Famine of the Soul
A Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday After Trinity
The Rev. Deacon Timothy Wilson
Beloved in Christ, our Collect for this Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity prays:
“Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Mother Church places this prayer on our lips that we may recognize the truth: (paraphrased from our dear brother now abiding in the arms of our Lord, in the Church Triumphant), Charlie Kirk expressed it well, he proclaimed, “our service to God, our obedience, even our perseverance, does not spring from our own strength, but from His gracious gift. He preserves His people, even as He calls them to serve Him faithfully.” God keeps us from that which truly destroys, so that we may cheerfully walk in His ways. It’s why we pray in the Family Evening prayer, “And grant us grace always to live in such a state that we may never be afraid to die; so that, living and dying, we may be Thine, through the merits and satisfaction of Thy Son Christ Jesus,…”
Nowhere is this grace and state of living more vivid than in the Scriptures read this morning.
We begin with our lesson in Genesis. The famine was sore in the land. The cupboards were empty. The grain once carried up from Egypt was gone. Without food, Jacob and his sons faced death. Here we see a picture of humanity’s deepest plight. For just as the body cannot live without bread, so the soul cannot live without the righteousness and peace of God.
The sons of Jacob stand before us as representatives of the human condition. They had sinned grievously in the past. They betrayed their brother Joseph, selling him into slavery, and their guilt remained with them, haunting their consciences. And now, in a time of famine, they must go again to Egypt, not knowing that the very brother they betrayed is the one who will preserve them.
Here, beloved, is the Gospel in shadow. Humanity has sinned against the Beloved Son, betraying Him, despising Him, even handing Him over to death. And yet, in God’s great providence, the very One whom we rejected becomes the source of life. “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Ps. 118:22). What was true in Joseph in type is true in Christ in fullness. He who was rejected has been exalted. He who was betrayed now reigns to save His brethren.
Notice also how Joseph hosts his brethren, though they come in trembling, fearing accusation and judgment. Joseph did not simply provide food. He welcomed his brothers into his house, gave them water to wash, and set before them a banquet. The table becomes the place of reconciliation and sustenance. Here, a type of Christ is revealed. What Joseph gave in grain and in feast, Christ gives infinitely more… The one who was despised becomes the Host of the banquet of salvation. He, too, calls His brethren into His house, provides cleansing, and feeds them not with common food alone but with the heavenly banquet of His own body and blood. What Joseph prefigured in shadow, Christ fulfills in substance. But let us pause and ask: do we not also know famine? Not the famine of bread and water, but the famine of the soul.
The prophet Amos once declared: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11). Herein is the spiritual nature of famine, which highlights the need for spiritual nourishment and the dire consequences which follow its absence. Jesus says in Mark 4:12, “That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.” He’s pointing to Isaiah 6:9-10, and Isaiah is instructed to continue preaching, even though the people are already hardened to his message. Just as the sower who spreads seed on the hardened, rocky, and weed-infested soil as well as the fertile ground, Jesus continues to teach the crowds, even knowing they include many who will not accept what He says. Lest at any time they should see. The words point to the obstinate, willful ignorance which refuses to look on the truth, lest the look should lead to conviction, and conviction to submitting to the Truth…the ignorance of those who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John 3:19).
This is the famine that our Brother Charlie Kirk was addressing, because we see this famine in our own age. Many live well-fed in body, yet starved in spirit. We live in an age of abundance of information, but poverty of truth; abundance of pleasure, but scarcity of peace. Families are broken, consciences are restless, and men and women chase after substitutes that cannot satisfy.
How many sit in churches yet never feed upon Christ with the heart of faith? How many carry the name “Christian” but neglect the Word and Sacraments, starving their souls by choice?
This, dear friends, is famine: when the heart grows cold, when prayer withers, when worship becomes mere form, and when sin is cherished rather than confessed. Just as Jacob’s sons could not pretend they had grain when their sacks were empty, neither can we pretend we are strong when our souls are dry. Without Christ, we die.
In our Epistle reading, St. Paul writes in Galatians 3:16: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
Here Paul strikes at the root of our famine. Many in his day sought righteousness through the Law. Others sought it through lineage, through being Abraham’s descendants. But Paul reminds them, and us, that salvation is not scattered among many ways. It rests on one Seed alone. That Seed is Christ. The promised seed that will crush the serpent’s head!
Think of it: just as the sons of Jacob found life through one brother exalted in Egypt, so the world finds life only in Christ, the exalted Son of God. The law cannot feed us, our own strength cannot sustain us, our works cannot nourish us. Only Christ, the true Seed, gives life.
And this is the gift of God’s mercy. As the Collect says, it is “of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service.” Our service, our obedience, our very life in God comes not from ourselves, but from Christ who lives in us.
Then turning to our Gospel reading... Jesus turns to His disciples and says: “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see” (Luke 10:23). Kings and prophets longed to see them, but did not. What did they see? They saw Christ Himself, the true Seed, the Bread of Life, the Savior of the world.
St. Chrysostom, preaching on this very mystery, said: “What kings and prophets were not vouchsafed to hear, this ye hear; what they desired to see, this ye see. And do ye not think yourselves highly blessed, when ye are counted worthy of such a gift?” (Homily 37 on Matthew).
We may ask: do we see Christ as the disciples saw Him? No, we do not behold Him with bodily eyes. But we are no less blessed. For we see Him with the eyes of faith. We hear His Word proclaimed. And, supremely, we see and receive Him in the Sacrament of the Altar.
So here, let me converge the lessons. The sons of Jacob, famished and fearful, are brought to Joseph’s table. They are cleansed, seated, and fed. So we, once estranged, are brought to Christ’s Table. Here, famine is ended. Here, guilt is met with grace. Here, the rejected Son reveals Himself as the Savior.
When we come to this Table, we are not left empty. Christ Himself is present, not in bare memorial, nor in carnal fashion, but truly and spiritually, “verily and indeed” given to the faithful. Here, the Seed of promise feeds His people with Himself. Here, the eyes of faith see the King of glory veiled beneath bread and wine.
So let us not come as Jacob’s sons, trembling in fear of accusation. Let us come as Christ’s brethren, confident in His mercy. For He who once said, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see,” says to us now, “Take, eat; this is my Body which is given for you. Drink ye all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”
Beloved, the famine of the soul is ended in Christ. The rejected Brother is our exalted Savior. The Seed of promise has come. The prophets longed to see, and by faith we see and receive Him.
Let us, then, pray with the Church that God would keep us from all things that would truly harm us, that He would preserve us from famine of the soul, and that, ready both in body and soul, we may cheerfully accomplish His will. And let us come to the Table with joy, for here Christ feeds His brethren, and here, in bread and wine, we behold the Savior who gives Himself for the life of the world.
Amen+
