The disciples were getting worried. They were in a remote place, there were a lot more people come to see Jesus than they expected, and they were wondering how on earth they were all going to get something to eat. So what do they do? They pass the problem back to Jesus with the obvious suggestion – tell them to go away and find something to eat.
You have to imagine there is something just a little mischievous in Jesus’s reply – he just bats the problem right back to them – “well why don’t you find them something to eat…”
One can only imagine their sinking feeling… Of course Jesus is not really setting them up for failure, but I suspect he was wanting to get their attention. And I guess he succeeded, both in the moment, and then when they saw what he was able to do – when he did respond to the challenge – in completely the opposite way from their suggestion.
It’s important that we keep revisiting this story because it helps to remind us that Jesus operated at a very basic level. He didn’t talk about philosophy, or the way the world was, or abstract ideas of right and wrong. Nothing he said was complicated – it just wasn’t what anyone expected. And what he did was equally simple – he died for us. But that wasn’t all. Despite, or maybe because of, his dying he knew he needed to make it crystal clear that he hadn’t gone away and left us. That’s what the last couple of weeks have told us. But how to achieve that? What was the way that he found to stay with us?
He didn’t leave us a book of ideas or instructions. Yes we have a book (or books) that tell us what he said and did – but those were produced by his followers. Jesus didn’t dictate something for us or to us. His way of staying with us is not primarily through his words, although those we have (even if second-hand) are obviously very important. His way of staying with us is via a meal. And not just any meal – a meal in which he makes himself the food we eat. It’s hard to imagine any more basic way in which you could link yourself with another person. It’s still disconcerting to consider it now, and it’s not so surprising that over the centuries those who have heard about Christianity have not infrequently come away with the idea that there was some sort of cannibalistic ritual involved.
So if we ask what is the most basic foundation of our Christian faith, the central fact that this relationship revolves around – it is not a set of words, or even ideas, or beliefs – it is a meal, it is the act of eating, of becoming one with our food. Jesus is with us because he has made himself our food. This is why whatever else we may do, or think, the most important thing we should hold on to is our need to eat this food. If we fail to eat we will starve. If we eat then Jesus is with us.