Sister Maria Catherine Toon

When the Apostle John was organizing his Gospel, he writes that he will not be telling us everything that Christ did, but rather “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30).

Have you ever woken up famished from a good, hard sleep? On at least one other occasion when Jesus raised someone from the dead, Christ asks that she be given something to eat (Mark 5:43), and so he, himself, eats here. What a human thing to do, to attend to the needs of the body! Jesus’ actions point towards a truth that not only proves that he is divine (he does not need doors to enter a room) but that he is also human, with a body and soul that needs nourishment. When some argue that Jesus was just a really good person, or an exceptional teacher, or prophet, this passage is one of the places that illuminates the truth of his two-fold nature.

Since the kingdom of God is beyond human comprehension, Jesus’ parables each offer a dimension of the kingdom to help us understand it.