Plenty. First of all, someone in the Old Testament had multiplied loaves, and they too were barley loaves. Elisha was the successor of Elijah, the greatest of all the prophets.Įlijah had multiplied flour and oil to save a widow and her son from starvation. For example, just about every Christian has heard the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, in fact numerous times. But we’ve probably overlooked the fact that they were barley loaves. What significance could that have? Multiplication of the Loaves & Fishes Mystery in History – Biblical Symbolsīut Brown’s secret code, the 2000 year chain of clues supposedly leading to the true identity of Jesus and his holy grail, is simply a parody of the real mystery embedded in history. The writer of this authentic “symbology” is the Holy Spirit and the code book is the Bible. For thousands of years people have “searched the Scriptures” under the guidance of the same Spirit who inspired them, looking for connections between people, places, things. They’ve discovered one coherent story of salvation history amidst many different books, written in different genres and styles, by many different human writers over the course of centuries.Įach Sunday, the Catholic Church puts together Old and New Testament scripture readings to bring out connections that many of us would fail to see without a little help. Italy, click on the play arrow on the left, directly below this paragraph.įinding hidden meanings. Unraveling mysteries. Deciphering symbols. The thrill inherent in all this is partly why Dan Brown’s book, the Da Vinci Code, sold so well. For the 17th Sunday in Ordinary time cycle B. It points beyond itself back to Old Testament persons and events and forward to the Eucharist. John calls it a sign, a symbolic event with many hidden meanings. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes is the only miracle of Jesus recorded in all four gospels. More such examples would follow in the difficult days to come.This post is also available in: Spanish, Italian Instead, it seems Jesus gave Peter one more confirmation that God was fully capable of providing for him all that was needed at any time. We're not told that Jesus and the disciples did not have the money to pay the tax otherwise. Peter was to use that coin to pay the two-drachma, half-shekel tax for both himself and for Jesus. In the mouth of that fish, Jesus says, Peter will find a shekel-this is described as a statēr in the original Greek. He tells the former fisherman to go to the nearby Sea of Galilee, cast a hook, and catch a fish. Jesus commands Peter to find the money for the tax in a surprising way. These early believers had to decide whether to pay this tax after the church was established in Acts 2, and before the temple was destroyed in AD 70. Still, it may have provided important teaching for Jewish Christians. This passage does not have much to say about whether Christians should pay taxes to governments (Matthew 22:15–22). He is not willing to make this issue a point of conflict. Jesus is also aware that the religious leaders are looking for anything they can use to discredit Him or to have Him arrested. He does this to avoid causing unnecessary offense over this issue (Matthew 5:9 Romans 12:18). From a spiritual or moral standpoint, there's no reason Jesus needs to pay this toll.ĭespite being free from that obligation, on technical grounds, Jesus agrees to pay the tax. Jesus, though, has declared He is exempt from the tax since He is the Son of the "king"-God-who is collecting it (Matthew 17:24–26). Peter told the collectors of the tax for the temple, set up by God in Exodus 30:13–16, that Jesus would pay the tax.
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