In the gospel passage, we read about Jesus performing a miraculous action, the multiplication of bread. Jesus takes the initiative in feeding the crowd and they, on their part, acclaim him as a prophet and see him as the fulfillment of their hopes for a messianic king. This scene looks to Israel of the past and of the Eucharistic community of the future. Like Moses, who feeds the people with manna, Jesus, feeds his people with a new manna, which is his life-giving word. In the end, however, the crowd do not grasp the meaning of the person of Jesus because their hopes for a Messiah were clouded by politics and human logic.

The failure to comprehend fully the person of Jesus continues even after his resurrection. The Acts of the Apostles describes the conflict between the chief priest and his followers, the old leaders of the Jewish people, and Peter and the rest of the apostles, who represent the new leaders. Clouded by politics and human logic, the former listen to Gamaliel's advice to "wait and see" if "this movement of theirs..." fails or succeeds. As such, they miss the point of Jesus' resurrection. We too can be focused on "matters of the world" or only depend on human logic to understand Jesus and his resurrection. We may want to "wait and see" before we grasp the true meaning of the Easter-event. Jesus will come to us in many ways during this Easter season, most especially through the Eucharist. Let us not wait too long to "see" him!