Hunger QOTD: Walter Wink

"Six million children die of malnutrition and hunger-related causes every year. That's 16,400 every day. Most of that is preventable. Bread for the World believes that hunger can be wiped out for only a few billion dollars -- peanuts compared with the military budgets of the world powers. If we don't respond, these children will find the door barred in their faces -- and in their case, they weren't 'foolish' but innocent. We will be the fools, but it will be too late for those who already face that closed door.

Jesus is not warning about the last judgment here, but against a judgment already taking place every day. In the world's midnight, Jesus brought the reign of God to humanity. Jesus transformed the world's midnight from a time of destitution into a time of celebration. Will we be at the wedding feast or locked out by our failure to grasp the meaning of that closed door? Perhaps there will be later feasts I can say yes to and be prepared for, but I have for all time missed the chance for this feast. The times we haven't responded to God's invitations to act add up to our unlived life."

--Walter Wink, in his reflection on the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 25:1-13) for Hunger for the Word: Lectionary Reflections on Food and Justice. Walter Wink died May 10, 2012.