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Wednesday – First Week – Advent
Readings: Isa 25:6-10a; Mt 15:29-37.
Reading 1 (Isa 25:6-10a):
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.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.
On that day it will be said:
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.
Gospel (Mt 15:29-37):
At that time,
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,
went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the deformed made whole,
the lame walking,
and the blind able to see,
and they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus summoned his disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place
to satisfy such a crowd?”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.
Written by: Fr. Anthony Dinh M. Tien, O.P.
I. THEME: God Himself shall care for His people.
Living in the world, human beings are often threatened by hungry and thirsty, all kinds of diseases, hatred, war and death. People dream about the “earthly paradise” where all these threats shall be removed from their life. Can this dream be achieved?
Today readings show this dream can be achieved in the future. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah had a vision of this day when God Himself shall care for His people. He shall prepare a delicious banquet for them, heal all of their sickness, wipe out all tears on their eyes and forever destroy death. In the Gospel, Jesus is the Messiah whom God sent to people to do all these for them. Jesus healed all kinds of sickness from people; he did a great miracle to feed five thousand people from the five loaves and the two small fish. In chapter 6 of John’s gospel, this miracle also led to Jesus’ discourse on the Eucharist in which he shall feed people with his body and blood so that they shall never die but live forever.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: He is the Lord whom we are looking for.
The prophet Isaiah lived during the two exiles of the Israelites: the Northern Kingdom was lost and people were on exile to Assyria in 721 B.C., and the Southern Kingdom was lost and people were on exile to Babylon in 587 B.C. There was no hope for the Israelites when they witnessed their countries in the hands of their enemies, the temple was destroyed and they lived on exile. But the prophet Isaiah also foretold the day which God Himself shall liberate Israel and bring the remnant back to their country to rebuild the temple and to re-establish their nation. However, this is only God’s near future fulfillment; the other fulfillment shall be the day when He sent the Messiah to people to achieve God’s plan of salvation. The vision in today passage reported what the Messiah shall achieve. The mountain is Zion mountain on which the city of Jerusalem is built. The Messiah shall achieve God’s salvation on this mountain.
(1) He shall feed people not with normal food, but delicious food and choice wine. The prophet described: “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.” Many commentators saw the connection of this description with the Eucharist: the bread is Christ’s body and the wine is his blood. There is no better food and drink.
(2) He shall destroy death forever: The biggest and final enemy of human beings is death because it takes away all what people have. Facing death, people have no solution but to accept it. When the Messiah comes, he shall destroy death and bring eternal life for people as the prophet described: “On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations;he will destroy death forever.” By his accepting of death on the cross, Jesus took away people’s sins, the cause of death; and by his glorious resurrection, he opens the way for people to enter the eternal life.
(3) He shall destroy all pains and sufferings: The prophet said, “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.” Human sufferings come from many causes such as: sins, diseases, lack of understandings, hatred and ambitions. The Messiah shall destroy all causes which cause human sufferings and heal all kinds of sickness.
(4) He shall destroy all people’s enemies: The prophet mentioned only Moab in this passage, “but Moab will be trodden down as a straw is trodden down in the mire.” Moab may only be a symbol, used to indicate all human enemies. It was a nation beneath Israel and frequently caused difficulties for the Israelites.
When people witnessed all these things happened, they shall cry out: “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!” When all these things are accoplished, “the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.”
2/ Gospel: The reign of God has dawned, the Messiah is Jesus Christ.
All what the prophet Isaiah foretold about 700 years before were fulfilled in Jesus, God’s Messiah. Two main things were reported in today passage according to St. Matthews.
2.1/ Jesus healed all kinds of sickness for people: St. Matthews reported, “Moving on from there, Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there.Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.” There is no disease which Jesus can’t heal and there is no power which can prevent him from healing.
2.2/ Jesus feed five thousand men in desert: After teaching people the whole three days in desert, Jesus called his disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.”Jesus isn’t satisfied with teaching and healing people, he concerns for their most basic need which is food and he wants his disciples to feed them. The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?”Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven!” they replied, “and a few fish.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over– seven baskets full.
2.3/ The Sacrament of Eucharist: This miracle, “the Feeding of the Five Thousand” is reported by all four evangelists (Cf. Mt 14:13-21, Mk 6:30-44, Lk 9:10-17 and Jn 6:1-15); and John used this miracle as the material for Jesus’ discourse on the Eucharist. According to him, Jesus is the Bread of Life which comes from heaven to be the spiritual food to nourish people; whoever feed on his body and blood shall never die, but have eternal life (Jn 6:53-58).
Another thing needs to mention is that when Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, all the three synoptic evangelists mentioned Jesus’ words: “I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father” (Mt 26:29. Cf. Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18). This mention reminds the heavenly banquet which the prophet Isaiah described in the first reading.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– Facing sufferings and imperfection of life, we all desire to have the day which we shall have no hungry and thirsty, sufferings, hatred, war and death.
– We can only find this perfect world in Christ, the Messiah. He shall achieve all things which the prophet Isaiah described in the first reading.
– Jesus shall heal us from all kinds of spiritual and material sickness. He is nourishing us by his body and blood so that we can particicipate on the divine life right from this world, and shall have a perfect union with the Trinity in the next and eternal life.