No Matter The Danger, the Hungry Must Be Fed
Exodus 12:1-14
One of the most inspiring stories I have heard of in the midst of the ongoing genocide and humanitarian disaster happening in Gaza has been the work spearheaded by an inspiring chef named Jose Andrés. He is the founder and CEO of the World Central Kitchen. They have served over 600 million meals across the globe as a first responder to crises and disasters.
When a disaster strikes, WCK as an organization responds urgently, setting up emergency feeding operations. And so, naturally, they have been in Gaza for the past few years responding to hunger with astonishing courage and tenacity. On April 1, 2024, seven people working with the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli Defense Force airstrike. At the time, the IDF said it was a mistake, they fired officers involved and claimed it was a breach of their own procedures.
It is easy, I think, to consider meals and food to be a casual thing. Feeding the hungry is an obviously good thing, right? At Lakewood UMC, a part of our vision for the future in Lakewood is that the hungry are fed and that seems to be one of the most uncontroversial things we should strive for.
But I think we can overlook, sometimes, that feeding people is not always casual. It is not always safe. And it is not always easy. And the church and charitable organizations cannot do it alone, either.
I also think we can overlook that food, even food shared in tense, dangerous, and unsafe times, eaten in haste, prepared simply, is incredibly sacred. The story of the Exodus of Isrealites from Egypt and the Passover which commanded them to “take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. … the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number who eat of it.”
The Passover is a sacred Jewish rite that remembers and reenacts the passing of God over Isrealite households who followed God’s command to put the blood of the lamb they had slaughtered for eating on their door posts. God passing over them was important: it spared them from a plague that killed the firstborn child of every family in Egypt. It was the final plague that finally led to the Pharoah letting Moses’ people go.
What must it have been like to have eaten that lamb “roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” This would not have been a pleasant meal. Not only was the food spartan, they were also commanded to eat it while dressed for a hasty departure with their “loins girded, …sandals on (their) feet, and (their) staff in (their) hand.” God commanded them to eat it hurriedly.
I think the meal of Passover was similar in nature to the meals served by the World Central Kitchen to residents of Gaza who lost their homes, were in a constant state of needing to flee from place to place as the IDF constantly moved the goal posts on where safety could be found. The irony of that is tragic, and enraging.
The hypocrisy of bombing places where meals were being served to hungry people when your own sacred story is one of being spared from above through the eating of lamb and unleavened bread is astonishing.
I don’t know how the story of violence and tragedy will end in the Holy Land. But I remain in awe of the work to feed the hungry that World Central Kitchen continues to do there. Regardless of what happens, the hungry must be fed. No matter the danger, the Hungry must be fed.
May that be true for us whereever we are as well as it is true in Gaza amidst the work of the World Central Kitchen.
