(Mission Camp at Mt. Morris in Wisconsin. Serving others fills the soul)
What Are You Hungry For? What Are You Willing To Share?
by Bishop Chris Giesler
Preaching Texts: Ephesians 6:10-20 & John 6:51-58
During my seminary years, I interned at a nursing home visiting residents who otherwise had little or no family coming to visit with them regularly. One such woman was rather elderly but still able to get around the halls with a walker – and she loved to talk. When I visited with her, I only needed to ask one question about her life, and she would tell stories for the rest of the hour. My problem when visiting with her was that she was often away from her room when I showed up. You see, she had a mission. Her mission was to visit the other residents on her floor to brighten their day. This woman had a very deep and abiding faith. She attended the chapel services provided by the chaplain and did her devotions each day. She wanted to be fed spiritually, and she knew where to go to be fed. She also wanted to share the joy of her faith with others.
This week, we conclude our 5-week journey through John’s 6th chapter, which has had us pondering about physical and spiritual food. In this final pericope, some of Jesus’ followers are complaining about the concept of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. Let’s agree that it does sound a bit grizzly to be talking about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus as he seems to be offering. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”
What is Jesus talking about here? How do we get this bread and wine? Can we buy it at the grocery store? Or is there something deeper here? Must we attend a feeding-of-the-5000 type of event?
Here, Jesus invites us to a full relationship with and participation in his life-giving power. This is more than seeing the sacrament as a remembering; it is a profound relationship that will impact every facet of our lives. It is an enmeshing of Jesus into our souls and, therefore, our lives.
Think of the meals Jesus hosted: the feeding of the 5000, the Upper Room, and breakfast on a beach. Each meal allowed disciples to dine with Jesus and accept his life-giving spirit. How often do we accept that invitation to come and eat? But life is more than finding calories to stay alive, as easy as that is in North America. Life is about finding sacred sustenance that gives meaning to the life that we live. That is what my friend at the nursing home had discovered. She had the option of shrinking away in her room watching TV, but she chose to be out helping others.
The story’s bottom line, however, is that Jesus seeks to meet the needs of the people who would come to learn from him. He saw that the people were hungry and did what was necessary to meet that need. The truth is that Jesus does the same for us today. The question we must ask ourselves is, for what are we hungry?
Much of the world today is hungry for the wrong thing, and we don’t even know it. Paul, in his numerous letters, spoke of the division between the things of the world and the things of heaven. This world is self-centered and self-serving, concerned most of all with self-gain. The kingdom of God is based on mutual well-being and the spiritual and emotional fulfillment of all people.
If we can get beyond the distractions of life, I think that we all hunger for meaning. We hunger to know that what we are doing helps others. When we accept the challenge of trying to see the world through the eyes of Christ, we can begin to see that our lives have more meaning when we help meet the needs of others—and to do so not out of a sense of obligation but out of sheer joy.
Christ can meet our every hunger if we accept the gift of his freely given grace and follow his example in our lives. What are you hungry for? Where are you going to be fed? How can you feed others?
