BREAD OF LIFE

(Based on Sunday’s Readings for August 5, 2018)
 
In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, humans are motivated to fill an unmet need. Physiological needs – food, water, air, shelter and clothing – comprise the foundation and must be satisfied before progressing to Security (health, family, etc.), Love and belonging, Esteem (confidence, human dignity), before finally seeking Self-actualization (fulfillment).
 
A hungry person requires food.
 
The Israelites were famished. They grumbled that, being so close to death, they would preferred to have lived and eaten in slavery. Thus the Lord "rained down bread from heaven in the morning dew" and "in the evening quail came up and covered the camp." (The following chapter details how Lord provided water from a rock to slake their thirst.)
 
The Israelites required manna and water before they could turn their attention back to God.
 
When people are empty, they need to fill themselves up. Yes, food. They may also hunger for a companion, or friendships with each other. Perhaps, empty of purpose, they may hunger for a relationship with God.
 
Many choices are available but not all are equally filling and sustaining, as we are reminded in the Gospel Acclamation, "One does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."
 
After feeding fish and barley loaves to five thousand men (plus women and children), Jesus went off by himself before he was found the next day by the crowds, who were searching for more food.
 
Jesus instructed them, "Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." "Believe in the one God sent. … My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. … I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
 
Yes, we need food and water. Jesus’s test for receiving an invitation into the kingdom – feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty – recognizes the necessity of food and water. But besides these, and being welcomed, visited, and having clothing, we have minimal needs. Yet our list of needs keeps getting longer and longer. Blurring the distinction between wants and needs, we create an adult version of a child’s lengthy Christmas list for Santa. We continue to believe that this new thing or that shiny bauble will fill our empty feeling. 
 
Truly, we are wandering the desert, search for something that fills us today and tomorrow. The Word of God is that complete nourishment for which we long.