On the day following the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus had an eager audience. The people obviously impressed with what happened, are back following him. They think that he can supply them with food and fulfil their material hopes and ambitions, without any effort on their part. The deeper meaning of the event – its spiritual significance- escapes them completely. They don’t understand what he is talking about and fail to realise that Jesus is the sign of God’s presence, in their midst. Jesus reprimands them saying: “You are not looking for me because you have seen the signs, but because you have had all the bread you wanted to eat.” This hunger for food was the starting point for Jesus to begin his teaching about the deep hunger all of us have for something more than physical sustenance.
We are all living in a world desperately wondering what has gone wrong with its dreams.All around us there is a preoccupation with hunger for material possessions. The media assure us that the longings of the heart can be satisfied by the artificial securities and delights of our consumer society. Satisfaction is short lived however. New needs are created as soon as old ones are accomplished, emptiness sets in and the search for happiness begins all over again.
As we listen to the words of Jesus in today’s gospel we come to realise that food is but basic fodder and that if we are to really live, something more is required. There is another kind of nourishment needed by the human heart, because there are other hungers that we need to satisfy. Deep down within each of us there is a hunger to love and be loved, to be listened to and to be appreciated and above all to know that there is a meaning and an eternal value to our lives. These are hungers of the heart and yearnings of the spirit of which Jesus wants us to be conscious and which he alone can satisfy. At this great depth is ourhunger for God.
You and I are in this story as it touches our personal lives. Swayed as we are by material needs, we are in constant danger of losing our taste for the ‘food’ that will strengthen our souls. Jesus speaks to us and asks us, do we hunger and thirst for what he has to offer? Where do our interests and true desires rest? He calls us to work as hard to receive that bread which he is, as we normally work for the bread which does not last. Otherwise, we will never know what we are striving for, and die without realising our spiritual greatness. ‘Our hearts are made for you, O God, and they cannot rest until they rest in you.’ The world is full of people who spend their lives aimlessly seeking joy and happiness in all the wrong ways and all the wrong places!
Blessings
Fr Peter Tipene
