On the Compassion of God
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 3, 2014
Preview: I read some patristic commentaries on this Gospel reading, the feeding of the five thousand, and every single one of them focused on the meaning of this Gospel as the proof of Christ's divinity. I think there is more to it than that. So, although the patristic commentators meant well in their context, and their writing made sense, I think that if we stop there, we have missed the point. The reason Jesus fed the thousands was not to show His power, and not to prove that He was the Messiah. Why did He do it? Why did He perform all of his miracles? There's another reason. I do not think that the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is about power. Power is not the proof of Christ's divinity that matters most to Christ, though it may matter to us.