The gospel for Wednesday of the first week of Advent is taken from Matthew 15:29 37. At that time, Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking. The deformed made whole the lame walking and the blind able to see.

And they glorified the God of Israel. Jesus summoned his disciples and said, my heart is moved with pity for the crowd. They have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry for fear that they may collapse on the way. Disciples said to him, where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd? Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have?

7, they replied, and a few fish. He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish gave thanks, broke the loaves, gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over. Seven baskets full.

Over and over again. We are touched by this one quality, this one way in which Jesus responded to our human condition. And that is, he was a healer. He enables us to speak, to become who we really are, whole and entire, able to be where we need to be, see what we need to see, and give the glory to God. It’s a beautiful image of his ministry. And I think it’s interesting, in this passage, we see the Jesus ministry then transferred over to the disciples, sustaining it, feeding it, the role of the minister, the role of the church, the role of all of us to each other.

And so he looks at these men and says to them, I want you to take care of these people, keep them fed, tend them. And they say, we don’t have enough. We’re not enough. And there’s the miracle. Jesus breaking bread, entering into their hearts and making them more, more than enough, more than they ever could imagine they could be foreign. Closing prayer Father, we see the greatness of your ministry, this way in which you were so powerfully displayed by your gift of healing to everyone.

And let it ignite in us a belief, a trust that we have this gift in ways that are so much less than it seems yours were, but not any really less in terms of its impact. We’re not called to do spectacular things, but we are called to continue to minister to those who have healed and to keep their healing in our hearts as we guide them, lead them, teach them, forgive them. And we ask this in Jesus name, amen.