Citius, Altius, Fortius - Communiter 一起更快、更高、更強

Eighteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: Citius, Altius, Fortius - Communiter 一起更快、更高、更強

Though created in the image of God, human beings are creatures in history. We are confined to a definite time and space and are unable to occupy two different locations at the same moment. As images of God, human beings were born with a strong desire to become God; and failing this, to play God as the second best. Regrettably, nothing on earth is able to satisfy this desire and in order to cope with the anxiety created by the frustration of the desire we crave for objects from lower levels as substitutes, which would never be able to fill the void, prompting us to crave for more. A vicious cycle of addiction/obsession is thus created. You may call it idolatry!

Food meets the physiological need for survival. Thus, after the miracle of five loaves and two fish, some people quickly sensed that if they made Jesus king (John 6:15), they would have no more worries about food because their king would provide. No wonder when they found Jesus the other day, Jesus who is able to read their minds says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled” (6:26). In other words, the crowd should have aimed higher and sought something more fulfilling than satiating their hunger. Instead of seeing a miracle of God’s mercy, they paid their attention to filling up their stomach! As of this writing, the Paris 2024 Olympics is in full momentum. One century ago, France was the first to feature an Olympic motto. At that time, they coined “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, meaning “Faster, Higher, Stronger” for Paris 1924 Olympics. This motto is still valid even to date. For us Christians, we should also aim at being faster in obeying God’s will, aiming higher in our aspirations and being spiritually stronger. Therefore, we should seek what lessons we have learned from this miracle.

First of all, in order to be stronger, we should not evade difficulty. During the last century when science and technology brought economic prosperity after the two world wars, many evangelists dismissed Jesus’ miracles and tried to explain them away in a scientifically acceptable manner. Jesus has already affirmed that this is a miracle, a sign of God’s presence among us (6:26). In 1960’s, I heard one evangelist on the radio explain that the generosity of the boy, who gave up the 5 loaves and 2 fish, had touched the hearts of the crowd of 5000. They voluntarily took out their own food and shared among all. So, it was not a miracle but a moral lesson! What a pity! The evangelist as well as all who bought his interpretation gave up eternal life in exchange for crowd-cheering! Though it is difficult to explain miracles scientifically, please stand firm and accept that the Son of God is able to multiply the 5 loaves and 2 fish, say by converting some energy from other locations in the known universe into bread to feed the 5000 crowd, using Einstein’s famous mcc formula!

During the public ministry of Jesus, the Pharisees challenged Jesus to work a sign from heaven, probably out of jealousy of Jesus’ popularity (Mark 8:11). What was that “sign from heaven”? Most likely, it referred to the manna God rained down from heaven to feed the 600,000 Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness (Exodus 16:15, Joshua 5:12). Reading of this challenge today amazes us because it was so similar to modern mentality. The Pharisees demanded evidence which met their standards. They set the rules and told the Son of God to follow! Notice that the Pharisees demanded another miracle after the 5 loaves and 2 fish miracle. Which means, even if they accepted that the 5 loaves and 2 fish incident was a miracle, they would not accept it as a sign from heaven because the loaves did not come down from heaven! Had Jesus rained barley loaves down from heaven, the Pharisees would have argued that there were only 5000 and not 600,000 people etc. I am not trying to smear the Pharisees but to point out the pitfall that prevents us from seeing miracles of what they actually are. Out of prejudice or perhaps even pride, we set up unreasonable scientific standards to disqualify the signs God works. God works miracles not simply to show His power and His presence. He works miracles to show His love and care for us, unworthy sinners. If we set rules to rule love/mercy out because natural sciences do not need the hypothesis of love to explain phenomena, what else can God say to convince us? To work miracles, which do not violate the limited scientific knowledge humanity, has acquired so far? God smiles, musing, “Pretty challenging indeed!”

Why should people with a scientific mentality be lenient to Jesus? Are His teachings unable to undergo scrutiny? What can we say? To begin with, Jesus is definitely revolutionary. He brought the Yahweh of Judaism down by calling Him “the Father”! The proof? See the miracles He has worked (John 10:32), such as turning water into wine, cleansing lepers, restoring sight of the blind, driving out demons, raising the dead, curing diseases, calming the sea and multiplying the loaves etc. All these had been similarly done before in the Old Covenant. In performing similar signs, Jesus wants people, then and in future generations, to know that it was the God of the Old Covenant who had sent Him. “For on Him the Father, God, has set His seal” (6:27c). During the Last Supper, Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus answered, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9). After spending nearly three years, living and receiving formation from Jesus Christ, even the Twelve were not able to recognize the Father in Jesus. It took the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love and truth; as well as sufficient amount of time for their faith to mature. How can we blame modern scientifically minded people for not recognizing the Son of God? Without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit to enkindle their love of God and neighbour, they cannot but demanding in order to contain probable losses and damages.

Beloved brethren! The logic of “Pascal’s wager” may not be airtight. Yet it is intuitive enough and buying it does not cost people harm. People do not lose by assuming the existence of God. It follows that eternal life is possible. Therefore, buying Jesus’ advice to work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man would give (6:27b), makes sense. The last obstacle is “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (6:35). Of course, nobody, scientists or theologians or even Yahweh, is able to force anybody to accept it. The choice is all personal and individual. Everybody has a history on his back. It counts. Take a look at the winners on the podium, saints canonized by the Catholic Church. Perhaps their histories would cheer us up. Amen.
God bless!

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Picture Credit: catholic-daily-reflections.com, ncregister.com, creator.nightcafe.studio