Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 12, 2008 - Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Isaiah 25:6-10A; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14]On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. (Isaiah) The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. (Gospel of Matthew)
It has been demonstrated that people who are starving will have vivid dreams of food that could easily be described by the images from Isaiah, quoted above. I find this fact to be very challenging in the light of the continual use of food as an image of God's presence. In the Old Testament, the use of food as an image of a relationship with God begins with the fruit of the forbidden tree in Genesis! Manna in the desert becomes an image of God's caring for the Chosen People in their wanderings. In the New Testament, Jesus is depicted often at a meal in the homes of Pharisees and Tax Collectors alike! He multiplies the loaves and fishes, and ultimately identifies bread and wine as his body and blood and leaves this sign as something we must do in his memory. The danger for many of us is to divorce hunger for food in the scriptures from hunger for food in the world around us. This divorce can reflect the tendency to "compartmentalize" our faith and segregate it from the rest of our lives. It is well known that food resources abound on this planet but political and social policies prevent millions from receiving elementary nutrition! Even in an affluent society such as our American one, there are people, especially children, who lack adequate nutrition. The social and image connections with certain forms of unhealthy fast food makes the problem worse. Another ironic statistic concerns the high rate of obesity in the USA! If we are failing to give food to the hungry, we fail one of the important tests of Matthew 25! In terms of today's gospel, we would be coming to the wedding banquet without a wedding garment! On the local level, assisting with food banks or soup kitchens or promoting responsible agencies like the Christian Fund for Children and the Aging or OXFAM or other similar agencies can be a way of making it possible for everyone to experience the kingdom in action! The invitation has been given by the Lord! Do we have anything to wear? AMEN
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