When you hear the word hunger, probably like me you think of your own stomach and when you last ate…or maybe when you’re going to eat again…that’s where I am right now.
There’s a lot of hunger in the in our community…even more in the world.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), almost 1 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and almost 2 billion are under or over nourished. (I’m probably over)
Approximately 5 million children die each year because of poor nutrition.
Access to adequate food during the first 1,000 days of life is vitally important for healthy future generations. Even a temporary lack of food during that crucial time has a negative effect on physical and intellectual development.
Yet our world produces enough food to feed 10 billion people and the Food and Agriculture Organization statistics confirm that the world produces enough food to feed the 7 billion people living today, and even enough to feed the estimated 9-10 billion that will be the population in 2050.
Those are kind of some crazy statistics about hunger. But as I thought about hunger, I thought about ways we are hungry.
Other things we hunger for in our lives?
Sleep – a lack of sleep actually makes you feel hungry (no kiddin look it up)
Attention or Praise – let’s face it, who among us doesn’t need to be recognized for our abilities and hard work?
Human touch – with our smaller household sizes, greater migration, higher media consumption, and longer life expectancy, people today are more isolated than at any other time in human history. Just like we crave food when we are hungry, and crave sleep when we are tired, so we crave touch when we are lonely, for to be lonely is to be vulnerable.
Most of these are pretty well documented and covered pretty well in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which says we need Maslow used the terms “physiological”, “safety”, “belonging and love”, “social needs” or “esteem”, and “self-actualization”.
But I believe there is one thing we hunger for that isn’t necessarily covered in these lists. I think we hunger for God.
God created us with an innate need for God. And when that need isn’t being met, we hunger for it.
In the 6th chapter of John we find Jesus at the sea of Galilee. A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. It came time to eat and in an act of radical hospitality Jesus inquired of his disciples about feeding everybody. At first the answer was, something like “Do you know what that’d cost?” but then Andrew and his brother Peter said “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.”
But Jesus had them sit down and in a way that we read about in many places in the scripture Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.
Everyone was so impressed that wanted to make Jesus King, but he was having none of that, so he slipped off to the mountain by himself. It was getting dark and Jesus wasn’t back yet so his disciples got int eh boat and headed off across the sea. A storm came up, the tiny ship was tossed, and there was no fearless crew, but Jesus walked out on the water. He reassured them, “It’s me. It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.” So they took him on board. In no time they reached land—the exact spot they were headed to.
The next morning, the crowd woke up, realized Jesus and his crew were gone. Just then some boats came in so they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him back across the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.
“Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”
To that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”
Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
They waffled: “Why don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going on? When we see what’s up, we’ll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. It says so in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus responded, “The real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.”
They jumped at that: “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!”
Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.
We’re a lot like the people in John’s story. We like having our belly fed. We like things and people who feed us food, or physical touch, or praise or complements or attention or even let us sleep. But we’re still hungry for more…we still recognize that we have an unmet need….and that’s God.
Jesus says that he is the bread sent by God to feed us.
What does that mean?
We are being invited to feast on the love and acceptance Jesus brings to world.
We are being invited to grow and learn through Jesus’ teachings together. To join together to feed our souls.
How do we do that?
I’m glad you asked!
We are looking to start a small group where we gather together. For conversation. For Food. For study. Right now we are thinking either Tuesday or Thursday evening. Complete our survey CLICK HERE
You’ll hear me say this over and over, God meets us at the table. We are fed physically. We are fed spiritually.
Communion is one of those thin places where heaven and earth touch. Our table here tonight, and always is open. It is available to ALL. There are no barriers.
God wants you to be fed! I do too.
God
who provided manna to feed your people as they wandered in the desert. God who caused water to flow from rocks. Feed us. Quench our thirst as we hunger for you. As our souls pant for you as a deer pants for water. Fill us oh God, that we might go to the world and feed those who are hungry and offer water to the thirsty.
Amen
