The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meditate on a scene of peace, care and nourishment that we have known as a gift from God or that we have offered to others on our journey.
Fed on the mountain
The reading from the Prophet Isaiah today is frequently chosen for funeral liturgy as it calls us to be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
* [25:1–9] These verses praise God for carrying out his plan to destroy the enemy and to save the poor of his people in Zion (14:32), and they announce the victory banquet to be celebrated in the Lord’s city.1
Psalm 23, praising the Divine Shepherd, is also a source of comfort at funerals.
* [Psalm 23] God’s loving care for the psalmist is portrayed under the figures of a shepherd for the flock (Ps 23:1–4) and a host’s generosity toward a guest (Ps 23:5–6). The imagery of both sections is drawn from traditions of the exodus (Is 40:11; 49:10; Jer 31:10).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus cures many people and feeds four thousand in the desert.
* [15:32–39] Most probably this story is a doublet of that of the feeding of the five thousand (Mt 14:13–21). It differs from it notably only in that Jesus takes the initiative, not the disciples (Mt 15:32), and in the numbers: the crowd has been with Jesus three days (Mt 15:32), seven loaves are multiplied (Mt 15:36), seven baskets of fragments remain after the feeding (Mt 15:37), and four thousand men are fed (Mt 15:38).3
Suzanne Braddock shares that these compelling readings for today link together to show us the desperation so many feel and the question is asked: where can we be satisfied? What or who can satisfy us?
Asked and answered: God’s love. Imagine God’s joy in providing for us. I love the emphasis in Isaiah: The Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast - not just food and wine but juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. God goes all out! God’s love is inclusive, feeding all even in deserted, empty places. With leftovers! No one is left out. Not the poor, not the sinner, not the lukewarm, not the “fallen away,” not the spiritually proud. No one. God’s love is real, even practical, feeding us in our hunger until all are satisfied. God’s love is above all tender, personal, individual, wiping away the tears from all peoples’ faces. May we all go and do likewise. My cup overflows.4
Don Schwager quotes “The joy of the hope rooted in Christ,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"Having said that the Lord will reign in Zion and Jerusalem, Isaiah leads us to the mystical meaning of the passage (Isaiah 25:6-10). Thus Zion is interpreted as a high place that is good for surveillance, and Jerusalem is the vision of the world. In fact, the church of Christ combines both: it is high and visible from everywhere, and is, so to speak, located on the mountain. The church may be understood as high also in another way: there is nothing low in it, it is far removed from all the mundane things, as it is written, 'I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!' (Psalm 47:7-8). Equally elevated are its orthodox and divine doctrines; thus the doctrine about God or about the holy and consubstantial Trinity is true, pure and without guile. "'The Lord of hosts will make for all people,' not just for the Israelites elected for the sake of their patriarchs but for all the people of the world. What will he make? 'A feast of wines on the lees; they will drink joy, they will drink wine. They will be anointed with myrrh on the mountain.' This joy, of course, means the joy of hope, of the hope rooted in Christ, because we will reign with him, and with him we will enjoy every spiritual joy and pleasure that surpasses mind and understanding. By 'wine' he points to the mystical sacrament, that of the bloodless sacrifice, which we celebrate in the holy churches." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 25:6-7)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 23:1-6 comments that just as we look forward to Jesus’ coming at Christmas, so the Church invites us to reflect on the day when the Lord will come again in glory and welcome us into heaven.
Like any good host, Jesus is eager to welcome his guests and feed them. Isaiah envisions a great feast “for all peoples” (25:6). Everything we could possibly desire—Isaiah uses the image of “rich food and choice wines” (25:6)—will be ours because we will be face-to-face with what we have always desired the most, God himself. On that day, all the guests will gather as one family around this table because God will have removed the “web that is woven over all nations” (Isaiah 25:7). Just imagine—all the strife, conflict, and arguments that we witness today, even in our own families, will no longer exist.6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the messianic banquet, sense of the afterlife, and universality of the passage from Isaiah. Jesus feeds multitudes twice in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Friar Jude shares the symbolic meaning of seven baskets connecting Jesus as the one to satisfy the hunger of all the world.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, notes the deeply spiritual foundation of the Civil Rights movement is often underemphasized. The movement that sought political and legal equality for Black Americans was grounded in faith. The devout Christian commitment of virtually all its leaders, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Fannie Lou Hamer to John Lewis, inspired them to work for the dignity and equality of all. Rosemarie Freeney Harding (1930–2004), the wife of civil rights leader Vincent Harding (1931-2014), recalls the power of the Holy Spirit working in the movement during that time.
Martin and Coretta [King] and Anne Braden and Ella Baker and others like them had a beautiful effect on people who spent time with them. Living and working in their presence hastened changes in your own thoughts, your reactions, your priorities; even if you weren’t always cognizant of the shift. . . . Being constantly in the presence of people who lived so fervently in the power of nonviolence, who believed and acted from the understanding that love and forgiveness were essential tools for social justice; being surrounded by people like that fed those commitments in me, in many of us. And it infused the nation. . . .7
Our struggles to bring hope and love to situations of despair and confusion are given nourishment by Jesus Spirit working within us.
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