BREAD OF LIFE
Each year we celebrate Thanksgiving as a way to remember the gifts God has given us. It is historically remembered as a time when the first European settlers gave thanks to God for safe journeys across the sea and successful harvests in their new home. This connection with the harvest is why we celebrate in autumn, and why abundant food is so much a part of most of our celebrations.
Successful harvests, farmers and laborers who work the land, workers who process and package the fruits of the earth for sale in stores, truckers who drive it across the country, employees who stock the shelves, cashiers who assist us with our purchases, and even volunteers who donate time, money, and groceries to the local food bank are all part and parcel of God’s work of bringing to each one of us our daily bread.
In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us that all food—whether homegrown beef from your own pasture, tomatoes or zucchini from a neighbor’s garden, or mac and cheese off the grocery store shelf—will eventually leave us hungry again. Even the stuffed feeling with which many of us leave the Thanksgiving table will pass. Our greatest need—even beyond food—is for that which fills our souls. Because while stomachs will always be hungry for food, hearts are hungry for the one who created them.
Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He heals our sin-sick hearts with his self-giving. He feeds our souls with his very own body and blood. He fully satisfies us with forgiveness, life, and salvation in a way that cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie—no matter how delicious—never can. In the midst of our feasts this year, let us give thanks to God for this most precious gift.
