HOMILY XXI IN LENT.
JOHN VI, LUKE IX, MARK VI, MATTHEW XIX. At that time Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased, etc.
Those who read or hear the signs and miracles of the Lord and Savior correctly do not pay attention so much to what externally amazes them but rather look at what they should do internally by the example of these things, and what they should perceive as mystical in them. Behold, as Passover was approaching, the feast day of the Jews, the Lord was uplifting the multitude following Him with the word of salvation and likewise with the help of healing. For as another evangelist writes, He was speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and He was healing those who were in need of care, and having completed this teaching and healing, He abundantly fed them from a small amount of food. And so, dearest brothers, following this example as Passover, the feast day of our redemption approaches, let us follow the Lord with our whole heart along with the gathered crowd of brothers, and let us carefully observe the path of His actions so that we may deserve to follow His footsteps. For he who says he abides in Christ ought to walk as He walked. Whatever harmful ignorance we find in ourselves, let us wash away with frequent hearing of His word, and whatever vices of the tempting disease, namely spiritual, we feel to be internally ravaging us, let us ask to be cleansed by the usual gift of His mercy. But even if we behold ourselves united to Him by the sweetness of heavenly life, let us request His grace that He may deign to satisfy us with the gifts of necessary contrition and other spiritual virtues so that at the time of His most holy resurrection, adorned appropriately inside and out, we may partake of the sacraments of our salvation with pure body and heart together. But since we have briefly touched upon these matters, let us more diligently look at the entire sequence of the holy reading and let us uncover whatever mystical insight we can investigate in it for your charity.
Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, which is Tiberias. First, it must be said, according to history, that the Sea of Galilee, which is distinguished by many names due to the diversity of the surrounding regions, is called Tiberias only in those places where it displays the city of Tiberias to the west, as they say, inhabited with beneficial hot waters. Indeed, with the Jordan flowing through it, it extends eighteen thousand paces in length and five in width. Mystically, however, the sea signifies the turbulent and swelling waves of this age, in which any wicked, unjustly delighted, like fish immersed in deep waters, do not uplift the mind to heavenly joys. Hence, this same Sea of Galilee is aptly named, that is, the wheel; because surely the allure [or labor] of the passing age sends hearts into a whirl, which prevents them from being uplifted to the desires of eternal life. Concerning these matters, the Psalmist says: "In the round, the wicked walk" (Psalm XI). But a great multitude was following Jesus as He crossed the Sea of Galilee, because they were receiving the supreme gifts of heavenly teaching, healing, and nourishment from Him. For before the Lord appeared in the flesh, only the Jewish nation followed Him by believing; but after He came by the dispensation of His incarnation, He approached, trampled, and crossed over the waves of mortal life, and immediately a great multitude of nations followed Him, desiring to be spiritually instructed, healed, and satisfied, praying with the Psalmist: "Lord, I have fled to You; teach me to do Your will"; and "Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are troubled" (Psalm I, II). And again, confident of receiving from Him the nourishment of eternal life, “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green pastures" (Psalm XXIII). But when Jesus went up the mountain, there He sat with His disciples, and when the multitude came to Him, He descended and refreshed those in the lower places whom He had shortly before healed in the higher places. Let us by no means believe this happened in vain, but to signify mystically that the Lord distributes His teachings and gifts according to the capacity of the recipients. To the spiritually weak and immature, indeed, He gives simpler sacraments; to the more advanced, He reveals more profound mysteries and secrets of higher wisdom.
Promising higher rewards of heavenly gifts. Finally, to a certain person asking what he should do to gain eternal life, as if to someone still on a lower level, he bestowed common gifts of his generosity, saying: "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother." To the same person, when later seeking greater things, and as if wishing to ascend to the mountain of virtues, he said, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me." The Lord not only taught this in the flesh through his own moderation, but even now continues to display it through the ministers of his word. Hence, concerning these things under the persona of a good servant, it is testified that there should be given to fellow-servants the appropriate measure of wheat in due time, that is, to wisely and timely dispense the food of the word according to the capacity of the listeners. The fact that the Lord teaches, heals, and feeds the crowds as Passover approaches can be mystically interpreted this way: Passover signifies "passage," and whoever the Lord recovers with the internal sweetness of his gifts, he indeed prepares for a healthy passage, so that they transcend the lusts of the flesh with the sublime nature of the mind, and trample the vain desires of the world, both favorable and adverse, with heavenly hope and love. Even though the soul and flesh might not yet fully reach the heights above, since this is clearly promised in the future, whatever those bound by the flesh appear to grasp as lofty things, they regard them as almost nothing in comparison to the eternal, emulating the one who, seeing the dominion elevated and exalted above the cedars of Lebanon, overlooked temporal things by contemplation and saw them as not existing, foreseeing their quick removal. That Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw the multitude coming to him is a sign of divine compassion, because for all those seeking to come to him, he is accustomed to grant the grace of heavenly mercy if they seek it truthfully. And to prevent them from erring in their search, he habitually illuminates those seeking with the light of his Spirit, the seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth (Revelation 5). When the Lord tested Philip, saying, "Where shall we buy bread so these may eat?" he did this with provident dispensation, not to learn what he did not already know, but to make Philip recognize his own lack of faith by being tested, and be corrected by the miracle performed. For surely he should not have doubted, in the presence of the creator of all things, who brings forth bread from the earth and wine that gladdens the heart of man, that the bread of a few denarii could suffice for the thousands in the crowd, so that each could take adequately and go away satisfied. The five loaves with which he fed the multitude are the five books of Moses, opened with spiritual understanding, and with an increasingly abundant sense and multiplied, daily refresh the faithful hearts of the listeners.
Those who are deemed to have been good barley, evidently because of the harsher edicts of the law and the coarse coverings of the letter, which concealed the inner spiritual sense as if it were marrow [hidden]. The two fish he added, without difficulty, signify the writings of the psalmists and the prophets, one of which sang and the other spoke to their listeners about the future sacraments of Christ and the Church. And rightly are the preachers of that age represented by aquatic animals, in which the faithful people could not live at all without the waters of baptism. The boy who had five loaves and two fish, but did not distribute them to the hungry crowds, but offered them to the Lord to distribute, represents the Jewish people with a childish literal sense, who kept the sayings of the Scriptures closed among themselves. These, however, the Lord appearing in the flesh took, and showed what utility and sweetness they had inside, revealed how they overflowed with the multiple grace of the Spirit, which appeared few and despicable, and handed these over to all nations through his apostles and the successors of the apostles, by ministering them. Hence, well do some evangelists report that the Lord gave the loaves and fish to the disciples, and the disciples ministered to the crowds. For when the mystery [or ministry] of human salvation began to be narrated by the Lord from those who heard it, it was confirmed in us by them. The disciples set before the crowds, when they went forth and preached everywhere, with the Lord working with them and confirming the word through accompanying signs. The grass on which the crowd is reclining and is refreshed represents the desire of the flesh, which should be trodden down and pressed by anyone who desires to be satisfied with spiritual nourishment. For all flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass. Therefore, let everyone who desires to be refreshed by the sweetness of the living bread and to be renewed by the heavenly banquet, lest they perish in the lowest state of old, strive to crush the flower of the grass, that is, to subdue their body and bring it into service, subdue the pleasures of the flesh, and restrain the wantonness of luxury. The five thousand men who ate signify the perfection of those who are refreshed by the word of life. For by the name of men those in the Scriptures are typically represented who are more perfect, and whom no effeminacy corrupts, such as the Apostle desires them to be when he says: Watch, stand firm in the faith, act manfully and be strong (1 Cor. 16:13). Moreover, the number of a thousand, beyond which no further calculation of ours extends, is usually used to indicate the fullness of the matters discussed; and the number five expresses our five well-known bodily senses, namely, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. In each of these, those who strive to act manfully and be strengthened, living soberly, righteously, and piously, that they might be worthy to be refreshed by the sweetness of heavenly wisdom, are typified as the five thousand men whom the Lord satisfied with mystical feasts. Nor should it be overlooked that he gave thanks before feeding the multitude. For he gave thanks to teach us always to give thanks for the heavenly [or divinely] received gifts, and to intimate how much he rejoices in our advancements, and rejoices in our spiritual refreshment.
Do you wish to know, brothers, how much he rejoices in our salvation? The Evangelist Luke recounts that he gave the disciples the authority to tread on all the power of the enemy and indicated that their names are written in the heavens, and immediately adds, "In that very hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.'" It is therefore clear that he rejoices in the salvation and life of the faithful, for he praises the Father, giving thanks, because he has revealed the secrets hidden from the proud to the humble in spirit. And when he ordered the disciples to gather the leftover fragments after the multitude was satisfied, lest they perish, it clearly signifies that many things in the divine words are hidden from the senses of the common people, some of which the less learned cannot reach by themselves, but can understand when explained by the more learned. Therefore, it is necessary that those who are able to diligently gather these things by careful examination should bring them to the education of their lesser brothers through speech or writing, lest the nourishment of the word perish through their neglect and be taken away from the people. They gathered them, he says, and filled twelve baskets with fragments. Because the number twelve is usually used to signify any sum of perfection, it is rightly expressed by the twelve baskets full of fragments, representing the whole chorus of spiritual doctors, who are commanded to gather the obscure things of Scriptures, which the crowd cannot reach by themselves, and to keep what they have gathered by meditation and written word for their own use and the use of the crowd. The apostles and evangelists did this, inserting many mystical sayings of the law and prophets into their writings with explanations added by their interpreters. The Church teachers in the whole world, who followed them, also discussed some entire books of both Testaments with more diligent explanation—even if they are despised by men, they are fruitful with the bread of heavenly grace. For servile works are usually done with baskets. Hence, about the people who once served in clay and bricks in Egypt, the Psalmist says, "His hands served in the basket" (Psalm 80). Therefore, those people, when they saw what sign he had done, said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." They rightly said that the Lord was a great prophet, the herald of great salvation about to come to the world. For he himself deigned to call himself a prophet, where he says, "For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem." But they were not yet advancing in full faith, for they did not know to call him Lord. Therefore, those seeing the sign that Jesus had done, said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." We, with more certain knowledge of the truth and faith, seeing the world that Jesus made and the signs with which he filled it, let us say, "This is indeed the mediator of God and men, who fills the world with divinity, and the world was made through him, who came to his own to seek and save the human race that perished, and to renew the world that he made, who is with his faithful in the world through the presence of divinity all days until the end of the age, who at the end of the age will come through humanity into the world to render to each according to their works: casting the impious and sinners into eternal fire, and bringing the just into eternal life, in which he lives with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.