Jesus is all about feeding hungry people
June 4th, 2023 – Communion Meditation
Let’s start with the Lord’s prayer:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Did you know that the request “Give us this day our daily bread,” literally means “Give us today our bread for the coming day?” Another way to phrase that is, “Give us tomorrow’s bread today.” Jesus is all about feeding hungry people. The gospels contain many stories about food and celebrations, including two accounts of Jesus feeding thousands and thousands of hungry people miraculously with just a few small loaves of bread and a couple of fish.
The good news of Jesus includes the announcement that in the Kingdom of God which Jesus launched through his life and death and resurrection, the Kingdom of God that is already-but-not-yet-fully-here, Jesus overcame all of the powers of this world (including sin and death) to establish his rule of justice and peace, on earth as it is in heaven. By feeding lots of hungry people with a tiny amount of food, Jesus both told and showed that in the Kingdom of God, everyone will be given what they need. God sees you and knows what you need. God, our creator, who is praiseworthy and powerful and present, who is good and great and generous, has come to renew and restore all of creation, broken people, broken places, broken relationships, broken bodies.
Jesus’s life and death have become the food that transforms people to be able to live as Kingdom of God people. New life has arrived! As we participate in the Lord’s Supper, in Communion, today, I encourage us to allow the body and blood of Christ to transform us from the inside out. May God fling open the curtains on windows we didn’t even know existed to reveal his light and love streaming over every part of creation and culture, partnering with him in the power of the Holy Spirit as he sends us out as agents of transformation into a world that desperately needs God’s beautiful renewal and restoration.
Matthew 26:26-28 – “While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
