Introduction:

Physical hunger can be easy to recognize because we can see physical signs and symptoms of malnutrition. Spiritual hunger is harder to notice. We aren’t very good at recognizing the signs and symptoms in ourselves or in others. Maybe the idea of spiritual hunger feels a little like being unbalanced to us, or maybe we just don’t realize that our souls get as hungry as our bellies. When we do recognize our hunger or the hunger of others, we feel inept at finding the nourishment needed. Bread, we think, is for bellies not for souls.

That’s not what Jesus believed. Jesus took physical bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to others as part of himself. His meal, the Lord’s Supper, is the table where we are filled body and soul with Jesus as Bread. The bread that alleviates physical hunger becomes the bread that eases our spiritual hunger. Jesus is the Bread that feeds spiritual hunger, our own and those around us.

To be spiritually hungry does not mean that we are spiritually deficient or lacking in faith. Just like physical hunger, it means that it’s time to come to the table and be nourished.