What
is the most common thing for friends to do together? I've been thinking
about it, and I think what we do with company more than anything else
is eat. "Hey, want to grab lunch tomorrow?" "Have dinner plans?" And the
ever so infamous, "Just bought a stick of cookie dough, ready to
party?" Jesus was no different really; He used banquets as
illustrations, Last Suppers as special times of fellowship, and minimal
amounts of food to attract and feed very large crowds.
In
John 6, Jesus calls himself the "Bread of Life", saying that whoever
partakes in Him will never go hungry or thirsty. He's said these types
of things before, such as to the Samaritan woman at the well. In these
occasions, Jesus uses very real and tangible concepts (hunger and
thirst) to illustrate how He is in fact the only constant source
of sustenance.
Jesus
tells a crowd He is teaching that "Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness-they will filled."(Matthew 6:6) In that day,
hunger was a real thing. If you're reading this, chances are you haven't
gone hungry for more than a few hours, because you have access to a
computer. However, think of what that means, to long for righteousness
the way that the hungry long for food. I think this illustration could
very possibly be lost on us too often because we don't know what it
means to hunger for something.
Before
Jesus even ends this lesson though, he touches on the idea of
food/hunger one more time in the very next chapter. "Here is the bottom
line: do not worry about your life. Don't worry about what you will eat
or what you will drink. Don't worry about how you clothe your body.
Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than
dressing up...So do not consume yourselves with questions: What will we
eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?...Seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to
you." (Matthew 6:25, 31, 33) So here is another idea almost completely,
this idea that we aren't to worry about food, drink, and clothing, but
are instead to seek the kingdom of God (you might even say, Hunger for
God). We're promised that if we do that, then we won't have to worry about the other things. What a promise! Do you believe it?
Sometimes
certain texts don't make sense to us, or at least are hard for us to
swallow. Part of this is because we live in a completely different
culture than those in these biblical accounts did. However, think about
the culture that these people are apart of - it's a patriarchal culture -
one where people often relied on a patron to meet their needs, whether
that be the head of the household or even more of a business
relationship where one takes care of the other (I've touched on this
idea before in my "Friend of God" blog post, check it out for more
detail).
Reading
these passages through that type of cultural lens helps us see more
clearly what Jesus is saying and promising. We are commanded to not worry,
but to lean on God for all of our
needs. The other thing we are to do is to seek/long/hunger for His
kingdom and to better bring it about. That can be such a hard thing to
do. Trusting God to take care of you no matter what the circumstances is
FAR easier said than done. I realize that I'm kind of calling most
church going people out, but stop and think: How much have I worried
this week alone? As the Bride of Christ, the church is called to nothing
less than what would be expected of a wife in that time and culture:
trust the husband to meet all of her (our) needs.
God
calls us for a change of trust and also a change of focus. One of the
key ways He does that once again uses the idea of food. Fasting is a
very neglected discipline. More often than not, people who "fast" do so
because they are trying to get rid of a gut or simply feel guilty (and
bloated) from the incredible amount of food they had during the previous
meal. Fasting, however, is far more than a health decision or a guilt
trip, it is the giving up of the physical in order to better long for
the spiritual. Prayer accompanies this spiritual discipline, and one of
the reasons they go so well together is because every time you feel
hunger pains, you remember to stop and pray. Even more though, when you
feel those hunger pains, you remember who you are truly suppose to be
hungering for: God. That is why fasting is such a respected discipline,
because it reminds us to long for God and it also reminds us that God is
ultimately our food source in every possible physical and spiritual
way.
I
challenge you, dear reader, to be called blessed because you hunger and
thirst for righteousness. I challenge you to fast, pray, and seek out
God's direction. I also challenge you to drop the individualistic
mindset that we all fall prey to and truly trust God for all your needs,
physical or otherwise. Hear and believe God's promise: Seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be
given to you.
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