Today’s gospel, following on from the feeding of the 5000, focuses on the reality of our physical needs and points us beyond them. It seems to me that this speaks to the heart of our reality. As humans we have real, physical needs that can’t be pushed aside if we are to flourish. Jesus, moved by their plight, has met the physical needs of the tired and hungry crowd in the feeding of the 5000.
After he has moved on and they continue to follow him he challenges them to examine their motivation. He reminds them that they are more than physical beings, and that simply meeting their physical needs will never satisfy them completely. Tempting as that path is, it will always leave them unsatisfied. He says to them:
‘I am the bread of life. Those who comes to me will never be hungry; those who believes in me will never thirst.’
In offering them himself, the Bread of Life, he reminds them, and us, of a bigger reality and invites them to embrace it. He makes it clear that these spiritual needs, which we can be inclined to ignore, are as real and as essential as any physical need. He encourages us, to acknowledge the reality of our spiritual needs and desires, and to take them as seriously.
This calls for a balance that we don’t find easy. Having a natural tendency to over overbalance in one direction or the other Jesus calls us back to a life giving balance that we can only achieve by focussing on him.
Where is Christ offering to nourish you this Eastertide?