Thursday of the 31st Week

James 1:19-27

My beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 

Mark 6:30-45

At that time, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

Having gone out to preach and perform miracles, the Apostles do not go off their own way, but, keeping their mind on the One who sent them, return to Jesus to report what they had done. Likewise, St. James reminds us that it is not sufficient for us merely to receive the calling, hearing, and then forgetting as soon as we depart, but we have to put that calling into practice. The Lord gives them rest on account of their physical exhaustion - if pushed too far, we will break and become unable to do what we are called to do - but I think this also signifies the importance of private prayer, time spent alone with Christ, which forms the foundations for all our other pursuits and interactions, both spiritual and mundane. I certainly find that when I am negligent with my private prayers at home, my experience of the Divine Liturgy, for example, suffers considerably. Furthermore, the Apostles did not seek acknowledgement for their wonderworking, but went away to a desolate place out of humility. Yet in their humility they were exalted (Matt. 23:12), and the crowds, quite literally "quick to hear," ran ahead of them to meet them. Should we not be the same in our spiritual life? We should not sit passively waiting for the Lord to appear to us, but should hasten to prepare ourselves so that we are ready when He does appear, like the wise virgins (Matt. 25). This preparation involves us being "quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger," in order to "put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." 

The crowds had run into the wilderness to hear Jesus without worrying about anything else, as we can see by the fact that they brought no food with them. Christ first feeds the crowds with spiritual food, and then after with physical food. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself" (Matt. 6:33-4). He does not simply perform the miracle, however, but waits for the disciples to approach Him. Once again, faith is active, not passive. Furthermore, He does not simply cause food to appear out of thin air, but asks the Apostles to bring their own food, showing us the need to sacrifice for the sake of others: "He who has compassion on the poor lends to God, and he will repay him according to his gift" (Prov. 19:17). Indeed, James reminds us that caring for others is the very hallmark of true religion: "to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." The food is itself a symbol of the true religion, the five loaves symbolising the five books of Moses while the two fish represent the two writings of the fishermen, the disciples, namely the Gospels and Epistles. There is so much more than could be said about this story - you could write a whole book just on this passage - which is exactly how the Fathers interpret the twelve baskets of left over fragments. We read the Scriptures and are satisfied - that is, we get from them whatever we need for salvation, and according to our own limited understanding - but there is still much left which we are not able to grasp, but which the twelve disciples could. Aware of our ignorance, let us be slow to speak, but quick to hear, and hasten to put the little we do know into practice that we might be of benefit to ourselves and others.