EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
AUGUST 2/3, 2014
Summer vegetable gardens are now producing delicious things like tomatoes and squash, eggplants and zucchinis; peppers and yes summer squash. A garden is a lot of work but for many people, it is well worth the effort. Not only are these fresh vegetables more tasty and healthier, in the long run they are almost free! And who doesn’t like the idea of free food???
We hear an invitation in today’s first reading to come and to enjoy food and drink, even if you have no money – free food and drink! “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come receive grain and eat!”
Of course Isaiah wasn’t doling out food and wine to the people; he was speaking God’s invitation to His people, that he would nourish them and preserve their life eternally.
In the Gospel reading from St. Matthew, Jesus repeats this message a little differently. He does provide real food multiplying the loaves and fish to feed the five thousand. But HE is also echoing Isaiah’s message that God wishes to feed and nourish us with food for life.
Every one of us is hungry – not just for physical food. We hunger for a life with meaning, with hope, with healing and with joy. Sometimes we have glimpses of satisfaction but we are never fully sated.
Today’s scriptures remind us that God has put that hunger into our hearts so that we may seek Him and avail ourselves of the food that will satisfy. From the days when God sent Manna in the desert and water from the rock, until our present age, God is all about feeding His children and making sure none of us goes hungry.
We are about to share in the Bread of Life and as we go forth from this church we are asked to go and feed those of our world who are starving for this bread.