The Welcome Table!

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 4:42-44; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15

The Seventeenth Sunday invites us to build a unified society through the imagery of the welcome table of Jesus. 

The Gospel highlights the miracle of unity within the miracle of multiplication. 

There are some popular accounts regarding the miracle of multiplication. Some accounts believe that Jesus inspired the crowd to share their food with others, and that resulted in a miracle. Hence, it is a miracle of sharing. 

Some others believe that Jesus multiplied the five barley loaves and the two fish so that the entire crowd had its fill and had leftovers too. It was a miracle that made people believe that God was among them. 

However, we cannot overlook the revolution of commensality (inter-dining) that Jesus created when he multiplied the five barley loaves and the two fish. 

The Jewish society was known for its rigid social boundaries, especially the refusal of table fellowship or shared eating. For instance, righteous Jews would not share a meal with the Gentiles. Certain Jewish groups would not share a meal indiscriminately, even with their compatriots. The Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees each did not admit the other groups into table fellowship with them. More importantly, none of these groups chose to dine with the am-ha-ares, the lowly majority of Jewish society.

But what did Jesus do in their midst? 

By promoting table fellowship, Jesus redrew the boundary in Jewish society. 1.The disciples of Jesus represented a mixture of members from all walks of life: the poor (Peter, Andrew, James, and John), tax collectors (Matthew/Levi), and zealots (Simon and Judas Iscariot). 2. Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors. 3. By feeding crowds of 5000 and 4000, Jesus made it impossible for them to maintain the ritual boundaries of purity that would require that ‘like eat with like.’

Hence, though today’s Gospel is famously known as a passage on multiplication, we understand that the miracle of multiplication is also the miracle of unification. 

Jesus was followed by a multitude who represented people from all walks of life. When dining with people who represented diverse backgrounds was not a spontaneous practice, Jesus’ initiative of making them recline on the grass attempted a deconstruction and made inter-dining a Kingdom norm. Though Jewish society was regulated by purity laws, for those who followed Jesus, only fraternity mattered. 

Jesus’ inclusive gesture to bring people together around the food table makes it a welcome table. 

And the welcome table possesses obvious Eucharistic overtones. As such, the welcome table that Jesus has set in the Gospel gives us a foretaste of the Eucharistic table from which every believer eats in an equal fraternity, with no division of any sort separating them from each other. 

Hence, Jesus’ compassion is not only toward the hungry stomachs but toward the divided society too. 

While the first reading aligns with the Gospel theme of multiplication by the prophet Elisha, it shows that spiritual gifts are meant to be shared with others. The second reading highlights Paul’s appeal to the Christian community at Ephesus to live in a way befitting their high calling. For Paul, a Christian does not merely possess a speculative distinction but must have a practical form. As such, our redemption by Christ should manifest itself in our unity. The Church saved by the blood of Christ is an organic whole, and there must not be anything that should divide her members. The fruits of the work of the Spirit are peace and unity. Hence, Christians are responsible for fostering it in the community. 

The sixteenth week invites us to reflect on three themes. 

Equality: Jesus saw an opportunity to bring people together around the food table. But do we separate or bring people together in his name? How unifying is our Eucharistic table? If the Eucharistic table does not unite us, we Christians are only living a lie in the name of Christ. 

Unity: Unity is the hallmark of the Christian community. However, realizing the call to unity within the believing community is far from satisfactory. Christians are no exception to forces of division like race, caste, color, and status. How are we going to overcome the differences that challenge our internal unity?

Sharing: Christians should imitate the example of Jesus, who inspired people to share their bread with others. Through his initiative to feed the crowd, Jesus shows that everyone is responsible toward the needy humanity. The divine economy holds that if the haves share their surplus with the have-nots, it will result in a balanced social structure. 

Equality is a precondition for unity. Maintaining unity depends on overcoming economic imbalances through sharing. 

The welcome table of God symbolizes equality, sharing, and unity.

Let us pray that our Eucharistic table remains the welcome table that Jesus himself prepared!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar