Spiritual Hunger and Thirst

Proper 18, Year A, 2 August 2020

Matt 14:13-21; Is 55:1-3; Rom 8:35, 37-39

The Gospel story of the feeding of the 5000 is about many things.

• it is about the large crowd recognizing their need for Jesus, his healing presence and words of wisdom.
• It is about the miracle of so many people being fed with what seemed to be so little. 
• It is a foreshadowing of the Holy Eucharist, where Jesus breaks bread and feeds our souls. 
• It is a story about our need for God.

Having said that, bodily hunger and thirst are primal and necessary needs.

We notice our bodies when it needs food, and we eat to satisfy that need.

We notice when our bodies are thirsty, and we drink to satisfy that need. 

Yet, when you have eaten all you can eat, and drunk all that you can drink, if you listen closely, you will notice a deeper hunger and thirst that food and water cannot satisfy. 

The prophet Isaiah says “Thus says the Lord: All who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!…Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.” 

Isaiah is saying that, more than physical food, water and material needs, we have spiritual hunger and thirst. 

We are spiritual beings, and we are created to need God. 

Until you begin to recognize this spiritual or inner need, and to respond to it, there will always be something missing in your life. 

You cannot be complete or made whole without responding to your need for God, your need for Christ. 

St.Paul says in our reading today [read the passage] that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This “love of God” is our deepest need.

This “love of God” is our deepest hunger.

This “love of God” is our deepest thirst. 

It is how you are made.

It is how you are created. 

It is not negotiable. 

You can deny or repress this deep need. But that only makes you a fool, and it short changes you and those around you of the more of life, the more of love. 

So, for those of you who are spiritually hungry, come.

For those of you who are spiritually thirsty, come. 

Like the 5000 in our Gospel story, let us come to Jesus, who will open to us the Christ life, which alone will satisfy our deepest need       to        be       in         love.