Feed Us Lord
In the scriptures, the mountain is a place of encounter with God. Today, Isaiah gives us a picture of what comes out of that encounter: our hunger is satisfied, our thirst quenched, and our tears wiped away. The crowd that followed Jesus could bear testimony to this when they followed him to the mountain where he healed their ailments and fed them to their fill. You too can be part of that testimony. There is really no special qualification for it. Isaiah said the banquet is prepared for all peoples (Isa 25:7) and Jesus proved him right when he told his disciples to make everyone sit and fed all of them to their fill. You only need to be in the presence of Jesus to get filled too.
What sign does God give his people that the promised Messiah, God's Anointed Son, will come to bring his heavenly peace and blessing and kingdom power to overcome the power of sin and oppression? In Jesus's time the people were in eager expectation that the Messiah would come soon. The prophets foretold that he would come in the power of Elijah and would perform mighty signs like Moses did when he delivered his people from slavery in Egypt. Some 700 years before Jesus came, Isaiah had prophesied that God would provide a heavenly banquet for all peoples and would destroy death once and for all (Isaiah 25:6-8). Jesus, God's Anointed Son, came to fulfill that promise. From today's Gospel, we see this fulfilment by Jesus, of not only feeding people with physical food but also with spiritual food.
1. Both Feet on the Ground: Advent lends itself to deep meditation on the Incarnation. Today, Jesus’s humanity comes out quite clearly. Jesus walked along the seashore, as we like to do in moments of peace. He labored up a mountain, and probably sweat while doing it—as we toil when working. He felt the crush and smelled the crowd that pursued him, vying for his time and attention as our families vie for ours. Amidst our challenges, Christ does not forget us. Not only does his heart have compassion on us in our spiritual trials, but he takes into consideration our poor, beleaguered bodies as well. At times, he orders us to rest: “Just sit down!” he commanded the crowd.
2. Where in the World? Like the crowd in the Gospel, we have also now been with Christ for these first three days of Advent. Perhaps we also feel that we have nothing to eat, that our efforts so far have been barren and that we might faint along the way to Christmas. The intense demands on our time and energy are so great that we can feel harassed or simply inadequate. With the disciples, we groan, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Our Lord doesn’t insist that we have all of our own resources to persevere. He simply works miracles with what little we freely give him.
3. Deep Satiety: Christ gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples in a manner heavily laden with Eucharistic symbolism. The Eucharist is the true food given us by God. It is existential food, which means that it gives meaning to our lives. When we eat bread, our stomachs are filled; when we eat Christ, all that we are and all that we desire is filled. The Eucharist is the solution to those persistent inner longings that we all have longings for friendship, for love, for self-giving, for adventure, for meaning. As St. John Paul II said, “Jesus Christ is the answer to the question posed by every human life.”
Let us Pray.
Jesus, help me to refocus on you and on the gift of your Body and Blood. Time and again I tiptoe around, tinkering with foolish things that will not satisfy my hunger for life, for truth, for meaning. Thank you for inviting me again to the mountaintop! Renew my desire to receive you in the Eucharist, so that I can feed those around me with your love. Amen
Be blessed.
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