THE MOUNTAIN OF DIVINE BANQUET


WEDNESDAY, FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

Isa 25:6-10; Ps 23; Mt 15:29-37

The Messianic Banquet

The prophet Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messianic banquet on the designated mountain lends to several interpretations. If we follow the prophet’s emphasis on the said mountain, we would consider the various mountains mentioned in the Scriptures where some important theophany happened. “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of food rich and juicy, of fine strained wines.” Our attention may even go to the hills on which the Lord performs the miracle of the loaves in the Gospel. “Jesus reached the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and he went up into the hills. He sat there, and large crowds came to him bringing the lame, the cripples, the blind, the dumb and many others.” He cured them all and worked a miracle to feed them with seven loaves of bread and some fish. But the prophet could hardly mean these small hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Jesus fed the people on these hills with loaves of bread and fish, but there were no fine wines and rich food. Where else did God treat the people to a banquet of rich food and fine wines? The lack of answers compels us to consider the spiritual interpretation of the prophecy.

It is most probable that the banquet of rich food and fine wines are symbols of spiritual largesse provided through a theophany. If we turn to spiritual food or God’s self-communication as the real meaning of this prophecy, the first mountain that comes to mind is Calvary. On the mountain of Calvary, Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins to save us from damnation and restore us to divine communion. The second part of the prophecy gives credence to this interpretation. “On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy death for ever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek; he will take away his people’s shame everywhere on earth, for the Lord has said so.” The solution to the universal problem of death makes Calvary the most probable mountain in the prophecy. For it is on the mountain of Calvary that Jesus died for our sins and destroyed our death by his death. He washed away our sins with his blood and restored us to communion with God. Hence, the restoration of our communion with God is the banquet of the richest food and finest wine, for there is nothing that we can compare to our participation in the divine life of God. The fullness of salvation that the prophecy contains is what we received on Calvary when Jesus died for us and saved us from sin and death. But Calvary can be considered the consummation of what already started in the assumption of human nature by the Eternal Word.  

The universality that this second part of the prophecy added makes us leave the interpretation of the privileged mountain as a physical place. A more spiritual understanding of the mountain is more in keeping with the references to the mountain of Judah and Jerusalem, which would tower above every other mountain. God served the banquet of rich food and fine wines on the mountain and foretold to tower above other mountains because the oracle of the Lord would go out from it, and the Law would come from it. The prophet also declared that there would be no harm on this mountain because the knowledge of the Lord would flow from the mountain to fill the whole country as the waters swell the sea. A more spiritual interpretation of this mountain is that it is the humanity of our Lord. The Son of Man himself is the holy mountain on which the banquet of rich food and fine wines are served and received by all nations and peoples. He is the Good Shepherd and, at the same time, our eternal pasture. “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.” This spiritual understanding of the mountain illuminates the prophetic message, making our Eucharistic celebration a foretaste of our heavenly banquet, for it is our reception of his body, blood, soul, and divinity.

Let us pray: Prepare our hearts, we pray, O Lord our God, by your divine power, so that at the coming of Christ your Son we may be found worthy of the banquet of eternal life and merit to receive heavenly nourishment from his hands. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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