Authentic Fasting From James MacDonaldنموونە

It's All About the Food

Turn to John 4:1-38 for a very illuminating (about food) account in the life of Christ. If you were just reading through the Bible regularly, it might not even be obvious to you how much the Bible has to say about food and fasting. But when you gather the Scriptures together, there really is quite an amount of biblical information on this subject.

Look at John 4:3-8. There are two stories going on here. You have the intertwined accounts of Jesus and the woman at the well; and the disciples and their food. Verse 6 explains how this band of travelers felt. They were all tired. They wanted some rest. Parched mouths. Sweaty clothes. What would you have been thinking? “I need some water, and I need some food.” Now look at verse 7. Where had His disciples gone? To get food. Jesus knows He’s got to minister to this woman, and all they’re thinking about is food.

Now just a little backdrop — the disciples were preoccupied with food. In Matthew 12:1, they were walking through a grain field and got into trouble with the Pharisees because the disciples starting snacking on the grain off the stalk — because they were hungry. Later, in Luke 12:23, Jesus rebuked them and said, “For life is more than food.” In Matthew 14:15, they came to Jesus when He was teaching and said, “Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves,” which is another way of saying, “We’re hungry!”

We’ll just skip over the account of Jesus’ amazing conversation with this woman. Look at John 4:31-32, “Meanwhile . . . (the disciples are back from Wendy’s) the disciples were urging him saying , ‘Rabbi eat!’” Look at Jesus’ response to his food-focused disciples, “But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’”

Jesus had food to eat they knew nothing about. The disciples didn’t get it.

Prayer – Father in heaven, forgive my preoccupation with food. I am with the disciples; I don’t understand how true Your Words are about “life being more than food.” Help me hunger for You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.