Food I Do Not Know About
AM Psalm 56, 57, [58] • PM Psalm 64, 65
Jer. 1:11-19 • Rom. 1:1-15 • John 4:27-42
In today’s Gospel reading we have these words from Jesus:
I have food to eat that you don’t know about.
He says these words to his students after they offer him a makeshift dinner. They found some food in town and brought it back to him. He says these words to them because they don’t know what to say to him. It’s all very awkward because they just found him alone with a woman at a well and he was talking to her. Rabbis in ancient Israel did not do that. Thank God this particular Rabbi did (and still does).
Jesus doesn’t take what they offer, but gives them something instead. It’s a lesson wrapped in words and it confuses them. He disrupts their way of seeing, he stops the natural flow of things and gets them to consider something new. Perhaps John is stopping the flow of this story in a similar way, to get our attention and focus on the lesson. The lesson being:
My food is to do the will of him who sent me and complete his work.
I stop here and take a pause. Is this a tiny parable? Food is concrete. I know about food. “God’s will?” What God wants feels abstract most of the time. Food is a daily need. What about other people? I make choices about both. How mindful am I about those choices?
I try and think of it with different words. After all, Jesus didn’t speak English and John’s Gospel is written in Greek. Is there a different way to read this?
It’s not just Jesus saying:
I’ve had my lunch already, you just don’t know it yet.
It’s more like:
I have been provided for in a way that you don’t understand...
I have real sustenance that I take into my being but it’s not physical, so it confuses you...
It is beyond your comprehension how my basic needs are met.
In my limited understanding of Jesus I think he gets his energy from doing what God wants him to do. He has just done this by reaching out to the Samaritan woman. He talks to her and connects with her on such a deep level that she feels like he knows everything about her.
So maybe when Jesus says:
My food is to do the will of him who sent me...
It’s more along the lines of:
I need to do God’s will the way you need to eat every day.
What keeps me going is doing what God wants me to do.
When I connect to another human being and she is able to connect to God, I am fed.
That’s where I’ve paused. I need some more time to reflect. To pray. To live with this food that I do not know about.
Written by Troy Schremmer
Troy works with preschool age children as an enrichment teacher in music and movement. He and his wife Jonny (who teaches older children) are both still at work in the classroom everyday (except for snow days). Many thanks for all the prayers.