Saturday of the Third Week of Lent – March 13, 2010
Mark 8:1 – 10
During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance."
His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?"
"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied.
He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present. And having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Think about this Jesus-story a little differently today. Let’s explore it for meanings that lie beneath the surface of the narrative.
As a Gospel story, it speaks of persons who are hungry and apparently have nothing to eat. As a Gospel story of spiritual truth, it speaks of a deeper hunger. Physical hunger is often a symbol for spiritual yearning, so as a spiritual story, we are being offered a different kind of food by Jesus.
It is the human condition to be hungry, to be thirsty, to be unfulfilled. We may attribute that yearning to our human brokenness, but there is another reason for our hunger as well. In essence, we were created by God for God. Within us there is a God-shaped vacuum that can only be filled with God. An inner hunger within us seeks to fill that void.
We are all hungry in this way. We are hungry for “more.” We are hungry for meaning. We are hungry for God.
We may not even realize that we are hungry people, but in reality, this hunger drives us. We try to fill this void in any number of ways, with people, experiences, and all kinds of good things. But even the best of created things cannot fill this hunger and thirst.
The various Gospel stories of hungry crowds fed by Jesus differ in some details. In Mark’s story, the people are hungry and have nothing to eat. They are out of touch with spiritual resources that meet their spiritual yearning. Of course, they do have spiritual food to eat, they have some spiritual loaves and fish to eat, but either they don’t think that will be enough to fill them, or they are completely unaware that those resources exist.
This is a fairly typical predicament for humans. We are spiritually hungry. And we have access to spiritual resources, but we don’t recognize them or we don’t think they will fill us.
We miss the food Jesus offers because we haven’t developed eyes for the spiritual. We live so completely enmeshed in the physical, sensory level of existence that we tend to be oblivious to the spiritual dimension of reality. And all along, there is spiritual bread that can feed us and sustain us.
Jesus meets physical hunger. He also breaks spiritual bread and feeds the souls of persons like you and me until we are satisfied.
During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance."
His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?"
"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied.
He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present. And having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Think about this Jesus-story a little differently today. Let’s explore it for meanings that lie beneath the surface of the narrative.
As a Gospel story, it speaks of persons who are hungry and apparently have nothing to eat. As a Gospel story of spiritual truth, it speaks of a deeper hunger. Physical hunger is often a symbol for spiritual yearning, so as a spiritual story, we are being offered a different kind of food by Jesus.
It is the human condition to be hungry, to be thirsty, to be unfulfilled. We may attribute that yearning to our human brokenness, but there is another reason for our hunger as well. In essence, we were created by God for God. Within us there is a God-shaped vacuum that can only be filled with God. An inner hunger within us seeks to fill that void.
We are all hungry in this way. We are hungry for “more.” We are hungry for meaning. We are hungry for God.
We may not even realize that we are hungry people, but in reality, this hunger drives us. We try to fill this void in any number of ways, with people, experiences, and all kinds of good things. But even the best of created things cannot fill this hunger and thirst.
The various Gospel stories of hungry crowds fed by Jesus differ in some details. In Mark’s story, the people are hungry and have nothing to eat. They are out of touch with spiritual resources that meet their spiritual yearning. Of course, they do have spiritual food to eat, they have some spiritual loaves and fish to eat, but either they don’t think that will be enough to fill them, or they are completely unaware that those resources exist.
This is a fairly typical predicament for humans. We are spiritually hungry. And we have access to spiritual resources, but we don’t recognize them or we don’t think they will fill us.
We miss the food Jesus offers because we haven’t developed eyes for the spiritual. We live so completely enmeshed in the physical, sensory level of existence that we tend to be oblivious to the spiritual dimension of reality. And all along, there is spiritual bread that can feed us and sustain us.
Jesus meets physical hunger. He also breaks spiritual bread and feeds the souls of persons like you and me until we are satisfied.
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