Bring your Hunger
Scripture Reflection for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 31, 2011)
Scripture Readings:
Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 145
Romans 8: 35, 37-39
Matthew 14: 13-21
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“Eat this bread, drink this cup,
Come to me and never be hungry.
Eat this bread, drink this cup,
Trust in me and you will not thirst”
Have you ever noticed how often the Scriptures talk about eating and drinking? It’s amazing really, how many times we find Jesus and the disciples and all kinds of characters in both the New and the Old Testament sharing food and drink. This is especially true in the Gospel of Luke where from the beginning to the end of the story one finds Jesus either on his way to a meal, at a meal or coming from a meal. Maybe Jesus was Italian after all!
Today’s Gospel reading, from Matthew, represents one of six stories in the Gospels which recounts the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. It is probably one of the most popular and well-known stories in the Bible, and one that has led to a great deal of speculation as to what exactly happened. Is it possible that Jesus really performed “magic” of some kind and produced all of that extra bread and fish, or could it be that he touched people’s hearts in such a way that they all opened up their lunch bags and shared what they had with each other? I remember that years ago I heard a quote from Ghandi who was asked why there wasn’t enough food for the poor in India to eat. Ghandi said simply, “You are wrong. There really is plenty of food for everyone to eat. There is enough for our need, but not enough for our greed.”
The message of the Scriptures this week is once again all about the generosity of God. God is more than ready to satisfy our hungers and our thirsts, and all we have to do is to come to God in our need. Isaiah 55 reminds us that all of the thirsty can come to the water, “without paying and without cost.” And Paul reminds the Romans, and us, that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God that has already been poured out in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Gospel story of the multiplication begins with the ominous news of the death of John the Baptist, followed by Jesus’ divinely inspired compassion for the crowd of hungry and thirsty people who came to him in their need. When the disciples approach Jesus with the problem, he then invites them to participate in his work, distributing the loaves and the fishes. And, not surprisingly, there was enough for everyone, with plenty of leftovers besides.
What is going on here? What is this story trying to teach us? It seems to me that it has something to do with our need to acknowledge our own hungers and thirsts, like those people in the Gospel did. It’s not just physical hunger and thirst, but also spiritual. Part of the problem with our American culture is that we think that hunger and thirst are bad things, that we should never, ever be hungry or thirsty in life. Unfortunately we may be victims of our own success. We think that “winning is everything” and we succeed only when we are satisfied. We believe in phrases like “God helps those who help themselves,” and our heroes are people who “picked themselves up by their own bootstraps.” Where does God fit in that way of thinking? How does a person who is helping himself or herself even know how to depend on God? Is it okay to be hungry?
I am reminded of one of the “tricks” that I used to use at First Communion when I was a Pastor. I would ask the children what they “need to bring” in order to be ready to received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time. After all of the standard answers having to do with clothing and candles and godparents and the like, eventually someone would give the answer that I was looking for: HUNGER.
Yes, that is the answer for all of us, isn’t it? We need to be hungry in order to receive God’s generosity. And in this sense hunger and thirst are really good things. When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer for our daily bread, we are acknowledging that even if we are satisfied today, we will be hungry again tomorrow. And thank God for that! So, eat this bread and drink this cup, and maybe in one sense you will never be hungry, but hopefully you’ll be hungry and thirsty enough to come back next week, and the week after that as well. As long as we are here on this side of heaven, a little bit of hunger and thirst can go a long way toward leading us on the path to the kingdom of God.
Paz y Bien,
Father Ed
Image: The 5000 eating miraculous food - by William Hole by www.BiblePictureGallery.com
Ed Shea, OFM
Fr. Ed is a Franciscan Friar who graduated from CTU back in 1987. He has been back at CTU for a couple of stints as Formation Director in the past 23 years, which is also his current role now with the Friars from three different provinces and (even one from Croatia!).
"I am the third of 8 children from an awesome Irish-Italian Catholic family, and I am crazy about my 19 nephews and nieces," he says. Ed is also an avid Notre Dame fan (class of 1978) and even played trumpet in the ND Band back in the day.
Since his ordination in 1987 he has had a wide variety of experiences and has worked for 15 years as a Pastor in three different Churches. He loves to sing and tell stories, more than anything I simply delight in celebrating the sacraments of the Church.
Ed believes that "as a true follower of St. Francis, it is my mission in life to find reasons to rejoice in the goodness of God’s presence in our world."
