Hunger Response
John 4:6 KJV(6) Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
So what are you looking to take care of when you’re tired, hungry and thirsty? I know that for me after a long day in the sun, I’m just looking to get a very tall drink, some of Kim’s awesome food and a chance to lie down for a few minutes. Weariness also usually has a bit of crankiness that likes to hang around with it, this feeling that being annoyed and easily put off is somehow deserved and expected given your condition. Esau was so taken with his hunger that he felt like it was time to give up anything for a little bowl of nourishment- even his birthright. Somehow priorities get completely realigned and perceptions get totally skewed in the time of physical or emotional need to the point of sacrificing relationships and making choices that harm things precious for those things that in reality could be passed up for a little while longer.
With Jesus there seemed to be this very different effect that hunger or hardship brought out in him. Whenever He was in a situation that would normally cause one to become desperate for relief, with a focus completely on Himself, He found great inspiration and motivation to heal, forgive, and minister to the needs of others. It was almost like an inverse effect went into action whenever He was weary, hungry, tortured or put into a condition of desperation. His focus became ever stronger on the needs of others and His purpose in bringing salvation and hope to those whose needs could only be met in Him. Every time He could have become oppressed by His predicament, He instead produced His greatest stuff, even to the point of bringing total redemption for all of us when He was going through the anguish of the cross. At any point along the path to the cross a glance into His own needs- hunger, thirst, rejection, and physical pain- would have disabled his ability to be effective for those whose ultimate need He alone could meet. He had developed, though, a response that was very different from the one that drives me to self gratification. In His need He always found His greatest opportunity to provide for the needs of another. It doesn’t even say that Jesus got the drink He asked for from the woman at the well, and yet from Him at this time came words of life that totally transformed not just the woman to whom He spoke, but everyone who has ever begun to live the life of worship His statements revealed. Later when the disciples encouraged Him to eat, His response again was an inspired revelation that came from an others-focus brought on by His own need.
Whenever found wearily sitting down, a bit exhausted and needy after a difficult life journey, there is a reason to be encouraged, motivated and inspired by Jesus’ example. Rather than just a chance to become self consumed, irritated and willing to damage treasured things for one’s own need, there is a very powerful opportunity to produce some pretty incredible stuff for the kingdom of God. There are certain people that require exactly what we have to give them in the time of our own need. If for a moment the gaze can be shifted towards God’s fulfilled purpose in another’s life, the response to our own hunger will bring an answer to a life that will otherwise perish. There is also a joy we can set before us that will turn any hunger into a kingdom opportunity.
