1533AFC081415 – Feed Me
Read it online here, please.
Proverbs 9:4-6 – 4 “You that are simple, turn in here!”
To those without sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
Happy Aloha Friday, Belovéd. In this passage, the author of Proverbs is describing Wisdom personified as female. Wisdom calls to everyone who does not understand the Gifts and Goodness of God to turn aside from their simpleness – their lack of understanding – and to be filled with the food and drink she prepares for all who will partake of it. The food she offers is a coupling of two things that appear together throughout scripture: Bread and wine.
Bread and wine were the offerings brought out by Mechizedek, King of Salem and the Priest of God Most High, to bless Abram. (See Genesis 14:18) These are also the same Gifts Jesus offers to share with us as propitiation for our sins. He is the Bread of Life and the Wine of Salvation. For the fourth Sunday in a row, our Gospel reading is from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John and we read again that Jesus is the Bread sent down from Heaven. John 6:57-58 – “57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” Recall that this was not long after the feeding of the 5000, and in that miracle, all who were hungry were fed and were satisfied. That feeding was of bread and fish, and what Jesus offers is bread and wine – his own flesh and blood to satisfy the hunger for Righteousness in all who feast upon him. If we heed what Wisdom says, we will sweep away our emptiness by filling ourselves with what she has prepared.
It is our emptiness that God promises to fill with Jesus. Mother Theresa has said we have nothing to give God that he needs but we can give him our emptiness, our spiritual hunger and thirst; not even God can fill something that is already full. As Christ poured out his life completely to do the will of his Father, we can empty ourselves completely to be filled with the Bread and Wine of Righteousness. Our emptiness is best filled when we follow the example of Christ. Think of a bottle of wine or a glass of water of a quart of milk. When you pour it out, the vessel is empty; there is nothing left to pour. Jesus not only poured out everything in his life but also allowed the vessel of his life to be destroyed so that we can be filled – our hunger and thirst are more than satisfied. We understand God’s compassion when we stir up our own compassion.
If we, then, can imitate Christ by emptying ourselves, can we feed others with what he feeds us? Of course we can! That is our privilege as Christians. We can offer whatever fills us to others who hunger and thirst. But what if we are not filled with Christ but with a mixture of Christ and the World? Wouldn’t that be like bread made with grain and sawdust? Recall that when the loaves and fish were multiplied, Jesus blessed them, broke them and passed them to the disciples, who then passed them to the people who in turn shared the food with each other. Jesus provided the food by multiplying what he was given by the lad with a lunch box, and the food was further multiplied by being shared by the people who received it. Had you and I been there that day, what you gave to me would have come from Jesus through you. Had you not passed it on, I would not have been fed, nor could I have been fed unless I received – accepted – what you passed on. The bread shared in that way satisfied the hunger and filled the emptiness of the body. The bread and wine Wisdom encourages us to consume is not only Everlasting, but also nourishes growth and is life-sustaining (Lay aside immaturity, and live). Our hunger for bread is like our hunger for understanding and compassion. We long to taste the goodness of the Lord – his Mercy.
We are called to feed the hungry as part of the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. “To feed the hungry” is usually listed as first among the seven. In the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy, the one listed first is usually “To instruct the ignorant.” The corporal mercy is to feed the body. The spiritual mercy is to feed the soul. If you count Matthew 5:11 as one of The Beatitudes, then the count is nine, and the fifth one, the one in the middle, is Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. (Check out the link and scroll to the bottom of the page to see The Beatitudes.) God is merciful. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We are to be merciful, too; we must feed ourselves and others – body and soul. We share bread for the table and Bread for the spirit. We are called upon to receive both and multiply both by sharing both with others. The amount we can share depends on the capacity of our emptiness as a measure of how much God can fill us with the gift of Bread he provides.
We can be bread to one another. Some cannot put bread on the table and so are not fed. We can put bread on their table, especially when we have more than we need. If the bread we have is thrown away, it feeds no one. If the bread we have is hoarded, it feeds only us and we are either gluttons or spendthrifts. Either way, the bread is not used as intended and loses its meaning of “bread to be fed to us and others.” When we give of our material wealth, the “bread” of money, we can help feed his sheep physically and spiritually. We must follow his example – The Way – to have concern, compassion, and generosity for others so that they can be fed. This helps us to walk in the way of insight [understanding]. In this way we come to know the goodness and meaning of Jesus’ assertion that he is the Bread of Life come down from Heaven. When we apply that understanding, we come to the point where whatever we do in and of itself praises God by feeding souls as well as bodies. When we understand that hunger can be both spiritual and corporal, then we lay aside our immaturity and walk in the fullness of faith, the fullness of The Beatitudes. Beatitude is a statement or condition of “utmost bliss, exalted happiness, great joyfulness.” When we are filled with such bliss, happiness, or joy and then share that with others physically and spiritually, we are filled beyond measure such that our cup overflows.
Have you been an offering of bread for another? To that one, you have been a life-sustaining gift. You have given bread for the life of the world because you have within you the Bread of Life. Think of your friends, your family, your fellow parishioners, members of your community, or citizens of the world: How to you fill the emptiness in them? How have they filled the emptiness in you? One of the best ways is to just be present for them – to put bread on the table, or to be bread of the soul. The Eucharist is the Thanksgiving for the Charity of the Table. It is so Christ-like to be the living bread that fills the emptiness of others. In the Epistle for this Sunday, the Apostle says, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” We are to be filled with the Spirit, to rejoice in the Lord together with songs and Psalms, and to give thanks to God for all of his blessings of Mercy and Grace. You have been fed. Pass it on and feed another. You have been saved. Pass it on and lead another to Christ. Jesus loves you. Pass it on.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved!
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to Fr. Danilo Fuentes for some really good ideas!
1533AFC081415 – Feed Me
Read it online here, please.
Proverbs 9:4-6 – 4 “You that are simple, turn in here!”
To those without sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
Happy Aloha Friday, Belovéd. In this passage, the author of Proverbs is describing Wisdom personified as female. Wisdom calls to everyone who does not understand the Gifts and Goodness of God to turn aside from their simpleness – their lack of understanding – and to be filled with the food and drink she prepares for all who will partake of it. The food she offers is a coupling of two things that appear together throughout scripture: Bread and wine.
Bread and wine were the offerings brought out by Mechizedek, King of Salem and the Priest of God Most High, to bless Abram. (See Genesis 14:18) These are also the same Gifts Jesus offers to share with us as propitiation for our sins. He is the Bread of Life and the Wine of Salvation. For the fourth Sunday in a row, our Gospel reading is from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John and we read again that Jesus is the Bread sent down from Heaven. John 6:57-58 – “57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” Recall that this was not long after the feeding of the 5000, and in that miracle, all who were hungry were fed and were satisfied. That feeding was of bread and fish, and what Jesus offers is bread and wine – his own flesh and blood to satisfy the hunger for Righteousness in all who feast upon him. If we heed what Wisdom says, we will sweep away our emptiness by filling ourselves with what she has prepared.
It is our emptiness that God promises to fill with Jesus. Mother Theresa has said we have nothing to give God that he needs but we can give him our emptiness, our spiritual hunger and thirst; not even God can fill something that is already full. As Christ poured out his life completely to do the will of his Father, we can empty ourselves completely to be filled with the Bread and Wine of Righteousness. Our emptiness is best filled when we follow the example of Christ. Think of a bottle of wine or a glass of water of a quart of milk. When you pour it out, the vessel is empty; there is nothing left to pour. Jesus not only poured out everything in his life but also allowed the vessel of his life to be destroyed so that we can be filled – our hunger and thirst are more than satisfied. We understand God’s compassion when we stir up our own compassion.
If we, then, can imitate Christ by emptying ourselves, can we feed others with what he feeds us? Of course we can! That is our privilege as Christians. We can offer whatever fills us to others who hunger and thirst. But what if we are not filled with Christ but with a mixture of Christ and the World? Wouldn’t that be like bread made with grain and sawdust? Recall that when the loaves and fish were multiplied, Jesus blessed them, broke them and passed them to the disciples, who then passed them to the people who in turn shared the food with each other. Jesus provided the food by multiplying what he was given by the lad with a lunch box, and the food was further multiplied by being shared by the people who received it. Had you and I been there that day, what you gave to me would have come from Jesus through you. Had you not passed it on, I would not have been fed, nor could I have been fed unless I received – accepted – what you passed on. The bread shared in that way satisfied the hunger and filled the emptiness of the body. The bread and wine Wisdom encourages us to consume is not only Everlasting, but also nourishes growth and is life-sustaining (Lay aside immaturity, and live). Our hunger for bread is like our hunger for understanding and compassion. We long to taste the goodness of the Lord – his Mercy.
We are called to feed the hungry as part of the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. “To feed the hungry” is usually listed as first among the seven. In the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy, the one listed first is usually “To instruct the ignorant.” The corporal mercy is to feed the body. The spiritual mercy is to feed the soul. If you count Matthew 5:11 as one of The Beatitudes, then the count is nine, and the fifth one, the one in the middle, is Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. (Check out the link and scroll to the bottom of the page to see The Beatitudes.) God is merciful. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We are to be merciful, too; we must feed ourselves and others – body and soul. We share bread for the table and Bread for the spirit. We are called upon to receive both and multiply both by sharing both with others. The amount we can share depends on the capacity of our emptiness as a measure of how much God can fill us with the gift of Bread he provides.
We can be bread to one another. Some cannot put bread on the table and so are not fed. We can put bread on their table, especially when we have more than we need. If the bread we have is thrown away, it feeds no one. If the bread we have is hoarded, it feeds only us and we are either gluttons or spendthrifts. Either way, the bread is not used as intended and loses its meaning of “bread to be fed to us and others.” When we give of our material wealth, the “bread” of money, we can help feed his sheep physically and spiritually. We must follow his example – The Way – to have concern, compassion, and generosity for others so that they can be fed. This helps us to walk in the way of insight [understanding]. In this way we come to know the goodness and meaning of Jesus’ assertion that he is the Bread of Life come down from Heaven. When we apply that understanding, we come to the point where whatever we do in and of itself praises God by feeding souls as well as bodies. When we understand that hunger can be both spiritual and corporal, then we lay aside our immaturity and walk in the fullness of faith, the fullness of The Beatitudes. Beatitude is a statement or condition of “utmost bliss, exalted happiness, great joyfulness.” When we are filled with such bliss, happiness, or joy and then share that with others physically and spiritually, we are filled beyond measure such that our cup overflows.
Have you been an offering of bread for another? To that one, you have been a life-sustaining gift. You have given bread for the life of the world because you have within you the Bread of Life. Think of your friends, your family, your fellow parishioners, members of your community, or citizens of the world: How to you fill the emptiness in them? How have they filled the emptiness in you? One of the best ways is to just be present for them – to put bread on the table, or to be bread of the soul. The Eucharist is the Thanksgiving for the Charity of the Table. It is so Christ-like to be the living bread that fills the emptiness of others. In the Epistle for this Sunday, the Apostle says, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” We are to be filled with the Spirit, to rejoice in the Lord together with songs and Psalms, and to give thanks to God for all of his blessings of Mercy and Grace. You have been fed. Pass it on and feed another. You have been saved. Pass it on and lead another to Christ. Jesus loves you. Pass it on.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved!
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to Fr. Danilo Fuentes for some really good ideas!
About Chick Todd
American Roman Catholic reared as a "Baptiterian" in Denver Colorado. Now living on Kauaʻi. USAF Vet. Married for over 50 years. Scripture study has been my passion ever since my first "Bible talk" at age 6 in VBS.
