Lectionary Notes: Feeding The Hungry

Things have been a bit non-stop this last week, so I’m afraid these notes are late, slightly shorter than usual and a little bit rushed, but as GK Chesterton said, “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly”…

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 31st July, 2011

Reading 1: Isaiah 55:1-3

After Jeremiah, Isaiah is my favourite prophet. This book is often called “The Fifth Gospel” and, with a passage like this, it’s easy to see why. Here, God gives a beautiful invitation to His people to come and be satisfied, to return to Him, to come and be filled free of charge! Why settle for anything less?

When we recognize our hunger and our dependence on God, He will fill us and give us life.

Thus says the LORD:

“All you who are thirsty, come to the water!
You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!

Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David”

Suggested Questions:

• What is the general invitation of this passage?
• What does this food and drink cost? What does this say about God?
• What do you think the “water” here represents?
• What do you think the “grain” here represents?
• What do you think the “wine” here represents?
• What do you think the “milk” here represents?
• In what way do we “spend [our] money on what is not bread”?
• Why do we do spend our “wages for what fails to satisfy”?
• What is promised together with this food?
• What was the promise God made to David?
• How do we experience the invitation of this passage today?

Commentary:

“All you who are thirsty, come to the water!”

In this we can see the soul thirsting for God like a deer panting for water (Psalm 42:1). We can also see this as the “living water” described by Jesus to the woman at the well (John 4:10) and Jesus’ promise of living water flowing from within (John 7:38).

Those who are thirsty realize their need for something. If we recognize our need, God will supply it.

Wisdom makes a similar invitation in the book of Proverbs:

“Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed” – Proverbs 9:5

“You who have no money, come, ….Come, without paying and without cost“

This speaks of God’s grace, His goodness, His free gift to us…

In times of extreme hardship even water had to be paid for (Lamentations 5:4)

“…receive grain…”

We associate “grain” with bread, reminding us of the manna in the desert (John 6:31), the Lord’s Prayer for “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) and ultimately the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 10:16).

“…drink wine and milk!”

Wine speaks of richness, enjoyment and abundance (and ultimately the cup of the Eucharist).

Milk speaks of nurture and growth, but also of abundance – the land of Israel was known as the land flowing “with milk and honey” (Exodus 33:3). As an interesting side note, it appears that in the early centuries of Christianity, those newly-baptised would also receive a cup of milk and honey to signal their arrival into the spiritual “promised land” and to also strengthen them since it is the food of newborns (Tertullian, The crown or De Corona, Chapter 3).

“Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?”

We so often accept the counterfeit, those things which promise to fulfill us, but fail to do so since only God can truly satisfy (Deuteronomy 8:3).

I also saw one commentary which suggested this possibly refers to the husks of pagan religious practices.

“Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare….listen, that you may have life“

Being fed by the Lord implies that we listen carefully to Him. When we do so, we find new life. As Jesus said “life in abundance” (John 10:10).

“I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David”

The Lord had promised David an everlasting dynasty (2 Samuel 7:14-16) from which would come the Messiah….Jesus. Peter actually quotes this passage on His Pentecost day speech:

“God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David'” – Acts 13:34

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18

This week’s psalm is another acrostic psalm which speaks of God’s care and His provision for those He has created.

R. (cf. 16) The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

The LORD is gracious and merciful, 
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.

The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.

Suggested Questions:

• What is the main thrust of this psalm?

 

Reading II: Romans 8:35, 37-39

Paul declares that nothing, not even suffering, can separate us from God’s love. This isn’t saying “once saved always saved” (we can choose to reject God’s grace), but that nothing is more powerful than the love of Christ and no outside force can threaten it. Nothing can separate us, absolutely nothing. Even if we suffer, even this cannot separate us from Christ’s love and through Him we will “conquer overwhelmingly”.

Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? 

Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? 
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. 

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Suggested Questions:

• What is Paul’s main assertion in this section of Romans?
• What do we imagine will separate us from God’s love?
• Did Paul experience these?
• Why doesn’t Paul include sin in this list?

Commentary:

“What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?”

Can suffering or persecution separate us from Christ’s love? Short answer: No!

These are covenant curses in the Old Testament and in verse 36 (which we don’t have), Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 where the psalmist questions why the righteous suffer together with the sinners. In light of Christ we see how we are called to imitate Him.

Paul had experienced most these sufferings, so he could speak from experience. He would ultimately depart this earth through “the sword” (he was beheaded), yet through this martyrdom he became more fully united with Christ.

“No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us”

Rather than conquer through our own abilities, we conquer through Christ whose great act of Calvary love destroyed death.

Also, this “conquer[ing]” can often look to the world like the complete opposite of “conquering”. If you remember, when we looked at Polycarp’s Martyrdom, we were told he “overcame the unjust magistrate” – to the world it looked like the complete opposite!

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”

What cannot separate us from the love of Christ?

Existence: “death…life”
Spirits: “angels…principalities”
Time: “present things…future things”
Astronomical Forces: “height…depth”

One commentary also suggested that “height…depth” may be being used to indicate that we cannot get out of God’s reach. Exactly what each of these items are doesn’t actually really matter. It boils down to this: no created thing can separate us from the love of God 🙂

 

Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21

It is significant that the feeding of the multitude appears in every single Gospel. The Early Church Fathers saw this event as a clear reference to the Eucharist, in which God miraculously feeds His people. John places this event at the Passover, one year before the Passion (John 6:4).

In this passage Jesus shows Himself to be a shepherd (Ezekiel 34:23-31) like David (Psalm 23) who lays His flock down in green pastures. He prepares for them a banquet. This whole episode is prefigured in the smaller-scale mass feeding by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:42-44).

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.

When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” 

Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”  But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. 

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full.

Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

Suggested Questions:

• Who was John the Baptist?
• How is Jesus’ humanity demonstrated here? What can we learn from this?
• What lesson do you think Jesus was trying to teach His disciples here?
• How do you think those disciples would have felt?
• Does this episode have any resonance with events of the Old Testament?
• What might this miraculous feeding prefigure?
• What is the significance of the left-over scraps? Why do you think that there were twelve baskets?
• What did the crowd do to earn the food given to them by Jesus?

Commentary:

“When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself”

John was Jesus’ cousin and forerunner, the figure of Elijah who was to precede the Messiah. In response to his death, Jesus goes to a secluded place, no doubt to pray.

“The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick”

His compassion causes Him to minister to the crowds who come to Him for help. He was indeed the good shepherd.

“When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, ‘This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.’ ” 

I appreciate this line of thought – very practical 🙂

“Jesus said to them, ‘There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.'”

Jesus invites the disciples to offer what they have

“But they said to him, ‘Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.'”

The provisions they had were few, but what they had, they offered. St. John, Patriarch of Alexandria said that the loves signify alms.

You often find in early Christian artwork of loaves and fishes, even within the setting of the Last Supper.

It’s interesting to note that 5 + 2 = 7, the covenant number, associated with fullness and completeness.

“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them…”

Matthew underscores here the similarity with the Last supper: “took…blessed…broke…gave” (Matthew 26:26).

“…gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds”

This prefigures the priesthood – it is God who supplies the heavenly food, but His ministers are used to bring it to the people.

“They all ate and were satisfied”

…just like Isaiah promised

“…and they picked up the fragments left over”

A sign of abundance.

“twelve wicker baskets full”

The number twelve is significant because it is the number of the tribes of Israel and the number of Apostles, the “pillars of the Church” (Galatians 2:9). This works out as a basket-full per Apostle.

“Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children”

God takes what we offer and can multiply it many times over when it is offered in the service of His Kingdom.