A World of Hunger

Gospel: John 6: 35-40

We hear a lot about spiritual hunger which is indeed real.  That it persists indicates that religion is not satisfying this hunger, despite the constant plea that Jesus satisfies this hunger.  But is religion providing people with Jesus? More often than not, what is provided are spiritual fads, cults of personality, and cottage industry pyramid schemes.  When the fad passes, the cult exposed as fraudulent and abusive, and the industry moves to a new town to sell trombones, what then?

Authentic religion is the disciple who brings a person to Jesus and then is not heard from again in the scene.  Its role is to have a person acquire their own relationship with God and then get out of the way.  That we are unable to do this demonstrates our lack of faith in other people and in God.  It represents a fear we have in being alone with God.  We fill up that space, that silence with objects and noise - empty calories in the spiritual buffet line.

But only one thing can satisfy our spiritual hunger and it is God alone.  We can attempt many substitutes, but none of them will satisfy and many will be downright harmful to us and to others.  It takes courage to truly encounter God alone, but we will find our hunger relieved by nothing else.