God, the Great Provider – and Teacher

I once knew a family man who had seven children. With only a small farm to till, he said he had to do practically everything to feed his family. He gathered coconut wine every morning and fish in the evening. His family fed on corn, for rice could not grow on the rocky farm that he had. His children would complain that they were tired of eating the same thing. But he could only tell them, “Patience, patience my children,” for there was nothing more or better that he could provide them with.

The First Reading and the Gospel this Sunday focus on the theme of God providing food for his people. In the First Reading, we hear the grumblings of the Israelites to Moses and Aaron because they were hungry but had no food, asking why God brought them out of Egypt only to die in the desert. And God, in all patience, responded to their call doing all he could to answer their need, causing manna to rain from heaven and quails to appear for their food. In this picture, I cannot help remember what St. Ignatius Loyola says in the “Contemplation to Attain God’s Love: in his Spiritual Exercises, the point that invites the retreatant to consider how God works for us in creation. God himself fed Israel in the desert.

But there is something more that God wants to teach his people about food through Jesus. In the Gospel, Jesus challenges those who are following him, because of the food that he gave, not to work for food that spoils. Nowadays, concern for material food has become central to our lives. I cannot remember a time similar to this in terms of concern for food. Just think of the so many restaurants budding up near us, or the multiplication of college degrees related to food. But aside from material food we are also engrossed with the pursuit of so many other things, but we wonder if these things are really of lasting value, “imperishable.” Are we working for peace? helping to build communities? caring for mother earth? making sacrifices for the sake of those who have little? fighting corruption and falsehood? teaching children love of God, country, and neighbor? promoting good and responsible use of technology, and similar pursuits? If not, then we might be working for something that does not last.

But what Jesus really tries to teach in this passage is that he is the food that does not spoil that we should be after. He is the true bread from heaven, much better and much more satisfying (to say the least) than the manna in the desert. He is also the bread of life, that is, the bread that gives or is the source of life, and the living bread, that is, the bread does not “die” or that satisfies all hunger once and for all, in the same way that he is the source of the living water that becomes in the person a spring welling forth into eternal life (Jn 4:14). People were following him from all over but they seemed to miss the real food for the material, momentary food. Is our craving for food matched by our desire to receive Jesus into our lives? Do we feel we can’t live without him, or is he only a “supplementary diet”? For all our concerns about food and health, we might be missing the most important “health food” in our lives.

For sure, God will never fail to give us our daily bread if we do our part and trust in him. But he is also teaching us to work for food that lasts, most especially, to embrace and receive Jesus, the true and living bread come down from heaven for the life of the world.

By Fr. Renato R. Repole, SJ

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Posted by lsde on Aug 6 2012. Filed under Opinion, Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.