Give them some love yourselves

Reading 11 Jn 4:7-10
Responsorial PsalmPs 72:1-2, 3-4, 7-8
GospelMk 6:34-44
Love is a prostituted word. All walks of life seem to know what love is. Politicians, celebrities, preachers, professionals, and many more have their own understanding of love. Our first reading from the Letter of John clearly states,
“Beloved, let us love one another,because love is of God;everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.In this way the love of God was revealed to us:God sent his only-begotten Son into the worldso that we might have life through him.In this is love:not that we have loved God, but that he loved usand sent his Son as expiation for our sins.”
We are asked to love another. For it is when we love that we express our knowledge and embrace our being children of God. Even if we believe in God but we do not give love we really do not know God. We cannot be indifferent to our brothers and sisters and love God at the same time. When we say we know God it means we give love. The problem we have to ask now is how to love. The reading tells us that “in this way the love of God was revealed to us; God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.” Love then from the perspective of God is an outward act. Love is given by God. Love is not about getting but giving. The reason for this is to make all of us know that we are all recipient of God’s love. “(Not) that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins”, according to the Letter of John. We did nothing to earn God’s love. In fact, people are sinners when God gave his love. So John in his letter is securing the basis why we can love. It is because we have been loved by God. It is therefore very important to know God, because it is through that knowledge that we become aware how much God loves us. Now in our time how can we show our love to our brothers and sisters? Is it simply saying “I love you” as what the superstars and celebrities use to say to their fans? Is it the “I love you” that lovers sometime say to each other and after sometime say bad things to each other?
Our Gospel today expresses concretely what love means. This is love in the real sense of the word.
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said,“This is a deserted place and it is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villagesand buy themselves something to eat.”
This shows that the disciples are concern with what is happening. However they were not prepared how to deal with such a situation. It looks like it was not in their plan. Jesus seems not to care. His been teaching the crowd and was not even bothered by the crowd situation. Yes he looked at them with pity for they are like sheep without a shepherd, but they are now like sheep in a deserted place with nothing to eat. Amazingly, Jesus’ reply to the disciples was, “Give them food yourselves?”
There is no better way of expressing one’s care and love than to draw something from ourselves and give. By doing this, miracle happens. Look at what happen in the Gospel. They have even a surplus in their midst.
Hunger and famine are just one of the major problems in the world today. According to a hunger site, http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
“It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. That's roughly 100 times as many as those who actually die from these causes each year.
About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.
Famine and wars cause about 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families facing extreme poverty are simply unable to get enough food to eat.”
For me this is one of the biggest scandals in the world. To have this happen in our midst is really absurd. The problem is not about food shortage. The problem is love shortage. The feeling of being one with our brothers and sisters in need is very important. This happens when love is real in us. We can donate as much money but the Lord is saying, “Give them some food yourselves?”
If we look at the world today, we are supposed to be better off than before. We have reached the moon and searched the deepest of seas. We have skyscrapers and luxurious vehicles. But our concern for humanity remains a concern. We are afraid to lose our food. Jesus is challenging us to shift our orientation from simply receiving to giving. This is how we transform our hearts. Just imagine a world of people concern of giving love every day. We don’t need to need love because it is there every day being expressed. But you might say this is a wishful thinking. It sounds impossible but you know it is possible. Why not start with the people around us? How do we share the love of Christ to them? Are we really giving what we have? Or we give only as far as our security is not compromise?
Just a short note on this text:
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said,“Five loaves and two fish.” …Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciplesto set before the people;he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragmentsand what was left of the fish. Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.
“How many loaves do you have?” We can transform this by asking “how many love do you have?” Jesus is really asking what the disciples have, not what they can only give apart from what they really have. They answered “five loaves and two fish”. Jesus was not surprise. He wanted to make sure that these are all that they got to offer. Jesus said the blessing and the miracle happens. The miracle happens because they gave all that they can offer. Just imagine if they said nothing. Maybe nothing will happen also. Why? Jesus will start on what we have. In the first reading, God loves us first. This means we already have something to start with. This love is with us not to be kept but to be shared. “Beloved let us love one another, because love is of God.” So now, “How many love do you have?”
May we express our love concretely to those in our midst by giving more what we have than holding on to that love which is not really ours to keep. “Give them some love yourselves.”