The Woman At The Well

 The Miraculous Bread, the Bread of Life

“He looked up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave the bread to the disciples, who in turn gave the bread to the crowd.” (Matt14:20) The multiplication of loaves and fishes is an image of our communion with Jesus and each other. 

It is an image of what happened and what happens now. It is a blessing and an obligation. It is a gift of Self and a gift from oneself.

It is a changing of compassion into action; it is a changing of crowd into community. It is a changing of bread into the Body of Christ. It is real. It is a union of Jew and Gentile-5000 on the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee, 4000 later on the west side of the sea.

 
It is a union of Savior and saved; of Christ giving and apostles not imaging they had anything to give away to anyone. It is a meal for friends and a meal that fulfills and transcends all others. 

It looks back to the Old Testament and looks forward to the institution of the Eucharist. It remembers the manna from the desert and the true bread of satisfying food. It goes from satisfying to another to being satisfied in oneself. It remembers Isiah's prophesy ( Is55:1-3) of the covenant with Israel and the everlasting covenant of Christ. 

It is the greater power of Christ rather than the power of Elijah and Elisha to multiply food for sustenance. It is a miracle, a sign: it goes from known to knowledge of something unknown and greater than that known. By “blessing”, “broke”, “gave” to the apostles and all were satisfied, Eucharist was made known and understood. 

Man goes from knowledge of loaves and fishes to knowledge of Christ as Son of the living God. Bread is transformed, so too man is transformed, changed. It is indeed a miraculous bread.