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Commentary on the Gospel – December 3, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters,
Even though He always surprises us, the God Jesus speaks about is a God of consistency, the One who cannot deny Himself. In the book of Numbers, not often read in the liturgy, we see Moses asking the Lord “that the community may not be like sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27:17). And the prophet Zechariah gives the answer: “The Lord of hosts will care for His flock” (Zechariah 10:3). At some point, Jesus could say to the crowd: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled among you.”
Today’s Gospel comes to us in two parts placed side by side: a general summary of Jesus’ healing activity and a specific story—the multiplication of the loaves. Both pieces complement each other in their message: the God Jesus reveals is the God of life, of love, of compassion. The prophets had already sensed this: He would destroy death, wipe away the tears from every eye… God cannot bear human suffering. From Isaiah 65:19, God is committed that “the sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in Jerusalem.”
Through different signs, Jesus makes visible the Father’s commitment. When John the Baptist’s messengers ask if He is the one to come (Matthew 11:4ff), He invites them to look and listen: “Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor receive the good news” (Matthew 11:4ff). Surely the evangelist shaped Jesus’ story with Isaiah’s model in mind, seeking the best correspondence. But Jesus’ healing activity, whatever its scope, cannot be denied—even His enemies did not deny it; they simply twisted its meaning: “On the eve of Passover, Jesus was hanged for practicing sorcery and leading Israel astray” (Babylonian Talmud).
The miraculous feeding of the crowd needs little comment, since it is so familiar to us. The early Church told it repeatedly, perhaps every time it celebrated the Lord’s Supper. That is why the accounts resemble each other: “Jesus gave thanks, took the bread, broke it, and gave it to them” (Matthew 15:36 = 26:26).
In both cases, Jesus is the full manifestation of Yahweh, giving life to His people and healing their wounds. And the Church constantly confesses its faith: where Jesus is, there is life. He adds other words: “Whoever comes to me will never hunger or thirst” (John 6:35). How sad that some thinkers have rejected God because they only saw Him as a fearful watchman! Perhaps preachers and theologians are partly to blame; it is not very attractive to repeat the refrain from Calderón de la Barca’s Great Theater of the World: “Do good, because God is God.” That does not reflect the joyful experience of living with the presence and support of the friendly God who always accompanies us with tenderness. Let us not miss this: the multiplication of the loaves was always told in the pattern of the Exodus—God guiding His people through the desert and feeding their hunger with manna. That is our Eucharist, that is our way of living.
Your brother,