Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. 12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” 13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
For Corpus Christi Sunday, the gospel this year comes from Luke and concerns the feeding of the 5000. Earlier in Luke’s gospel, we learned that Jesus and the apostles, when they travelled, depended on local people for food and lodging. Now Jesus returns the favor by hosting a meal with food for all. It is an obvious prefiguring of the Eucharist and so fitting for a day devoted to it.
An important part of the story is the role of the apostles. They realize that the crowd needs food and signal this to Jesus, although their only solution is for everyone to leave. Although, in chapter five, Jesus had already blessed them with the miraculous catch of fish, they continue to think in purely human terms. They are absolutely stunned when Jesus responds by telling them “You [the Greek emphasizes the “you”] give them something to eat.” However, skeptical as they are, they follow Jesus’ instructions, organizing the people and then distributing the food. As Luke tells us: “They all ate and were satisfied.” Indeed, there is so much food that twelve baskets (significantly one for each apostle) remain. In a certain sense, each apostle now a source of future nourishment. Note too that Jesus told Peter that he would make him a fisher of people so there is also a suggestion here that church leaders must care for their congregation.
Luke does not tell us exactly how Jesus multiplied the food but in verse 16 we learn that he looked up to heaven, gave thanks and broke the loaves and fishes. These actions obviously should make us think of the Last Supper and Emmaus. Clearly, we have a prefiguring of the Eucharist here, which makes this a fitting gospel for the feast of Corpus Christi. Note too that “they all ate and were satisfied” which resembles one of Luke’s beatitudes “blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Furthermore, the most common image for heaven in the New Testament is a joyous banquet. So this anticipates the Eucharist and both anticipate heaven – as, of course, does the feast of Corpus Christi.
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