Soul Food and Satisfaction

Recipe for Soul Food

‌We see Jesus speaking to the crowds that had witnessed his feeding of the five-thousand with only five loaves and two fish. They had followed him to Capernaum wanting a repeat performance. When they realized that they weren’t going to get it, they wanted Jesus to show them how to do that for themselves.

“What must we do to perform the works of God?” (John 6:28)

His answer was simple, to believe in him as the One sent from God. (6:29) Believe? If they were confused about this bread and how they could get it, what they were about to hear would certainly throw them for a loop! There is so much in this passage, but let’s try to understand what it should have meant to them and what it looks like to us today. In essence, Jesus told the crowd “I, the Lord God, am here to provide you with everything you need for your spiritual life.” The crowd missed that part because they didn’t receive Jesus as the One sent from God. But if we already believe that, what does this passage hold for us today?

Eating Soul Food

We understand this jarring metaphorical language, the “eating of Jesus’ flesh” as taking Christ into ourselves, making ourselves one with him. We even hear it in Jesus’ prayer for his followers. He prayed…

that we who believe in him “may all be one. As (God) is in (Jesus) and (Jesus) is in (God), may (we) also be in (them), so that the world may believe that (God has) sent (Jesus). John 17:21 (paraphrased to personalize)

This is how we get Living Bread that satisfies our souls. It’s how we receive nutrients that are divine and eternal. We accept Jesus’ invitation to abide in him, taking him into ourselves and giving ourselves into him. This gives our souls satisfaction. But how, you might ask, do we know if our souls aren’t satisfied? What if you feel like your soul is pretty good? That could be one of our greatest challenges, understanding what it feels like to have a hungry, depleted soul.

Recognizing Soul Hunger

But how, you might ask, do we know if our souls aren’t satisfied? What if you feel like your soul is pretty good? Perhaps that’s one of our greatest challenges, understanding what it feels like to have a hungry soul, a depleted soul.

We can mistake physical thirst for hunger. Studies prove that. I’d like us to consider that our souls’ hunger, our need for Soul Food, can also be mistaken for physical needs. Our bodies’ daily physical demands use nutrients we replenish through eating. Demands are made on our souls, too. Life’s trials demand divine nutrients for peace, joy, hope, discernment, perseverance, and others that only an eternal, spiritual Source can provide. So, feelings of anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and even fatigue could possibly be warning us that our souls need satisfaction through nutrients that only God can provide.

We can also mistake what we’re hungry for: Living Bread or daily bread? We’re not the first to be confused; we see an example in our Luke passage, with Mary and Martha. Jesus recognized soul hunger in Martha. He picked up on the signs immediately. He told her that she was “worried and distracted by many things.” (v. 41) Martha needed more of Jesus.‌ She needed Living Bread.

Satisfying Our Hunger

So, what is our daily bread? Let’s think of Martha again, and her efforts to connect with Jesus.

She was being intentional about hospitality, something highly regarded in Jewish culture, and it almost always involved food. That’s what Martha was doing, serving Jesus through hospitality. Poor Martha was doing her best to work her way to more connection with Jesus; she was depending on daily bread when she needed Living Bread.

Daily bread. Working. Doing. It’s what we default to today. Working and doing for Jesus are results-oriented; we can see the results. We can know when we’re finished and whether we think it pleases God. Those around us can see it too, and that can be problematic because we can start to compare, like Martha did with Mary. We feel the need to be doing something in order to earn God’s approval. But we don’t work to earn Living Bread, we can only receive it as the gift Jesus gives us in himself. He said the bread that he would give for the life of the world is his flesh. Himself.

The Bread We Need

The Living Bread must come first, or the daily bread means nothing. That’s what Jesus was telling Martha. He told her she was “worried and distracted by many things” but she only needed one thing. Martha needed what Mary had chosen, which Jesus called “the better part” that would not be taken away from her. Mary had chosen to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to what he was saying. Mary had chosen to receive; Martha had chosen to perform. When we choose to receive, to “take in” Living Bread by sitting at Jesus’ feet like Mary, listening to what he says, learning how to live like he lived, our souls will be satisfied with Soul Food.

Being Bread Makers

Daily bread, like Martha shows us in her service and hospitality, is good, even necessary. When Jesus said Mary had chosen “the better thing,” he didn’t discount what Martha had done, he simply showed her she needed Living Bread first, and the daily bread would follow. But aren’t we supposed to be “doers of the word, and not merely hearers”? James wrote that in a different context, but yes, we will be doers if we have the Living Bread of Jesus. Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” As we will hear Jesus say later in John, biding produces fruit, in this case, bread. The daily bread Jesus wants from us is bread we cannot make on our own, but rely on him to produce through us as we abide in him. We let Jesus be the bread Maker, putting a new perspective on The Lord’s Prayer.

Martha was hungry and didn’t even recognize it, but Jesus did. Jesus knew Martha needed peace, joy, and clarity - divine nutrients of Soul Food, Living Bread. Martha needed more of Jesus, to sit at his feet and take him in, to abide in him. When we do that, our anxiety, fear, fatigue, and so many other things we mistake for physical needs, begin to fade. Our souls are satisfied when we abide in Christ and receive the peace, the rest, and the hope our souls need.

We’re all hungry, we just may not know it. Our souls will always hunger for more of Jesus. We will always need to eat the flesh of Jesus - to take in more of who Jesus is and what Jesus has for us. The daily bread, the doing, will come as a result.

My challenge to each of us is this: Let’s stop trying to make our own bread. Let’s remember what Jesus told the crowds when they asked, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Let’s believe and sit at his feet. Let’s get more of Jesus.

Let’s pray.

Jesus, we’re hungry and we don’t even know it. We feel tired and think we need sleep. We feel anxious and believe we need to calm ourselves however we can. We’re afraid, so we try to escape or we lash out in anger. Help us remember your words. “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” “Don’t be anxious, but talk to me in prayer.” “Don’t fear, but let my perfect love drive out your fears.” Remind us that only you have the nutrients our souls need for rest, for peace, for hope. Remind us that more of you is what our souls need for real satisfaction.

When we find ourselves frazzled and frustrated trying to do our “good works” for you, and we look around at others feeling they aren’t carrying their weight, remind us that you are the Maker of the bread, that your Living Bread can never be earned by our works. Remind us that we need to “cease striving” and sit at your feet. You will feed us if we just take in more of you. You will provide the bread. Help us remember. Help us believe. Amen.