COME TO JESUS AND BE FED TO THE FULLEST
(Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 145, Romans 8:35,37-39, Mat 14:13-21)
Today’s readings indicate the fact that God is our divine provider. He invites us in the first reading to come to Him who can satisfy us in our hunger and thirst. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Is 55:1). The Prophet Isaiah made the people of Israel to understand that it is only God who can provide them with something everlasting. The most important yearnings of our life can only be provided by God. What our strength seeks for in life cannot satisfy us according to the prophet. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, Andyour wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance” (Is 55:2). He wanted to point out to the Israelites that human efforts alone cannot bring true satisfactory in life only God can provide for us. Sometimes the Israelites depended on their own efforts and they failed.
The gospel presents Jesus as the only person who can satisfy what we yearn for in life and no one else can do that for us. Jesus fed the people spiritually and complemented it with the physical one. The Lord cares for us in all our needs in other words He cares for us holistically. He gave them His Word and fed them to satisfy their physical hunger. The people were satisfied and there was even left over of twelve baskets. Jesus had pity on them because they were like sheep without shepherd as another text will indicates (Mk 6: 34). With five loaves of bread and two fish Jesus fed five thousand men not counting women and children. The little that the disciples had He was able to multiply to feed multitudes of people to the amazement of the people. The disciples themselves were wondering how they were going to feed this large people when they were asked to find something for them to eat. No wonder they initially asked Christ to allow them to send the people home because it was getting late. According to the version of the gospel of Mark, the disciples indicated that it was a deserted place hence the need for them to be allowed to go to the surrounding villages to buy something for themselves. When asked by Christ to give them something to eat they quizzed Him where they will get money to provide food for the multitudes (Mk 6:30-42).
Our survival on this earth depends on how dependable we are on God. He gives hope to little things which sometimes seems hopeless. We only need to entrust everything to His care and He will pick it up from there. Sometimes we refuse to respond to His invitation and go to other places for help. Jesus is the source of the living water which can sustain us forever. As He indicated to the woman at the well, He is the one who gives the living water which when we drink we cannot be thirsty again (Jn 4:13-14). Why do we go after the water that will make us thirsty again? The gospel indicates that they all ate and were satisfied. The other sources cannot satisfy us to the fullest unless we resort to Christ.
Sometimes we also trust our own efforts than that of Christ forgetting that without Him we can do nothing. The God- factor is very important in all our endeavours. Some of us after failing in our efforts before we recognize that we cannot do without Christ. The first reading invites to listen to the Lord and enjoy what is good. God will not give us anything that will lead us to evil but rather to our salvation. The Lord is always ready to act in our good because that is His intention for creating us.
Like the disciples we also bother ourselves sometimes too much with material things for our survival. But Jesus tells us in Matthew that we should be worried what we need to survive in life. Because the birds of the air do not work but God feeds them every day. God knows what we need and He will provide for us.But this does not mean we should only look to God without making any efforts in life. It is our little efforts which the Lord will bless to yield fruits. Precisely, why I discourage the idea of going to sleep in prayer camps whiles we are not making efforts to progress in life thinking God is a magician. We need to work so that God will make our efforts to bear much fruits.
Our hearts are after things which cannot satisfy us to the fullest. Our yearnings for things of this world is only limited. But as St. Augustine puts it “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God”. Nothing in this world can satisfy the thirst of our soul for God: not even material possessions can accomplish this yearning. You and l need to come to Him without any fear or reservation because He is always ready to welcome us to His presence.
We need to come to Him with the little we have and He will multiply it abundantly. God will provide for us and we need not to be worried because He is there for our good. Let us surrender totally to Him so that He can be the Lord of all things in our life. Come to Jesus and be fed so that you will not thirst and hunger again. May the Holy Spirit help us and give us the grace to always come to Him to be fed. Amen.
Have a blessed Sunday AND A FAVORED WEEK ahead.
REV.FR.Akakpo Matthew
