps of edible food are richer than poor people’s storeroom!
The fact that it is the bread of a little boy that provided the source of the food multiplied for many to eat, in today’s gospel, teaches us the intersection between God’s magnanimity and human liberality in sharing. Surely, this little boy didn’t work for the bread he brought along for his meal, but it was provided for him by his parents. In like fashion, God has given to humanity the resources for our wellbeing on earth. What is missing is the liberality in sharing, which characterizes the attitude of this little boy who willingly shared his bread with Jesus in order to multiply it for the crowd. It is not so much the question of the miracle (multiplication of loaves) performed by God in our readings today, as it is the question of human beings sharing what they have with their likes. The problem is that some human beings, the so-called capitalists, arrogate to themselves, through spurious laws, the rights to the resources of the earth to the exclusion of others. Furthermore, in the arguments of Andrew that the bread of the little boy was insufficient for the crowd, we identify and recognize the voices of our democracies and media telling us how scarce resources are for human sustenance today, how the “demand-supply” chains and curves are major constraints in human relationships.
It is the power of love that eliminates needless poverty. We need compassion to realize that whatever is good for the goose is also good for the gander. The compassion of Jesus for the hungry crowd moved him to multiple loaves for the hungry crowd. Whether it is the statement of the man from Baal-shalishah to Elisha that 20 loaves wouldn’t suffice for 120 men or Andrew’s remarks that the few loaves of the lad wouldn’t be sufficient for the crowds, God proves that “it is not enough” is not part of his vocabulary! With God, there is always more than enough for everyone’s needs. Our God, in Genesis 1, created everything that was needed for the sustenance and support of life before the creation of human beings. He is a God who plans and executes his plans in favor of his people. If we must eliminate hunger, then we must heed St. Paul’s advise in the second reading, that there is only “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”. More often than not, the sources of our hunger, diseases and poverty stem from our division on the kind of God we worship, the Creeds we subscribe to and our perceived responsibilities towards one another.
If the idea of universal humanhood, the push to see ourselves in the other, and the revocation of the deification of money are pursued, there is a chance for humanity to eliminate hunger and starvation. The example of Paul, in our second reading, is instructive. It was from prison that Paul was writing to the Ephesians, not minding his own chains and discomfort but thinking of the needs of the other: “I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace”. Yes, our oneness as human beings, our devotion to the needs of the other, and our love for one another can eradicate hunger and make the miracle of multiplication of food a reality in our days!
Deep down, our three readings are inviting us to show more love and care for one another as a way of eliminating hunger and multiplying bread for all and sundry in our time. The relief supplies of humanitarian agencies and charities, the sacrifices made by individuals, parents, groups and church organizations, volunteers of all categories, all the “Samaritans” who are considered the outsiders of our societies but whose examples are recorded and applauded by God: these are the prophets and Jesus of our times multiplying bread for the poor and starving.
Let’s conclude with a story: A man really wanted to teach his child the value of thanksgiving for favors received. He does this by never failing to pray (say the grace before and after meals) before and after meals. On this faithful day, with a sumptuous meal set before him and his family, this man prayed thus: “Father in heaven, we thank you for the gifts of this food. We beg you to provide food for those who have nothing to eat, through Christ Our Lord.” Instead of an “amen,” the man’s son said to him: “Dad, it is obvious that we cannot finish this food set before us. Why not give some to the hungry ourselves and spare God the headache of doing that?” Let your generosity spare others from starvation and disease!
Assignment for the Week:
Could you volunteer with a charity home or feed a poor person this week?
Fatherayo2u.com, July 28, 2018.