Are You Hungry?Ihe Atụ

How do you feel when someone asks, “Do you want to grab coffee?” or, “Have you eaten?” What about when they tell you, “I made your favourite meal!”? These common phrases convey love and care but also a recognition of our needs as humans, both for companionship and nourishment.

In the Gospels, we see that when someone needed Jesus’s teaching, He didn’t invite them to the temple; He sat with them at a table.

Jesus said, “Let’s get something to eat,” and, “I’m coming over to your house.” Jesus clearly enjoyed food, but even more, He enjoyed the time it gave Him with people. The table was the perfect place to teach about the new community He was creating. There’s something that happened around food that could convey the truth of the kingdom of God more than a political speech or sermon ever could. Sharing a meal with Jesus meant that people could see, smell, taste, and feel what it was like to belong to this kingdom, knowing that this wasn’t just a spiritual reality but something that could change their everyday life at that moment.

And it can change our life, too.

Over the next six lessons, we will explore what Jesus taught about the kingdom of God through shared meals and how we can live into that kingdom in the here and now.

Are you hungry?

Today we experience physical hunger, relationalhunger and spiritual hunger. We feel hungry for a world where there is justice, wholeness and beauty. We long to feel loved and known. We’re looking for peace but know it’s not here yet. This is the world God made you hungry for, and Jesus wants to invite us into. Hunger like that is holy, and it’s hunger like that which is needed for us to show the world what this kingdom of God is like.

Jesus invites you to the table, too—to learn about His kingdom, receive His love and belonging and chew on His Words until they transform us. It’s time for the feast—come and eat!

Reflect

• What are you hungry to see happen in this world? Where did that hunger come from?
• What does it mean that Jesus cared for people’s physical needs but also their emotional and spiritual ones?
• How do you see Jesus caring for you today?