Ex.16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35
Once there was a young hermit who lived as an ascetic in a
forest. He owned nothing except a pair of loincloths. One morning,
to his great disappointment, he found that mice had destroyed one of the
loincloths. He brought a cat to kill the mice and then a cow to
give milk to the cat.
Later, as the cows multiplied, he hired a girl from
the nearby village to look after the cows and to sell the extra milk in the
village. Finally, his ever-growing material needs prompted him to end his
religious life, marry the girl and settle down as a farmer in the
village. This little story illustrates how easily the never-ceasing
hunger for material things can take over our spiritual life.
Jesus fed the people with the loves of bread and fish he
had miraculously multiplied. The next morning, it did not take long for
the crowd to realize that Jesus had disappeared. As such, they set out to
Capernaum where Jesus and His disciples were known to resort. When they found
Jesus on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did you
come here?"
But Jesus' response to their question was different. Jesus said,
"Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw
signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." Jesus knew that the
people had not perceived the true meaning of the signs. The people had only
considered the material aspect of the miracle, having failed to reflect on its
significance. Jesus continued, "Do not work for the food that perishes,
but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give
you." This echoes the words that are found in the Book of Isaiah in
the Old Testament. "Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me,
and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear,
and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an
everlasting covenant..." [Is. 55:2-3] The Jewish people were very familiar
with these words. Yet, the difficulty that Jesus was experiencing was the
worldly mindedness of the people. While Jesus spoke of spiritual food that will
not perish, the people asked what they must do to perform the works of God.
Obviously, they were not tuned in. They were spiritually blind. They were very
worldly minded, lacking spiritual mindedness.
Material things do not necessarily bring you
happiness. That is a fact of life. It is a hard fact to understand sometimes,
especially in a society that tries very hard to teach you otherwise.
Buddhism is a religion based on seeking
enlightenment, and not desiring material or tangible things. They believe that
suffering is caused by desire. The principle is, we desire, we suffer because
we do not own the thing we desire, and once we own the thing, we desire
something else, so the suffering continues. There are
too many desires in the world, and a human will never be truly happy.
It is very common to get into a mode where you
think, "If only I had object X, my life would be perfect and I would be
happy." You really want something: a new TV, a new car, a special
pair of shoes, whatever. Then you buy it and you love having it for a few
days. But over time you get bored or it wears out. You can see this pattern
repeated constantly in your own life. For example, your parents and
grandparents likely spent thousands and thousands of dollars on toys for you as
you were growing up: Dump trucks and Barbie dolls and video games and electric
cars and on and on and on. All of those toys got boring or broken or outgrown
eventually. They brought happiness for a moment or a week, but over time they
became worthless and your desire turned to a new object.
Christianity isn't centred around not wanting
possessions; however they believe that we are all a possession of god. In Acts,
4, the bible states clearly that "neither said any of them that ought of
the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common"
Therefore Christian view shows that all humans are equal, and no matter what we
own, God sees us the same.
This kind of behaviour isn't only seen in
humans. Two dogs might be eating out of their
bowls, and one of them goes to eat out of the
other bowl, simply because they have a default assumption that everyone else is
getting the "better deal".
Jesus was asking His listeners to change their
hearts and minds in order to see God in a new light. Instead of asking for
bread for their stomachs as their ancestors did when Moses led them out of
Egypt they should ask for the Bread of Life, the Bread Jesus was going to give
them, His Body and Blood.
Satish