Please read the passage before the homily.
Jesus served a banquet on a mountain. In Matthew 3:3-12, Herod had a banquet, to celebrate his birthday. Herod served the head of John the Baptist, on a platter, in front of all the guests. Herod’s banquet was a banquet of death.
Jesus served a banquet of life. It was not his birthday; it was not anybody else’s birthday, but it was meant to save life, lest “they collapse on the way.” Moreover, it was some feeble meal with food rationed out as we might have to do at a soup kitchen. Rather, there were seven baskets full of the scraps left over.
What kind of banquets do we serve? Whom do we welcome to our tables? Whom do we exclude. Joseph’s brothers ate lunch while Joseph was fearing for his life at the bottom of a well. Herod feasted over the dead body of John the Baptist. Jesus fed the people on the mountain so they could find their way home. What kind of banquet do we serve?”
We have had a Thanksgiving feast. We shall soon be celebrating Christmas banquets. Who is homeless? Who is enemy? Who is not friend? Whom do we exclude? Why do we set boundaries? When Jesus fed the crowd, did he do ID checks and metal detectors? Or did he feed everybody? So should ee likewise do.