Today’s readings are filled with images of hunger and thirst. We hear about the Israelites wandering the desert who have become so thirsty that they begin to lose faith in Moses. They demand water from Moses and begin to wonder if they will die. In the Gospel we encounter Jesus who is tired and thirsty from a long journey and meets a woman at the well where they both come to parch their thirst. We hear how the disciples saw Jesus and were concerned that he was hungry and wonder why no one has brought him food.
These images of hunger and thirst resonate in Lent. Most of us have given something up. Be it meat, chocolate, coffee or smoking, we have given something up that we hunger for. More acutely, in this time of penitence and self examination we hunger spiritually. We want to hear uplifting words from God. We thirst for the images of Jesus feeding the multitudes, of blessing the little children, of Jesus raising the dead. Instead, we hear of the challenges in Jesus’ own life and the challenges he put to his followers during Lent.
This hunger lasts for 40 days of the year. God knows that we can humble ourselves and fast for 40 days each year, because this abstinence will make us grow hungrier for God. The church limits our penitential seasons and days, because the Church knows what happens if we are hungry to long. The spiritual hunger symptoms are a lot like physical hunger symptoms. If you don’t eat for a day, you will be starving beyond belief the next day. If you don’t eat for 3 days, by that third day, you won’t be hungry any more. Sure your body needs the food, but hunger becomes so acute it no longer registers in your mind. If you don’t eat for a week, your body will shut down.
When it comes to spiritual hunger, the time line is longer, but the effects are the same. Fast a little and we desire God with all our being. Fast for months and you begin to forget about God. Fast for a year, and you no can longer see him as your spiritual life shuts down.
There was a teenager in my home parish of Trinity who showed this to us all about 15 years ago. Trinity started its confirmation classes in the fall most years, preparing for the Bishop’s visit in the spring for Confirmation. The priest at Trinity was very strict about his policy that you had to attend these classes if you wanted to be confirmed. The children eligible for these classes were the ones who were starting 6th grade that fall. One year we had a bunch of kids enrolled, including one named Jim. Jim and the rest of his family were at church every Sunday and both their children were active in the youth programs. Unfortunately Jim and his younger brother had a problem: their grades were all C’s or worse. Jim’s parents, looking ahead to college, figured out how both their sons would get into college: through sports. So Jim was signed up for the baseball team.
By the time spring rolled around, Jim had attended all the confirmation classes and was eligible for confirmation when the Bishop visited. When the priest announced the date of the confirmation, Jim realized he had a problem. His game was scheduled to start at the same time the Bishop was supposed to be laying hands on him to confirm him. Jim went home that Sunday worried about what his coach would say when he told him that he couldn’t play in the game because of confirmation. When Jim told his parents about the scheduling conflict, his parents sat him down. Jim’s parents gave him a lecture on responsibility. You see, Jim had committed to being at every game. His parents told him that he had to be a responsible young man and live up to his pledge. He needed to tell the priest that he had a commitment so he could not be confirmed. Jim played that game while everyone else was confirmed.
Jim felt bad about all this, feeling that he really should have missed the game, not the confirmation. He decided that he would be confirmed the next year. When that next fall rolled around the priest told him that if he expected to be confirmed, he needed to attend all the classes again. So Jim dutifully attended all the classes that fall. When the baseball schedule game out later that fall, Jim was relieved to see that there was no game on Confirmation Sunday. Jim told his parents that afternoon that he was excited about being confirmed. Once again, his parents sat him down. They told him, you may not have a game, but if you had looked at your brother’s schedule, you would have seen that he has a game. This family does things together, and we support each other. If your brother has a game, you need to be there to support him.
The next Sunday he told the priest that he couldn’t be at confirmation. One family overheard and called up Jim’s parents later on that day. The asked if they could help out by giving Jim a ride to church on Confirmation Sunday. Jim’s parents told them to stay out their business. As you can imagine, Jim didn’t come to church much after this.
A few years later the Bishop’s visitation schedule was announced and confirmation classes began again in the fall. This time, Jim didn’t show up for classes. A few of the teenagers at Trinity went and spoke to the priest a few weeks before the Bishop was due to come. One of the teenagers said “Remember, Jim? I still see him at school every day. I really wish he had been confirmed. I know you have a strict rule about everyone needing to attend the fall classes in order to be confirmed, but Jim went through the classes twice. Can you please put Jim forward for confirmation this year?” The priest agreed that Jim’s two previous completed confirmation classes were good enough, and he agreed to put him forward for confirmation. The next day these teenagers tracked down Jim at school and said, “Guess what? You can be confirmed this year without going to confirmation classes!” Jim with told them he didn’t want to confirmed. Jim said “I don’t believe in God, so I don’t want to be confirmed. If God really was real, He would be the most important thing in the world, but He’s not. I needed to go to my baseball games, and those games seem to always be on Sundays. If God was real, no one would schedule games on a Sunday because it would stop people from being with God. I missed confirmation twice and I don’t even go to church anymore. If God was real, this wouldn’t happen.
A God that is not really that important…. can’t really exist.”
Looking at Jim’s story you can clearly see spiritual starvation. The first time he had to miss confirmation he was clearly hungry for God. The hunger was so intense that he was willing to sit through confirmation class a second time. The second time he was forced to miss confirmation, his hunger grew so intense that his body and soul could no longer process the feeling of spiritual hunger, so he stopped noticing the hunger. By the time those two teenagers talked to Jim at school his spiritual hunger had shut down his soul.
Now Jim’s case is extraordinary. I’m sure that Jim’s parents never intended to starve Jim’s spiritual life. They made the mistake of listening to the world instead of listening to the voice of God in their prayers and to their souls. The world loves to put things in front of us that distract us from God. The world tells us He isn’t that important. The world says Sunday worship is enough. You don’t need to worry about Christian Education, or a personal prayer life or about helping those in need. The world says you don’t need to go to church every Sunday. That’s that job of the dedicated elite, not the average Christian. The world wants to starve you spiritually so that you can serve the world and not God.
During Lent we keep hearing about abstinence and fasting. These are good spiritual practices. However, there is one thing I hope you don’t fast from this Lent. Spiritual Food. In fact, I hope you feast on this nourishment. Prepare yourself a banquet and enjoy all the wonderful spiritual foods God has put in front of you. The Sacraments. God’s Holy Word in Scripture. Christian community. Daily Prayers. Sunday School. Lenten programs. Family prayer. Helping the needy. Loving those who don’t love you. Breaking bread with strangers.
Please don’t spiritually starve yourself because the consequences will be dire. Instead, pull up a chair to this banquet table of spiritual food this Lent and feast.
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