Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 6, 2017 - 1st Week of Advent - Wed
[Isa 25:6-10a and Matt 15:29-37]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] Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there.....He summoned his disciples and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way." [Matthew]
"FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOOOD!" That wonderful song from the musical, OLIVER comes to mind when I read Isaiah's glorious vision of the messianic banquet. That vision also may have occurred to the evangelist Matthew (and the other three) when he recorded the event of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. The mention of a mountain should alert us in both scriptures because important things happen on a mountain in the Bible! Jesus feeds the multitude with "seven loaves and a few fish." It may not be quite the menu that Isaiah mentions, but it satisfies the crowd. In the Gospel According to John, the crowd gets excited enough to try to declare Jesus their king! [John 6:15]
Even a superficial reading of the gospels shows Jesus at a banquet table quite often. All these themes of food can come together in our very own understanding of the Eucharist. That is rich food for contemplation because we are preparing to celebrate the feast of the birth of Jesus, when he is presented to us bodily. He will offer himself to us bodily at the Last Supper. He becomes food for us. The story of God's promise in Isaiah is fulfilled in our liturgical celebration year after year. Advent prepares us by giving us the scriptures of hope. The table is being set. AMEN