The Lord Feeds His People
Gospel Reflection for Wednesday, December 6, 2023
In today’s Gospel, we find our Lord going up a mountain to heal the people and, seeing their hunger, miraculously multiples loaves and fish to feed the multitude. I want to concentrate on these two aspects, that of feeding the crowds with multiplied bread and the fact that they were on a mountain.
Scripture is filled with significant events happening on mountains. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the use of mountains as places where man would go to offer sacrifice, commune with God, flee danger, etc. Even from the very beginning, man lived in the Garden of Eden at the base of a mountain.1 We see Abraham ascend a mountain to sacrifice Isaac,2 Moses ascends a mountain to speak to God and receive the law,3 he likewise is given a view of the promised land from a mountain,4 Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal.5 In the New Testament, Christ delivers His great sermon on the mountain,6 He is transfigured on the mountain,7 He dies on a mountain,8 and He ascends to Heaven from a mountain.9 This is clearly a theme that God desires us to understand while reading through Scripture. A mountain is a sacred place for encountering God and being fed by Him.
In today’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah prophecies that:
“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.” Is. 25:6-7
We should immediately see that Isaiah is prophesying that God will feed His people from a mountain. While this can be seen through the giving of worldly food, there is a greater food that is to be given. The Eucharist is given to the people of the Church, flowing out from the cross of Jesus Christ, from the side of the mount called Golgotha.
The feeding of the four thousand in today’s Gospel is a foreshadowing of the feeding of the Church through the Holy Eucharist. Bread is miraculously multiplied so that all are fed. In the same miraculous fashion, Our Lord changes bread and wine into His body and blood to feed His people, the Church. It is through the Eucharist that the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, that “He will destroy death forever” as Our Lord promises in the Bread of Life discourse:
“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:53-54
The people encounter God incarnate on the side of a mountain and are fed for their bodily needs. But this feeding points to the ever-present spiritual need that all of mankind experiences. We must go to Christ and eat the food that He gives, which is His flesh, given for the life of the world.
The prophet Ezekial speaks of man being placed on the Mountain of God prior to the fall, “With an anointed guardian cherub I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” Ez. 28:14-15.
Genesis 22:1-19
Exodus 19
Numbers 27:12
1 Kings 18:20-40
Matthew 5-7
Matthew 17:1-6
Mark 15:22-32
Luke 24:50. Bethany is a village on the Mount of Olives.
I really enjoyed this reflection today, and thanks for leading me to the Isaiah reading. I have not looked so deeply at all the events that take place on mountains, but there must be some significance to this. God Bless.
Thank you. I missed this entirely. I was wondering what, exactly, the prophecy (of Isaiah) is referring to. Parts of seemed to line up with Jesus' earthly ministry; and other parts I could not see.
You clearly show that it is Jesus, in His earthly ministry, that this prophecy refers to. Thanks! I need to read it again through those eyes.