SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

First Reading 2 Kgs 4:42-44  Elisha feeds a hundred people with twenty loaves.

Second Reading Eph 4:1-6 Live a life worthy of your calling.

Gospel Jn 6:1-15  Jesus feeds five thousand.

Gospel Focus – Messiah

At the time of Jesus there was a heightened expectation that the Messiah – the anointed one of God – would come and once again set the people of Israel free. 

However, there was great conjecture about what sort of person the Messiah would be. 

Some thought he would be a warrior king; others a wise priestly leader; others thought a shepherd-king in the image of David. 

Confounding all these expectations, Jesus’ model of Messianic leadership was that of the servant leader; a leader who was one with the people, offering hope and meaning in the midst of their everyday suffering and struggling.