Are you full?

Candy? Chips? We're Not Sure (Photo credit: nep)

Are you full...While I was attending college in northwest Iowa, I worked part-time at a Shell gas station.  Day after day, week after week, I saw the same people come in to get the same food at the same time.  For some it was a candy bar, others loved a particular brand of chips, and of course there were the older guys who would sit and talk in the corner, drinking their coffee and eating their donuts.  I can only imagine that many of these people were stopping in on their way home from work to pick up the same food that they would tell their kids 5 minutes later not to eat because it would spoil their dinner.  We can laugh about the dirty little secret that convenient store food is because we recognize it gives a boost at the end of the day, but we know these snacks don't completely satisfy us the way a full meal does.

In John 4, we find the account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.  After their interaction, she goes back to her town to bring the people to meet Jesus, at which time the disciples urge Jesus to quick grab a bite while no one's around.  His response startles them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."  Wait just a second, you mean we went and bought food from dirty Samaritans and Rabbi has food?  Who gave it to him, none of us packed anything. Jesus knew the conversation and thoughts traveling amongst his disciples, so he tells them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (v. 34).

"My food is to do..."  Jesus was human, thus experienced hunger for physical nourishment, but he tells us that the food that really matters is when he does the will of his Father.  Hunger is something that most of us don't know much about, and I of all people am not going to go on a rant about having too much food, but I think there's something we can consider.  When most of us refer to hunger it's because our stomachs are growling; it's internal.  Jesus proposes a different outlook though, one that is outward; hunger as exemplified in our passage is a matter of seeing and fulfilling a duty on someone else's behalf.

Jesus statement in the following verses reveal that this hunger isn't just for him though, we're invited to enjoy the harvest with him!  I've been blessed with a calling in which service is easy to see and is currently a big part of my internship as a seminarian, but all of us have opportunities to join the harvest.  Whether you work in hospitals or at home, in public service or as mechanics, as farmers or bankers, all of us have the opportunity to eat more than just sandwiches, yogurt, candy, and chips on a daily basis.  I'm not speaking to a better physical meal, no, we have a feast with a table full of "do"!  When I think of coming together at church, a time to praise God, join with fellow believers, and receive teaching from the Word; that's the "boost" that we need, but then we have the opportunity the rest of the week to see the ripe harvest all around us.  We can see the fields, the shelves, and the platters just waiting to be brought home wherever we may work and serve.  Are you ready to join Jesus in recognizing your food?  Are you ready to do your Father's will to fill the hunger he's given you?  Let's eat!