Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 - 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.....The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces....[Isaiah] Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there......Jesus summoned his disciples and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd....[Matthew]
In the Bible, "mountain events" are big events and usually mean to us, centuries later, "Listen up, folks! God has something to say!" Moses on Mt. Sinai and Jesus on a "mountain" by the Sea of Galilee are deliberately brought together in the portrait of Jesus in the Gospel According to Matthew. Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount and he heals and feeds the multitude on a mountain. Later on he will be transfigured on a mountain. Moses and Isaiah are incarnated in the person of Jesus in this image.
The majestic and magisterial setting, however, should not drown out the principal feeling of compassion that Isaiah and Matthew portray. Jesus responds to the "lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others." He provides a banquet to feed the hungry crowds. The "tears of suffering" are wiped away to make room for "tears of gratitude."
The holiday season is a tough season in ordinary times. During the current pandemic, the usual challenges of daily life plus the particular problems of health, unemployment, illness (especially the COVID) magnify the sorrow. In what way can we replace the mountains of problems with the mountain of compassion? What tears can we wipe away in this season of Advent/Christmas? Jesus is summoning us, his disciples, and asking how we can help! If we can share our own resources, meager though they may be in the face of so many hungry needs, Jesus will take care of the rest and Isaiah's vision will live in our own time. AMEN