Hungry
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Mark 8:1 – 10
Focus Passage:
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?" (Mk. 8:1 – 4)
This Jesus-story holds significant meaning beneath the surface of the narrative.
As a Gospel (Good News) story, it speaks of persons who are hungry and have nothing to eat. At the level of spiritual truth, it describes a soul-hunger. In spiritual stories, physical hunger is often a symbol for spiritual yearning; therefore, we are offered a different kind of food by Jesus in this story.
Our human condition is characterized by hunger and thirst. In our human brokenness, we yearn for more. But there is another reason for our hunger, as well. We were created by God, for God. Within us there is a God-shaped vacuum that can be filled only with God. Our inner hunger drives us to seek nourishment in order to fill that void.
We are each hungry in this way. We are hungry for “more.” We are hungry for meaning. We are hungry for God.
We may not realize we are hungry people, but in reality, this thirst drives us. We try to fill this void in a number of ways . . . with people, experiences, and all kinds of good things. But even the best created things cannot fill this interior emptiness.
In today’s reading, the people were hungry and had nothing to eat. At a physical level, they were separated from actual food to eat. On the spiritual level, they were separated from spiritual resources that could meet their spiritual yearning.
Of course, we see in hindsight that they did have food available. They had loaves and fish to fill their bellies . . . and they had spiritual food for their souls they had not yet recognized. They were with Jesus. But they didn’t see. Either they didn’t believe he had enough to fill them, or they were completely unaware that resources for their inner hunger existed.
This is a typical predicament for humans. We are spiritually hungry. We have access to spiritual resources, but we don’t recognize them or we don’t realize they will fill us.
We miss Jesus’ food 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 available that can feed us and sustain us.
Jesus feeds the physically hungry. He also breaks spiritual bread and feeds the souls of hungry people like us.
For Reflection:
If I have fairly described the two hungers represented in this Gospel story, then those who follow Jesus must take seriously both states. We cannot dismiss or diminish physical hunger. We each live in close proximity to persons who will be underfed or undernourished today. The compassion of the One we follow must shape our compassion, and somehow be turned into acts of mercy.
Neither can we dismiss spiritual hunger. We cannot ignore the frequently-layered stories in the Gospels which speak to our hunger. And we cannot ignore our spiritual hunger as we experience it day by day.
As you reflect and pray, hold the tension of these two hungers. Reflect on your experience of both. And perhaps you would re-read the entire Mark 8:1-10 text with a mind to hearing it speak to you about spiritual hunger.
Daily Reading: Mark 8:1 – 10
Focus Passage:
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?" (Mk. 8:1 – 4)
This Jesus-story holds significant meaning beneath the surface of the narrative.
As a Gospel (Good News) story, it speaks of persons who are hungry and have nothing to eat. At the level of spiritual truth, it describes a soul-hunger. In spiritual stories, physical hunger is often a symbol for spiritual yearning; therefore, we are offered a different kind of food by Jesus in this story.
Our human condition is characterized by hunger and thirst. In our human brokenness, we yearn for more. But there is another reason for our hunger, as well. We were created by God, for God. Within us there is a God-shaped vacuum that can be filled only with God. Our inner hunger drives us to seek nourishment in order to fill that void.
We are each hungry in this way. We are hungry for “more.” We are hungry for meaning. We are hungry for God.
We may not realize we are hungry people, but in reality, this thirst drives us. We try to fill this void in a number of ways . . . with people, experiences, and all kinds of good things. But even the best created things cannot fill this interior emptiness.
In today’s reading, the people were hungry and had nothing to eat. At a physical level, they were separated from actual food to eat. On the spiritual level, they were separated from spiritual resources that could meet their spiritual yearning.
Of course, we see in hindsight that they did have food available. They had loaves and fish to fill their bellies . . . and they had spiritual food for their souls they had not yet recognized. They were with Jesus. But they didn’t see. Either they didn’t believe he had enough to fill them, or they were completely unaware that resources for their inner hunger existed.
This is a typical predicament for humans. We are spiritually hungry. We have access to spiritual resources, but we don’t recognize them or we don’t realize they will fill us.
We miss Jesus’ food 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 available that can feed us and sustain us.
Jesus feeds the physically hungry. He also breaks spiritual bread and feeds the souls of hungry people like us.
For Reflection:
If I have fairly described the two hungers represented in this Gospel story, then those who follow Jesus must take seriously both states. We cannot dismiss or diminish physical hunger. We each live in close proximity to persons who will be underfed or undernourished today. The compassion of the One we follow must shape our compassion, and somehow be turned into acts of mercy.
Neither can we dismiss spiritual hunger. We cannot ignore the frequently-layered stories in the Gospels which speak to our hunger. And we cannot ignore our spiritual hunger as we experience it day by day.
As you reflect and pray, hold the tension of these two hungers. Reflect on your experience of both. And perhaps you would re-read the entire Mark 8:1-10 text with a mind to hearing it speak to you about spiritual hunger.
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