Monday of the Third Week of Easter

MSF creek just below the spillway

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me

not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you. 

The great psychiatrist Abraham Maslow spoke of our various human needs, and their hierarchy. First there are the demands of the body. We must have air, water and food; we need sleep and protection against the elements. Given those, another set of needs appears: the psychological needs like security, friendship and affection. Finally, there are spiritual needs for purpose and meaning and satisfaction. Ordinarily, it is difficult and nearly impossible to consider the higher needs unless the baser ones are satisfied. When I am desperately thirsty I give little thought to my need for companionship. But when my physical and psychological needs are content, I may discover my spiritual hunger. 

In today’s gospel story Jesus accuses his pursuers of seeking him because he miraculously fed them in the wilderness. He invites them to work for the food that endures to eternal life, just as he invited the Samaritan woman to drink the “living water” which he will give her. Jesus challenges them to step beyond the concern for their baser needs and live by faith. As he taught in his Sermon on the Mount:

Seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

But there is no contradiction between these two teachers. The people who pursued Jesus were very well fed; they’d eaten more than they needed and left twelve baskets full. They were worried about their next meal, and the one after that. To which Jesus could reply, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” Disciples of Jesus see beyond the immediate moment and their pressing worries and concerns.

Living in this world there is always something to worry about. If you want to meet someone with no worries, visit a cemetery! But the Lord invites us to lift up our eyes and see the bigger picture. Doing that, we can see not only the freedom and the joy he has promised, we can also see how imprisoned we are in our immediate concerns. We can cry out with Saint Peter as he sank beneath the waves, “Lord, save me!”

The practice of faith, “the work of God,” helps us keep our heads above water even when we’re anxious about this world’s concerns. We don’t know how help will come, or what form it might take, but we are sure God will not abandon us.