1st Week of Advent, Wednesday – 04th December 2024 – Isaiah 25,6-10; Mt 15,29-37
Banquet of Immortality
Both readings are about the abundance that comes from God. Isaiah 25 contains a prophecy about the end-times banquet that God will provide not just for Israel and Judah but for all people. The Lord acts always on our behalf: he will provide a feast for all people; he will wipe away every tear; he will heal the sick and remove our infidelity. In the Gospel, Jesus cures the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute and feeds the crowds with heavenly bread. When God provides, he provides the best! Isaiah speaks of excellent meat and choice wine. This image is viewed as a vision of the future. It was used by people who had often experienced hunger and thirst brought about by drought, floods and poverty. A future life beyond death was conceived as an unending banquet at a table groaning with rich food and the finest drinks, things which in this life only the tiny minority of the rich could enjoy. The prophecy of Isaiah then gives a hope that those who partake in the food that God provides share in eternal life and God’s beatitude. Indeed, God provides food that confers immortality.
