Secret Menu
February 9, 2016
Read: John 4:31-34 | Bible in a Year: Leviticus 6–7; Matthew 25:1-30
I have food to eat that you know nothing about.
John 4:32
Meat Mountain is a super-sandwich layered with six kinds of meat. Stacked with chicken tenders, three strips of bacon, two cheeses, and much more, it looks like it should be a restaurant’s featured item.
But Meat Mountain isn’t on any restaurant’s published menu. The sandwich represents a trend in off-menu items known only by social media or word of mouth. It seems that competition is driving fast-food restaurants to offer a secret menu to in-the-know customers.
Jesus invites all of us to trust Him to satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.
When Jesus told His disciples that He had “food” they knew nothing about, it must have seemed like a secret menu to them (John 4:32). He sensed their confusion and explained that His food was to do the will of His Father and to finish the work given to Him (v. 34).
Jesus had just spoken to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well about living water she had never heard of. As they talked, He revealed a supernatural understanding of her unquenched thirst for life. When He disclosed who He was, she left her water pot behind and ran to ask her neighbors, “Could this be the Messiah?” (v. 29).
What was once a secret can now be offered to everyone. Jesus invites all of us to trust His ability to satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts. As we do, we discover how to live not just by our physical appetites but by the soul-satisfying Spirit of our God.
Father, we praise You for revealing Your truth to us. Help us live each day in the power of Your Spirit.
Only Christ the Living Bread can satisfy the world’s spiritual hunger.
INSIGHT:
The Samaritans were descendants of the people of Israel who had been left behind when the Assyrians took the northern kingdom into captivity in the seventh century bc. These Jewish people had intermarried with the Assyrian occupying force and surrounding tribal people, which meant that according to Jewish ceremonial laws their descendants were no longer ethnically pure. As a result, Samaritans were viewed as inferior, making them outcasts from Jewish worship and life. Jesus’s act of reaching out to this Samaritan woman is a wonderful reminder that grace, mercy, and hope do not know ethnic boundaries. Our God loves all people everywhere, and we should also love all people regardless of ethnic differences.
By Mart DeHaan
February 9, 2016
Read: John 4:31-34 | Bible in a Year: Leviticus 6–7; Matthew 25:1-30
I have food to eat that you know nothing about.
John 4:32
Meat Mountain is a super-sandwich layered with six kinds of meat. Stacked with chicken tenders, three strips of bacon, two cheeses, and much more, it looks like it should be a restaurant’s featured item.
But Meat Mountain isn’t on any restaurant’s published menu. The sandwich represents a trend in off-menu items known only by social media or word of mouth. It seems that competition is driving fast-food restaurants to offer a secret menu to in-the-know customers.
Jesus invites all of us to trust Him to satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.
When Jesus told His disciples that He had “food” they knew nothing about, it must have seemed like a secret menu to them (John 4:32). He sensed their confusion and explained that His food was to do the will of His Father and to finish the work given to Him (v. 34).
Jesus had just spoken to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well about living water she had never heard of. As they talked, He revealed a supernatural understanding of her unquenched thirst for life. When He disclosed who He was, she left her water pot behind and ran to ask her neighbors, “Could this be the Messiah?” (v. 29).
What was once a secret can now be offered to everyone. Jesus invites all of us to trust His ability to satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts. As we do, we discover how to live not just by our physical appetites but by the soul-satisfying Spirit of our God.
Father, we praise You for revealing Your truth to us. Help us live each day in the power of Your Spirit.
Only Christ the Living Bread can satisfy the world’s spiritual hunger.
INSIGHT:
The Samaritans were descendants of the people of Israel who had been left behind when the Assyrians took the northern kingdom into captivity in the seventh century bc. These Jewish people had intermarried with the Assyrian occupying force and surrounding tribal people, which meant that according to Jewish ceremonial laws their descendants were no longer ethnically pure. As a result, Samaritans were viewed as inferior, making them outcasts from Jewish worship and life. Jesus’s act of reaching out to this Samaritan woman is a wonderful reminder that grace, mercy, and hope do not know ethnic boundaries. Our God loves all people everywhere, and we should also love all people regardless of ethnic differences.
By Mart DeHaan
