FOOD FOR OUR BODY AND SOUL

Food for Our Body and Soul

Luke 9:11-17

Jesus feeding the five thousand men is another miracle He did to show us what He could do.

The feeding of the five thousand was Jesus’s visible nature of compassion for the needy.

But God is not only concerned about the food that we can eat physically but something greater, a food that will sustain us spiritually.

A food that brings life eternally.

The Physical Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body.

Normally of plant or animal origin, it contains essential nutrients which provide us energy, maintain life, and stimulate growth.

All living creatures cannot survive without feeding on food as this is one of the necessities of man aside from clothing and shelter.

The Need for Food

Men understand to survive, work so hard to always put food on the table, till the land, plant the seed, cultivate and harvest.

For so many, we need to strive and earn a living to have food at least three times a day.

This is the cause of worry for most of us, where we will get our food to eat.

This makes more anxious so Jesus in Mt 6:25 said “For this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat and what you will drink; nor for your body as what to put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

God knows that we need food when we are hungry.

In our gospel today, Jesus was so compassionate that even though he was too tired and needed rest, His attention and concern were for the people who were also tired and hungry.

He asked His disciples to give them something to eat.

Provisions in a Desolate Situation

The disciple approached Jesus to send the crowd away so that they may go to find food and lodging as they are in a desolate place.

They were in the wild; in an isolated place where there were no sources to buy food nearby.

Is it not that in the time that we are in our desolate situation, God always provides for our needs?

If the birds eat their meals in time, how much more that we have a Heavenly Father.

Our heavenly Father knows what we need (Mt 6:32)

Remember how God feeds Prophet Elijah by sending daily his sustenance.

1 King 17:6 The raven brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening….

As God can send His provision in a desolate situation, the same God will send your blessings way ahead of DHL.

The Manna in the Desert

Deserts resemble a place of no life, a life of emptiness, a life of hopelessness.

The Israelites were in their desolate situation and for forty long years, God’s provision never failed.

His blessings are always new and fresh every morning.

Never so focus on your desolate situation that you cannot see God’s provision.

The manna and meat were daily given to them.

Food for the Soul

God’s provision in the desert sustains the physical need of the Israelites.

But God wants us to understand that man shall not live by bread alone but also by the Word that comes from the mouth of God.

There is something more and greater than what we could receive aside from the food of our physical body.

We become what we eat. If you eat more sweets and food rich in carbohydrates, you become diabetic. If your intake food rich in bad cholesterol, you tend to be likely to become hypertensive and increase your chance to have a heart problem.

The more we intake food for our soul gives life, the more we listen to the Word of God, and the more we become Christ-like.

The problem we have today is that many people tend to eat and eat as they want.

We treat ourselves to a fine restaurant and buffet of unlimited food then we wonder why become fat.

We cannot just be healthy from the outside but malnourish on the inside.

Never deprive our soul of the food it needs to become healthy spiritually.

The Real Manna from Heaven

In John 6:51 “ I am the living bread that came down out of heaven, if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.

Jesus clearly said that He is the Bread of life, he who will come to Him will not be hungry and he who believes in Him will never be thirsty.

The manna that God gave to the Israelites in the Old Testament was a bread that sustains their existence in the desert. The bread for physical.

This manna in the New Testament became real when true manna from heaven came down to give eternal life. The bread that brings eternal.

In John 6:32 Truly, truly I say to you, It was not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

The Bread of Life in the Holy Eucharist

The blessed body of Christ becomes real in the Holy Eucharist.

When we partake in the breaking of the bread, His real presence becomes alive as He is with us.

In John 6:27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God has set the seal.

For many, this is difficult to believe but he said that He said that he who believes has eternal life. John 6:47-48

In John 6:53 “I am telling you the truth: If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man & drink His blood, you will have no life in yourselves“.

For my flesh is the real food and my blood is the real drink.

This teaching may cause us to depart from our faith and that was what many have done because they cannot accept this teaching but blessed are those who believe.

This teaching was not accepted by some of his followers and they departed away from Jesus. So Jesus asked His disciples if they will do the same but Peter courageously said “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the Word that gives eternal life”.

May your soul be satisfied,

Mikesendon