Gut-Wrenching and Belly-Filling

Glory to Jesus Christ..

We just heard in addition to our Sunday Gospel of Saint Matthew, Jesus’ prayer in the Gospel of Saint John, because we honor of this Sunday the Fathers of the first 6 Ecumenical Councils; originally the feast was focused on the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, once more Jesus is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Why do we have so many events in Jesus’ ministry linked with the shores of the Sea of Galilee? The beautiful crater-formed, harp shaped, Sea of Galilee reflects the deep cloudless blue sky of Eastern Mediterranean countries. Jesus disembarking on the shore of the Sea of Galilee gives with His Humanity the image of a more profound disembarking, that of the Son of God disembarking from the sky above, from the vast sea of His eternity. The Son of God disembarks on the earthly ground to be with us, to be God-among-us. The Son of God becomes man. His pure, incorruptible, ineffable, unchangeable, boundless disembarking amidst humanity is God engaging in the mysteries of Incarnation and Redemption to lead mankind up into His eternal glorious life with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Today Jesus’ human eyes see the crowds, many who have come from far away. Many are in pain, thirsting for His healing presence. Jesus is moved with ‘gut-wrenching, soul-stirring pity’. This translates the verb splagnizomai. In the Gospel of Mathew, the verb splagnizomai, ‘gut-wrenching, soul-stirring pity’ rhythms 5 times Jesus 3-year mission.

This profound human compassion manifests His Eternal Father’s boundless love: “God the Father so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life”.

The first Ecumenical Councils teach us that the mystery of the eternal divine Word – Logos coming to the encounter of fallen Adam is present in each human act of Jesus. Jesus seeing with His eyes the crowds, Jesus moved with ‘gut-wrenching pity’, Jesus seeking for food that can nourish the multitude, Jesus taking into His hands five loaves and two fish, looking up to heaven and blessing (gestures that we, priests, repeat in this Divine Liturgy) represent in human terms the Eternal Word fulfilling His Divine Will.

Jesus’ Divine Will is never distant from Jesus’ human actions. His Divine Will commands miracles that mankind has never seen. For the sake of feeding thousands of men, women and children His Divine Will commands the breaking of five little loaves and two little fish. Twelve baskets full of what was broken by Jesus’ hands are left in surplus. Today’s cooperation in Jesus of a Divine Will and a Human Will exemplifies the

main assertion of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon which our Byzantine Church is now celebrating.

“The Church proclaims”, says the Council of Chalcedon, “that there are two natural volitions or wills in Jesus and two natural principles of action with no division, no change, no partition, no confusion... The two natural wills are distinct, never in opposition. His independent human will freely follows his Divine and all-Powerful Will”, constantly subjects itself to it, as we see in the agony: “Not my will, but Your Will”. Jesus’ gut-wrenching pity is in His humanity and Jesus’ Divinity is present to us.

This constitutes an absolutely unique presence. When Jesus distributes the loaves and fishes – likewise, when we receive communion in this Divine Liturgy from His hands - the Divine Eternal Invisible Word is making Himself accessible to us, the eternal glory of the Son of God in the presence of His Father since before the world was made is manifested to us, the joy of the God-man is fulfilled in us, we are called to be sanctified in truth, to become holy in truth. What our senses perceive as physical bread is the Eternal Word of

Light, is the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven to give us eternal life. The

Divine Invisible Word is mingling with our earthly perceptions and receptivity, we are,

mysteriously, welcoming even Jesus’ Divinity.

The surplus from the miraculous multiplication of bread and fish—twelve baskets of fragments—symbolizes the miraculous overflowing of Divine grace poured upon our world, its inexhaustible Divine riches poured upon our world through the apostles, abundant nourishment of the "Word of Life" given to all subsequent generations. Why then does Jesus immediately send his disciples away? ... to prevent them from being caught by the crowd's frenzy before the never seen miracle.

After feeding the multitude, what is good in the eyes of Jesus is that His chosen disciples immediately be tested elsewhere, by new challenges, that they pursue their path of strengthening their faith. The best is to send His disciples out on the sea where they will meet a tempest. The best for Himself, Jesus is to go up to the mountain to pray. Following intimate interaction with God, solitude and retirement are essential. This should be true of every Eucharistic communion which we live.

After the feast Jesus has given us with the help of His disciples, we are to walk forward and be confronted with our next challenges while keeping to strengthening our faith that through Jesus, God is in our hearts acting with us. The best for us is also to be invited by Jesus to find in solitude and retirement the way to remain in intimacy with God.

Glory to Jesus Christ.