Feeding The Whole Man, Both Soul And Body

I'm discussing the meaning of discipleship in the light of John's Gospel, particularly John 6 and the story of Jesus feeding thousands in the wilderness.

Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 

Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" 

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. - Jhn 6:5-10 ESV

As noted in yesterday's Gospel, Philip was called by Jesus to be one of His disciples. He was from Bethsaida on the northern coast of the inland Sea of Galilee, the same town where Andrew and Peter lived. Philip introduced Nathanael to Jesus. Unlike the other disciples, Philip had a Greek name, implying some connection to the Greek speaking community of that multi-cultural region of Palestine. Later in John's Gospel Philip introduced members of this community to Jesus (John 14:8-11). We must assume that mixed among this crowd that followed Jesus out into the wilderness were Greek speaking people, perhaps many who were not even Jews. This may well explain why Jesus approached Philip first to ask him how they might feed such a large crowd.

But why be concerned about feeding the crowd at all? For the same reasons that Jesus was concerned about healing.

Back in the 1940s and 50s a psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow introduced something he called the Hierarchy of Needs. These ideas were presented in his book Motivation and Personality, first published in 1954 and now available as an e-book. Maslow's theory is that basic to all human existence are the primary physiological and biological needs for air, food, shelter, warmth, sex, etc. Only as these are satisfied are people motivated to seek higher levels of need. This hierarchy is often presented in diagram format.

From Wikipedia: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Keeping this understanding of human psychology in mind, it seems safe to conclude that our Lord Jesus was saying two things when he approached first Philip and through him the rest of the disciples.

1. There are people here who are not Jews. Philip, you know that better than the rest of us. You speak Greek, you have relatives among them. It doesn't matter that they don't speak Aramaic like the rest of us or that they may be Greeks, Romans, Syrians or even Samaritans. They're hungry and in need. We must care for them. How shall we do this?
2. Consider especially their physiological and safety needs. We must care for them or they'll never pay attention to their need to believe in Me, Jesus, their Lord, Savior and King. 

And with that I strongly urge all of us who are Christians and followers of Jesus to recognize the strategy of Jesus in reaching out to people. He has established the basic and fundamental model for all of us involved in His mission to reach the lost. In the name of love we cannot ignore all people's basic needs for food, shelter and sleep. Immediately following that are the needs for security and health for individuals and for their families. If we are indeed the Body of Christ, His arms and hands in our communities, then we must indeed be concerned for these fundamental needs of all, whether in the church or outside it. With these satisfied or cared for, people will be motivated to concern themselves with higher needs. Then we feed their souls as well.  

Jesus always cared for the whole person. Likewise this has always been the concern of the church, the living, active body of Christ in this world. Across the centuries this has led the church to establish hospitals and clinics, to feed the hungry, provide clothing and shelter for those in need and on and on and on. And along with these commitments to care for the body, the church brings the teaching of God's Word so that we may feed men with the Bread of Life (John 6:35-48), Jesus, Savior of the world and care for their spiritual needs. The two types of feeding, the feeding of both body and soul, are inter-connected and can never be separated one from the other. 

More about this in my next post as I continue this discussion of discipleship.