Isaiah 25:6-10
On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain;
but Moab will be trampled in their land
as straw is trampled down in the manure.
• The reign of God is often likened to a feast or a banquet where all peoples are fed, without entry requirements or conditions. In fact, all people are fed “rich food.” Reflect on your own experience of offering food to someone who is hungry.
• Consider your own experience of hunger. Can you remember a time when you went without food for an extended period of time? What was it like to have food before you at the end of that extended period of hunger? (Perhaps even a meager meal seemed like a feast!)
• Take a moment to reflect on your current relationship with food. How do you think of food? How do you use food?
• Obviously, hunger and feasting are actual states. But they are also important symbols in spiritual living. Take a moment to reflect on hunger and feasting as spiritual symbols. Perhaps find your own vocabulary for the two. Connect with what it means to be driven by hunger . . . and what it means to be satiated by feasting.
Showing posts with label feast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label feast. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
First Wednesday of Advent - December 5, 2018
Having Enough
Isaiah 25:6-10
Matthew 15:29-37
Isaiah 25 offers the image of a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, as a symbol of the coming "day of the Lord" at a table where everyone eats together.
The age of God's reign is often imaged in scripture as a feast, as a banquet at which all are fed, regardless of social class, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, or political persuasion. Everyone gathers at the table for a banquet. The poor and the rich are seated at the same table for God's feast, the finest meats, the best wines, enough for everyone, a table of plenty.
Whenever the Church offers a Eucharistic meal, the very act of Communion from a "common" table, she provides a miniature sign of this all-encompassing feast foreshadowed in scripture.
In the Gospel for today, Matthew describes the feast a bit differently than Isaiah. The feast is not opulence, but rather is simple sustenance for people who are hungry and in danger of "collapsing on the way." (For another time, you might consider this text with eyes beyond the literal . . . what is the true food of God that feeds people, sustaining us so that we don't "collapse on the way"?)
Many people have gathered, hungry, and in gathering resources to feed north of 4,000 people, some loaves and a few fish have been shared. It is not much, but it is enough.
Indeed, there is enough food to feed everyone, the story goes on to demonstrate. But what I have in my possession must be shared, not hoarded, not used as an instrument of social control. The food and resources at my disposal are not to be used in a way that holds power over those who have not. The bread must be brought together and shared for the common good.
The wonder here is not only the miracle of Jesus somehow causing bread and fish to multiply. The miracle is also the wonder of human sharing . . . the miracle of what happens within people when they take their grip off the resources they hold, and make those resources available for the common good . . . when we all share together, refusing to hold onto what we have -- either to punish the other, or to control them by what we have and they have-not -- so that everyone has enough.
Everyone is fed. There is plenty to go around. There are baskets of leftovers.
Perhaps Matthew is answering Isaiah, saying in effect that the day of the Lord is here already, right now, when people share what they have so that everyone has enough. It is not a feast of opulence, but it is enough, plenty for hungry people.
For Reflection:
What do you hold in your hand? Take inventory of what you have, the resources at your disposal. Everyone has something to share . . . material goods . . . time . . . expertise in some area . . . a willing spirit . . . compassion. What do you have to share so that others have enough? And how might you share this week?
Isaiah 25:6-10
Matthew 15:29-37
Isaiah 25 offers the image of a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, as a symbol of the coming "day of the Lord" at a table where everyone eats together.
The age of God's reign is often imaged in scripture as a feast, as a banquet at which all are fed, regardless of social class, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, or political persuasion. Everyone gathers at the table for a banquet. The poor and the rich are seated at the same table for God's feast, the finest meats, the best wines, enough for everyone, a table of plenty.
Whenever the Church offers a Eucharistic meal, the very act of Communion from a "common" table, she provides a miniature sign of this all-encompassing feast foreshadowed in scripture.
In the Gospel for today, Matthew describes the feast a bit differently than Isaiah. The feast is not opulence, but rather is simple sustenance for people who are hungry and in danger of "collapsing on the way." (For another time, you might consider this text with eyes beyond the literal . . . what is the true food of God that feeds people, sustaining us so that we don't "collapse on the way"?)
Many people have gathered, hungry, and in gathering resources to feed north of 4,000 people, some loaves and a few fish have been shared. It is not much, but it is enough.
Indeed, there is enough food to feed everyone, the story goes on to demonstrate. But what I have in my possession must be shared, not hoarded, not used as an instrument of social control. The food and resources at my disposal are not to be used in a way that holds power over those who have not. The bread must be brought together and shared for the common good.
The wonder here is not only the miracle of Jesus somehow causing bread and fish to multiply. The miracle is also the wonder of human sharing . . . the miracle of what happens within people when they take their grip off the resources they hold, and make those resources available for the common good . . . when we all share together, refusing to hold onto what we have -- either to punish the other, or to control them by what we have and they have-not -- so that everyone has enough.
Everyone is fed. There is plenty to go around. There are baskets of leftovers.
Perhaps Matthew is answering Isaiah, saying in effect that the day of the Lord is here already, right now, when people share what they have so that everyone has enough. It is not a feast of opulence, but it is enough, plenty for hungry people.
For Reflection:
What do you hold in your hand? Take inventory of what you have, the resources at your disposal. Everyone has something to share . . . material goods . . . time . . . expertise in some area . . . a willing spirit . . . compassion. What do you have to share so that others have enough? And how might you share this week?
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