Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8
Food: God Meeting us where we are at
The general state of hunger in the world and the human need for food explains most of the problems beseeching human beings, it explains what is on the human mind when going to bed, and what will likely get one out of bed in the morning – “man must wak” (food is important), as we fondly say in Nigeria. The world hungers for food, love, security, clean water, etc. There is no human being without some kind of hunger or need. It is this general state of hunger that necessitates the feast of today – the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
In the human search for security, food, love and the like, we often forget our need for God; we often forget that the God who created us thinks about us and has plans for assuaging our needs both physical/material and spiritual. In other to correct this erroneous state of affairs, the Church suggests the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – spiritual and physical food and drink. Just imagine the survival of a baby in the womb for 9 months, totally dependent on its mother for oxygen, water, food, etc. This little analogy provides us with what comes across from the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – human dependency on God for all their needs, spiritual and physical.
Our first reading today (Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a) sends us back memory lane – “remember,” it says. We need to remember what the Lord did in the past, in order to appreciate what he does today, and what he will do in the future. The summary of it all, the Israelites were in need of deliverance from slavery, and God took the initiative to free them from servitude to the Egyptians. “Remembrance” is a cardinal term in Judeo-Christian religion. The worst that can ever happen to a Christian is memory loss – Alzheimer. Also, what is most interesting in “remembrance” is the gratuitousness of God’s gifts, especially when his children express the need for help. There was no helper forthcoming to the rescue of the Israelites in Egypt when God intervened. Every situation of genuine need is the situation of God’s intervention and visitation. Those who are self-sufficient or claim to be self-sufficient do not experience the intervention and deliverance of God.
The solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is a call to realize our dependence on God, as a precondition for receiving Divine beneficence. That Israel recalls to mind, each year, the wondrous deeds of God in their past is just a motif for continuous fidelity and dependence on the power of God to intervene when the going gets tough. For us Christians today, who celebrate this solemnity, we are invited to bring our needs for liberation and deliverance from sin, thirst, hunger and greed to the living and true God, who is able to assuage our needs.
Perhaps the best line to remember, in addition to God’s ability to provide food and drink for human material needs, is the fact that life is a journey. The deliverance of Israel out of slavery was just a first step in a longer saga – the transversing of the sea of reeds, the desert travels and the conquering of nations en route to the Promised Land. This is to say that beyond the physical nourishment provided by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, it also provides the spiritual strength and the accompanying presence of Jesus Christ to every Christian who eats his Body and drinks his Blood, especially for our deserts, deep blue seas and battles of life, the Christian life.
Furthermore, “blood” is a sign of life and presence, while “body” is the physical and visible dimension of life and living, for a Jewish mind. For a Christian, just as it was for Thomas after touching the body of the resurrected Christ and putting his fingers in the holes the nails made in his hand and was followed by Thomas’ confession of Jesus as Lord, so it for every Christian – the “real presence” of Jesus Christ, which is our companion on how to go through life’s journeys, with all its vagaries and vicissitudes, is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ; this presence calls for the worship of God because it is this same Body of Christ that died on the Cross of Calvary for human redemption, and the Blood of Christ was spilt for a new covenant of adoption of all humanity as sons and daughters of God.
Interestingly, the journey of life, when Jesus journeys with us, it is full of positive surprises, even far greater than what God did in the past. According to St. Paul, in our second reading (Romans 5:6-11), human spiritual deliverance from sin was wrought when human beings were incapacitated to help themselves – “Brothers and sisters: Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). The Body and Blood of Christ is the solemnity of the abiding presence of God’s love for his children, an ever present prophecy to the effect that God will do literally anything for his pilgrim children upon earth.
St. Paul argues in favor of the audacity that animates the life of a Christian who realizes the meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ; he says “Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” The good news that human beings have been reconciled with God and to one another, the world over, transforms every Christian into a missionary and a vanguard for the spread of the gospel of reconciliation and camaraderie. In the words of our gospel reading (Matthew 9:36-10:8) today, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” It is imperative to broadcast to the whole world the message of the common sonship and daughtership of every human being in God.
Indeed, the good news of Jesus Christ is everything but sterile. Matthew’s gospel assures us of the powers that accompany the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ – “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” This assertion from Matthew corroborates our earlier point that God keeps performing even greater wonders today, through his presence among Christians in the form of miracles, more than anytime and place in history. It is safe to conclude that the presence and deliverance of God among the Israelites was just a beginning of greater things to come, which we continue to enjoy even today. May we continue to appreciate and cherish the presence and power of Jesus Christ today as we celebrate the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.