I Am Hungry
But for what? We humans are persons that have desires, hungers. But too often we think we want something that ends up being too small to actually feed us well.
“You are what you eat.”
So goes the saying that has sometimes served as a means to get people to have better diets, a way for philosophers to reduce the human person to merely a thinking animal, and even for theologians trying to have folks consider the profound teachings of the Eucharist.
For most of human history, before the modern industrial revolution, the search for food and “daily bread” was at the top of the daily priorities of the vast majority of humans on the planet. In fact, for most of human history, eating every day and eating well were always reserved for the very rich and powerful.
However, I’d like to draw out our daily life's eternal aspects and insights. We are creatures that have desires. We are hungry.
And hunger is at the very heart of true Orthodox theology. Fr. Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, wrote a little book that you should read regularly. It is “For The Life of the World.”
Listen to what Fr. Alexander writes in chapter one of this little jewel of a book: “In the biblical story of creation, man is presented, first of all, as a hungry being, and the whole world as his food.”
So, what you hunger for reveals your deepest desire! Knowing and naming what you desire is the first step in genuinely knowing yourself AND knowing where you need God’s True Food to feed your True Hunger.
Look at today’s Gospel Lesson in Luke 12:42-48:
The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.”
So, the faithful steward displays his faithfulness by doing (living) faithfully. But if that steward has no patience, if he tries to satisfy his hunger before the Master gives him his portion of food “at the proper time,” this steward will satisfy his hunger by consuming others, by indulging his appetite, and eventually becoming a slave to his desires instead of a “faithful steward.”
What a powerful word picture of foolish choices in trying to satisfy ourselves instead of faithfully allowing the wisdom of God to be the “food” that satisfies the real hunger of our hearts.
And then the Lord adds this phrase that illuminates us even further. He says, “To whom much is given, of him will much be required.”
The physical and spiritual treasures that we moderns enjoy mean that we have the greater responsibility to use these treasures and these advantages well. Yet, can any of us deny that all this wealth has helped us in our struggle to be faithful and avoid being ruled by our passions?
Not at all.
Our material riches have revealed that we humans are no different from the millions who have come before us. We foolishly feed and indulge our desires with shallow food and empty calories that bring moments of satisfaction and years of dire consequences. We have failed to spend the time learning to discern our truest desires and our deepest hunger, and we end up eating ourselves to death with the “wrong” food!
We started out at creation, having to learn to discern between eating and fasting, and we failed that test. Now, Christ comes and offers us a way of faithfulness that trains us to tame our passions and satisfy our hunger in the “medicine of immortality,” the Holy Eucharist.
In the early days of the Christian faith, Christians were sometimes persecuted. But the stories of their faithfulness are meant to inspire us to see our earthly lives as gifts and learn how to be who we were made to be.
One such story is about a married couple named Galaktion and his bride, Episteme. Both of these heroes of the Faith were born to pagan parents in the Roman province of Syria in the city of Emesa. The story goes that St. Galaktion’s mother was barren in the years of her marriage, and she grieved at not having children. She had paid the pagan priests a small fortune to get the favor of the pagan gods, but nothing ever happened. One day, she received a beggar at home who was secretly a Christian priest. He would go door to door begging for alms, and if the opportunity arose, he would share the Good News of Jesus Christ. He did this to this grieving woman, and she converted, and soon she was with child. Being wealthy, when Galaktion came of age, his father chose a bride named Episteme for him, a beautiful young woman. St. Galaktion shared the Gospel with his bride-to-be; she converted and was baptized. But both of them wanted to dedicate themselves to the monastic life. The Faith was illegal, but there were two monasteries in the mountains, one for me and another for women, that the couple found to serve their lives as monastics. But the location of the monasteries was betrayed to the pagan Roman governor who had the places raided, and St. Galaktion and St. Episteme were arrested, tortured, and killed for their faith. They both had discerned that satisfying their truest hunger and discovering their most profound desire was knowing Christ.
Today, if you are ever going to tame the hunger that so often disrupts the joy of your life, you will have to encounter True Love. You will have to enter into a loving relationship with Him Who is Love Himself daily. You are going to have to decide you desire a Normal Orthodox life!
P.S. Let us, the faithful, honor these two betrothed athletes: Galaktion and modest Episteme. Their ascetic labors blossomed into martyrdom, therefore we cry to them: “Glory to Him who has strengthened you! Glory to Him who has crowned you! Glory to Him who through you grants healing to all!”
Have you seen Fr. Barnabas’ Special Election Message? Go to the Homepage and watch it!
Today is Election Day here in the States, and we pray for peace. Please join us in this prayer!
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV
