Jesus Surprised At Anxiety Of Disciples

𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐉𝐚𝐦 𝟏:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟗𝟒:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟓, 𝟏𝟖-𝟏𝟗 “𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭, 𝐎 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐊 𝟖:𝟏𝟒-𝟐𝟏

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝?” (𝐯.𝟏𝟕) 

         Anxiety is part and parcel of human nature. I have yet to meet someone who has not experienced anxiety in his or her life. In my past life, anxiety always filled every fiber of my being especially when I am running after a big story during my reportorial days.

         There was a time when me and my family went outing and I forgot to load the cooler into my car or that time when I was already in the teaching ministry of the BLD and was sent to teach a Basic Bible Seminar and forgot to bring of all things my Bible.

         And in today’s Gospel reading, we see a perfect example of how anxiety can becloud a person’s better judgment when the Disciples seem problematic and were probably discussing how on earth can one loaf of bread suffice. It is because of such anxiety that they all forgot about the two times that Jesus broke five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 Jews and 4,000 Gentiles.  

          If you have been following up on the Gospel readings, you would have sensed the frustration of Jesus who “𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭” (𝐯.𝟏𝟐) at the seeming lack of faith of the religious leaders of his time who kept pressing him to give them a sign.

         And today we will again witness the exasperation of Jesus this time at his disciples who were stricken with anxiety for not bringing enough bread for them to eat. And he had to remind them of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 that leftovers numbered 12 wicker baskets and the question that Jesus asked “𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝?” (𝐯.𝟐𝟏) was a sign of his dismay.

         Today there is also a tinge of Pharisee in us as we sometimes find it hard to believe unless we see it with our own eyes. In fact, like the Pharisees of old many of us have made it a habit to ask God for a sign to indicate their prayers are or have been answered. Like the disciples in today’s gospel reading, there are times when we also are slow to learn and understand what Jesus is telling us through the Scriptures.

         It is normal for every person to feel anxious especially when there are things that need to be done or matters that have to be attended to in the soonest possible time. Each one of us has experienced bouts of anxiety at one time or another and we all know how it feels.

         We experience anxiety in school, and we could feel our hearts beating faster than normal when we are about to take an important examination. We also get butterflies in our system when we go out on our first date. We fret over family problems, and our knees shake when we ask our bosses for a pay hike.

         This also happened to me during our early days as disciples in the community as I felt a terrible rush of anxiety when we were asked to lead the Rosary before the opening prayer of our ministry’s WSC. In the early days of the BLD, the WSC was called Bi-Ref and there were around 200 members in attendance at the time.

         It was then normal for Ministries and Apostolates of the BLD to have somewhere between 150 to 200 members who moved from one ministry to the other in one big batch. This was before schisms and personal ambitions crept into the community that divided what was in those days one of the biggest charismatic movements in Metro Manila.

          While these maybe natural we must try to outgrow them but if these persist especially if these bouts of worries, fears, or anxiety and panic seem overwhelming and are preventing you from living your life the way God wants you to, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder for which you may need medical attention and spiritual healing.

         What happened in this Gospel passage was that the disciples forgot to bring bread except for one loaf they had on the boat. But for us to understand the message in this passage we need to go back to the previous passage (𝐯𝐯.𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟑) when Jesus miraculously fed the 4,000 who were following him for three days with just seven loaves and a few small fish.

         And since the exchange between Jesus and the disciples was about bread that the disciples forgot to bring, Jesus let out a warning to his disciples to be wary of the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod. What Jesus was referring to are the wrong teachings and practices that the Pharisees were passing on to the people that Jesus likened to yeast.

         It was the common belief of the Jews that yeast symbolizes evil and anyone who is familiar with bread making would know that only a small amount of yeast could make a batch of bread rise. Using this as an analogy, what Jesus was simply saying was that the stubbornness and the arrogance of the Pharisees and the political leaders identified with Herod could infect the whole of Jewish society and culture and make it rise against Jesus the purveyor of truth.

         And Jesus was known to use harsh words in describing the Pharisees as the “𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝” (𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟏𝟓:𝟏𝟒), referred to them as “𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡” (𝐋𝐤 𝟏𝟐:𝟏) but “𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐧” (𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟐𝟑:𝟓). Jesus also accused the Pharisees of many other things but the worst reference to them was that they (Pharisees) “𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧.” (𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟐𝟑:𝟏𝟑).           

          Jesus must have been irritated at the anxiousness of his disciples who were fretting over the bread they forgot to bring which was why he asked: “𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝? 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫? 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫?” (𝐯𝐯.𝟏𝟕-𝟏𝟖)          

         What Jesus was pointing out was for his disciples to have more faith as he reminded them of the time, he used five loaves and two pieces of fish to feed 5,000 men, women and children (𝐌𝐤 𝟔:𝟑𝟎-𝟒𝟒) and the 4,000 who followed him for three days (𝐌𝐤 𝟖:𝟏-𝟏𝟎).        

        In essence, what this particular Gospel passage is telling us is that anxiety is a clear sign of lack of faith in God “𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬” (𝐏𝐡𝐢 𝟒:𝟏𝟗) such that we should not at anytime fret, worry and, be anxious because we do not only have a great and mighty God but we have a rich God whose heavenly treasure is open to all who will believe in him.

        As anxiety is not of God, we can remove this from our nature by drawing on the perfect love of God that drives out fear (𝟏 𝐉𝐧 𝟒:𝟏𝟖). In times when we become susceptible to anxiety, fear, worry, we need to ask God to pour out his love on us, to increase our faith and to have the perfect trust and confidence that will allow us to place our lives in the palm of his hand.

         The world around us is filled with problems that tend to draw our attention away from God and that is precisely what the evil one wants. But God is bigger than whatever problems may come our way such that we must have absolute confidence in God's abiding presence especially when we pray the Lord’s Prayer with the joyful confidence of a child before our Heavenly Father. 

        Today there are still Pharisees (fundamentalists) and Herodians (political activists) who are passing on to us their own traditions and practices instead of God’s commands and who do not truly show people the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. These modern-day Pharisees love to make distinctions where God has made none. We can avoid becoming one by seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness as well. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 17, 2026)