“When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” As we hear, once again, the well-known account of Jesus feeding the hungry crowds, I’d like to call your attention to this first line of today’s gospel account. Remember how it came about that John the Baptist died. He was beheaded at the whim of King Herod during a banquet that he was holding in his opulent palace to celebrate his birthday. Notice, Herod’s feast is marked by brutal power and empty show ending in the death of a prophet. In stark contrast, Jesus’ banquet took place not in a palace but in a deserted place and is marked with generous care for the people that resulted in life for thousands. Here, we are shown two different kinds of kingship: one that cruelly takes life and one that gives life in abundance.
I also invite you to reflect on how it was the Jesus encountered this hungry crowd. Having heard about the death of his cousin, John, Jesus felt the need to withdraw so he could grieve his loss. But, he couldn’t even find solace in this deserted place because the crowds that sought him out. They had seen him curing the sick and expelling demons and heard his authoritative teachings, and they just wouldn’t leave him alone. Despite his own grief, Jesus cares for his people.
Once again, Jesus personifies the love and care that God had shown his people, Israel, through many generations. We hear one example of that in today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The prophecy we hear today comes from a declaration that occurred while Israel was in exile in Babylon because they had abandoned God. Several times earlier in Isaiah’s prophecy, we hear him speak of God mourning the loss of his people. This prophetic book actually begins with God calling out to his people, Israel: “Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, …sons I have raised and reared but they have rebelled against me. An ox knows its owner and an ass, its master’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people has not understood.”
Even in his grief, however, God calls his people back to himself and promises them, as we hear so poetically in today’s reading: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat. Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!” Through the prophet, God calls his people back to the everlasting covenant that he established with them in the desert, where he had fed his people with manna and quail and given them water to drink from a rock as they traveled to the Promised Land.
Of course, both God feeding his people in the desert of Sinai and Jesus feeding the crowds in that deserted place in today’s gospel anticipates the Eucharistic banquet that we share every time we gather around our Lord’s Table right here. The twelve baskets of fragments that we hear about in today’s gospel – one for each tribe of Israel and for each apostle – signify abundance. God’s care for us is not just sufficient but overflowing.
As we hear this life-giving word and prepare to receive our Lord in Holy Communion, we realize that this spiritual nourishment is even more important to us than the food we eat every day to keep our bodies healthy. While the food we eat every day only satisfies us for a short time, the Eucharist prepares us for the heavenly banquet where our deepest desires will be satisfied forever. And, God has shown us, over and over again, that he will care for us here on earth and that he has a place prepared for each of us at that heavenly feast. All we need to do is to be faithful to his everlasting covenant, loving him above all things and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Yes, our God cares for us, as he has cared for his people in ancient days. He led them safely through the desert and he leads us safely now, even when we finding ourselves traveling through what may sometimes seem like a desert. Let us put our trust in God and be faithful to his covenant. And, let us come to this Eucharistic celebration often to be nourished by God’s life-giving words and his Son’s precious Body and Blood. Then, as we hear St. Paul assure us so powerfully in today’s second reading, we will conquer all things overwhelmingly through him who loves us.