May 5, 2014, Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Gospel JN 6:22-29
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
REFLECTION
"The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left."
Immediately after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (a type of the Eucharistic celebration), after the adulation of the crowds, perhaps some big high-fives and fist thumps; after the most revolutionary sermon (on the mount) has been preached, we find a a curious thing: Jesus has gone off on his own, and the disciples went their own way on a boat. The disciples go off on their way to tend to presumably attend to the mundane tasks of of Jesus' mission.
Like the first disciples, on this third Monday of Easter, we too leave, separated from the rest of the believers at the Sunday feast to go back to work and deal with the sometimes messy details of keeping "the mission" that Jesus has entrusted to us going. Jesus has not abandoned us, nor do we abandon Jesus. We simple shift gears, taking Jesus with us to the rest of the world, in our workplaces, schools, homes and the larger community.
Perhaps we can ask ourselves, "How can I best bring Jesus with me this week, and how can I share him with those whom I encounter?" "How can I find Jesus in the everyday details of life?" If we are prayerfully intentional in our resolve to also be disciples of Jesus in the midst of the world, we will no doubt find a multiplicity of ways: in our homes, at the office, at school, at the warehouse, at the construction site and in our hearts.
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