Anybody Hungry ? (2021-07-25, Sunday-17)

[__ver-04__]   Homily – July 25, 2021  /  17^th Sunday (Year B)

●  2 Kings 4:42-44   ●  Psalm 145   ● ●  Ephesians 4:1-6 ● + John 6:1-15  ● 

 Title:  Anybody Hungry?

 [__01__]     Plenty of people say that hunger is the best seasoning or spice – which means – that if a hard-working rowing team from the Tokyo Olympics or construction crew from West Orange were to show up at your kitchen or cafeteria table, then you would not have to worry what to serve or feed them, because they would love / relish whatever you serve them. They would be hungry. Hunger is the best seasoning or spice.

 [__02__]     Is anybody hungry right now?  That’s a risky question to ask a large number of people in church or at your house or in a crowd, but it is implied in the words of Jesus to his disciples, to ask of themselves – “Hey, You, The Disciples, You Hungry?”

          And to ask regarding the crowd.  “Are the people hungry?”

[__03__]     World-Societal Example

          There are justice and charitable movements that deal with hunger.

          The American politician Humbert H. Humphrey once said:

“the moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and

those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, disabled and the handicapped”.

          Our own ethic of being pro-life calls us to recognize that life is to be nourished and cared for at all stages and that legally sanctioned means of controlling the start and finish of life – such as abortion and medically-sanctioned suicide – do not really address the source of our hunger.

          So, we have justice and charitable movements in our own church to address the real hunger for life and for the precious value of life.

          In addition, we see human lives undervalued and hunger ignored because there are people who live in districts or areas described by economists and sociologists as “food deserts” or they live with “food insecurity”.

          A “food desert” does not mean that the people on this “map” are in the Mojave or Sahara (another desert that starts with M ??) But it means that that in their neighborhood, they lack the retail stores or lack affordable retail stores to nourish themselves and buy food.  And, for these and other reasons, they live with “food insecurity”

 

[__04__]     Anybody hungry?

Hunger is the best spice not only to get people consume (digest) what is served by the cook but also the best spice to motivate us to do good for others.

          In the Sermon on the Mount / Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are they hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

          Hunger is meant to invite us to come out of ourselves and consider the needs of others, as the disciples also are.

          We read this critique of the broken/selfish person in the Book of Job. This verse describes a specific person, but could apply to any of us at some time:

          “He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself” (Job 14:22)

 

[__05__]     Jesus was asking his disciples if anyone is hungry right then (now?) and also prompting them to do something about it. It’s a risk to ask people if they are hungry and then also to ask them to do something about it.

          How will they – how will we – satisfy our hunger?

[__06__]     Anybody hungry? In response to our Savior’s question about the 5,000-plus hungry people in the crowd, Philip would perhaps prefer to run a 5K in the opposite direction away from their needs, rather than do anything or even ask for anything.

          If Philip wee sending a text …it might begin with the letters I – D – K “I don’t’ know….”, and then giving up he would message back…       

“Two hundred denarii [days’ wages] would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit].” (John 6:7)

          Andrew also is an I-D-K person who points out a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes but does so emphasize how paltry, how little, this portion is.

[__06.01__]   Our real spiritual hunger is not satisfied by consumption but by connection.

          All of us, in some way, or at some time, find ourselves in a situation where we struggle to satisfy our desires, our hunger. This could be due to actual material poverty because we are in a “desert” or “insecure.”        

          But even if we have enough money for food, there are other forms of hunger and other ways we satisfy the hunger. And, we realize that there are “hungers” – experiences and experiments of emptiness -  which we cannot satisfy by our own means.

          Do we not learn in our own families, marriages, friendships, work relationships that our human love / effort / affection on its own is not enough  to satisfy what is asked for – or demanded by – my sibling, my spouse, my child, my parent, my neighbor, my co-worker, my boss.

          For this reason, it’s all the more important that we pray, that we seek God, that we plant and care for the garden of interior life where the food of God’s grace is growing.

          It is all the more important that we pray petitions not simply to end hunger which comes about due to famine or drought, but also to endure hunger – collectively – with God’s help.

          St. Paul’s famous quote:

          “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content therewith.] I know both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound: (everywhere, and in all things I am instructed) both to be full, and to be hungry; both to abound, and to suffer need. I can do all these things in him who strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:11-13, Douay Rheims)

          St. Paul is reminding us that consumption is not the end of hunger, but connection is the end of hunger.

          Connection to God as Father. Son and Holy Spirit is the end – it is the PURPOSE – of our hunger.

[__06.02__]    This is also what the ancient Israelites learned about the in the Book of Exodus:

          In John’s Gospel Ch. 6, we can draw several parallels between Jesus and Moses who came before him. Moses was the prophet who led the people of Isreael out of Egypt.

          [6.1]  Jesus goes across the Sea of Galilee ßà Moses parted the Red Sea for the people to cross

          [6.2]   A large crowd followed Jesus ßà & followed Moses in the Exodus (exit) from Egypt.

          [6.3]    A crowd followed Jesus because of the signs he was performing on the sick. ßà & followed Moses because of the 10 plagues upon the land, the parting of the Red Sea. They followed because of what they were seeing visually.

          [6.4]    Jesus goes up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. ßà & followed Moses goes up on the mountain and receives the 10 Commandments

          Jesus is the new Moses of the New Testament.

[__07__]     Anybody hungry?

          There is Good News about hunger … which I realize is also  a pain to us.

          There will be more to reflect on in coming Sundays’ readings of the Gospel of John, chapter 6, in which we are reminded that Jesus is the Bread of Life, by whom our hunger is satisfied.

I’d like to close with quote from C.S. Lewis about pain (generally), but also it applies to hunger and to pain in general.

          It’s Good News ..

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures,

speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world....No doubt

pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion.   But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. it removes the veil;   it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain)

          Anybody still hungry?