The first song in the Broadway musical entitled “Oliver” carries the title “Food, Glorious Food.” It is sung by the cast of young boys who are trapped by a life of poverty in a workhouse in England. The story is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist.”
The reading from the Book of Numbers and the Gospel reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew are also about food and the lack thereof. In fact, the pages of the Scriptures are filled with stories about meals, the quest for food, and the anticipated heavenly banquet. God’s plan of salvation included a famine that led the Israelites from Canaan to Egypt where they were eventually enslaved. The sojourn in the desert finds the Israelites grumbling about their food.
In the Gospel today we hear the familiar story of the feeding of the multitude. In this story, five barley loaves and two fish feed a crowd of mammoth proportions.
We should not be surprised by the fact that food figures so prominently in the Scriptures. Much of our lives focus on the issue of food. Scan the pages of Facebook and other social media outlets and notice how many of the postings are about recipes, about feeding the poor, about the politics of food stamps. Think about family gatherings. Are they not always about sharing a meal with those we love? Think about how many times this week you will check the menu posted on the bulletin board in the dining room or how many times you will grocery shopping this week. When we consider a night of recreation with family or friends, doesn’t it always include a visit to a favorite restaurant or “watering hole”? Isn’t it fair to say that our lives revolve around food just as much as the lives of the Israelites revolved around it?
This is precisely why God chose a meal of bread and wine to be our Eucharist. Bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ functions as the source and summit of our faith. When we read the stories in Scripture about food or meals, our minds are always drawn to the sacred meal which we celebrate together each day. Gratitude is the only appropriate response for God’s loving care for us.