Five thousand hungry people present quite a logistical problem! Where to feed them? What to feed them? And how to feed them? These are very real questions for anyone about to embark on such a vast catering challenge! Jesus appears almost to play with Philip by asking him: ‘How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’ Philip might have thought that funds were the least of his problems. Andrew, clutching at straws but eager to help, brings forward an enterprising lad who has in his possession two fish and five barley loaves. Jesus takes what must have seemed to the disciples an insignificant offering, gives thanks, and distributes the bread and fish – and feeds the multitude.
As we read of Jesus’ action in breaking and sharing the bread, we recall our experience of his presence among us. The feeding of the five thousand was a prophetic sign in anticipation of the gift of the Eucharist. Jesus reveals his desire to meet and satisfy not just physical but spiritual hunger and every need through the grace of the Eucharist.
Jesus’ care for the hungry reminds us, too, that many in our day suffer more acutely from lack of food. Millions of people, in our affluent world, are without sufficient food to live. The question Jesus posed to Philip could also be addressed to each one of us: ‘How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’ The Church, which always has had a preferential love for the poor, cannot but embrace the immense multitudes of the hungry, the needy, the homeless, those without medical care and, above all, those without hope of a better future. It is impossible not to take account of the existence of these realities.