Taste and See: Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

1 Kgs 19:4-8

Ps 34

Eph 4:30-5:2

Jn 6:41-51

 

“Taste and see, the goodness of the Lord.”

 

The psalm response begins with two imperative verbs. The subject of an imperative verb isn’t stated but is understood to be you. 

 

You taste.

You see.

You taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

 

Taste is a multivalent word.  In medicine it means one of the five senses

subserved by a complicated neural pathway.  In everyday life it means, among other things, not wearing plaid, stripes, and polka dots together unless one is a fashion designer.  Taste can also mean to sample or experience something such as a taste of one’s own medicine or a taste of ice-cream.  To taste can also mean to absorb nourishment.  The Bible also applies taste to the discernment of moral values, the savoring of the knowledge of God, and the delights of our lives here on earth and in heaven.  This last is the obvious meaning of the psalm response.

 

 

Elijah is an important figure in scripture.  Indeed, we just celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration on Tuesday in which the apostles saw Jesus standing with Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. Elijah had tasted the delights of the Lord. He had discerned the moral laws of the Lord. He was fearless in his prophecy to those who had fallen from the worship of the true God. 

 

Elijah was about as low as he could go in today’s reading from Kings. He had fled the wrath of Jezebel, prayed for death, and then fell asleep.  He had given up hope and had lost faith.  He was despondent.  He tasted the food only after the angel commanded him to do so and then set off on a journey of 40 days. 

The Jewish Study Bible notes that  an unburdened man could walk between

15 to 25 miles a day.  Thus, in 40 days Elijah covered between 600 and 1000 miles on foot. To put things into context, it is about a 700 mile walk from Boston to Charlotte, NC.

 

What went through Elijah’s mind during that difficult 40-day journey? What goes through our minds during the 40-day journeys we are forced to take during life? 

The journey of chemotherapy.  The journey of chronic pain.  The journey triggered by the loss of a loved one.  And the journey through the diminishment of old age.Are we able to taste and see the goodness of the Lord

in the same way as Elijah?

 

 

We are reminded In today’s Gospel that Jesus was—and remains—misunderstood by those who believed as well as by those who did not believe. We recently heard Matthew’s Gospel in which the crowd asked, “Where did this man get such wisdom and might deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son?  Is not his mother named Mary?”  The late Jesuit Father  Dan Harrington named this ‘the prejudice of familiarity.’ Today we once again hear the prejudice of familiarity.

But we also hear the “prejudice of theology” and “the bias of philosophy”

 

In some ways the crowd’s disbelief makes sense.  How can Jesus, an ordinary guy in their experience, son of Joseph and Mary, make the claim, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”?  If nothing else their theology prevented them

from accepting such a claim.  In his commentary on this passage Jesuit Father Stanley Marrow wrote:

 

“In expressing their reaction, the Jews who murmured at him illustrate the absurdity of all those who put their trust in philosophical argument and theological reasoning to compel belief in Jesus Christ. For, when all is said and done, there is no argument that cannot be overturned by counterargument, and no theological reasoning that cannot be reduced to absurdity.”

 

Father Marrow continues, “The only way to accept Jesus’ claim is faith. Every other way being ultimately a rejection.  You either believe he came down from heaven or you do not. Knowing his father and mother has nothing to do with

accepting the revelation or rejecting it”

 

Taste and see, the goodness of the Lord.

 

Toward the end of the Gospel,  Jesus begins a statement with Amen, amen,

a signal that what He is about to say is important.  And it is: “whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

 

In a few minutes you will hear the words:

 

“Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you.”  Thus Jesus tells us that he is truly and substantially present in the bread and wine.  And shortly after those words are pronounced we will indeed taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

 

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the photos are from several years ago.  They were taken at St. Joseph Trappist Abbey in Spencer.  I got there routinely, about once a month.  It is about an 80 minute drive from BC to Spencer.  That is under the best of conditions and avoiding the Mass Pike.  

All the photos are of glass.  I made my final vow retreat at Spencer

The lamp on the door of the cottage within the enclosure where I stayed.  Great glass.

I was told this window was made of discarded bottles.  It is quite large.  Great light and even greater privacy.

One of three small windows in a door.  The nice thing ab out photography is the ability to focus on a very small detail and get a closer look at it.

The bottle window.  It is quite large and fascinating. 

Going on retreat in six days.  There will be no homily until after 26 August.  

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD