Soul Food

Living in the SpiritOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
November 21, 2015

Scripture Reading: John 18:33-37

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ –John 18:33-36

What does Jesus mean when he says my kingdom is not from this world? William Wordsworth addresses this very question in his poem The World is too Much with Us; Late and Soon*

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.–Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus** rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

We prefer money over trust in God with whom we are out of tune. We prefer to put our faith in ancient Pagan deities because they do not challenge us to be a part of the solution passing our responsibilities to others and forsaking the one true God even though that leaves us hapless and helplessly forlorn.

Prayer: Lord, touch our hearts with your love so that the hunger of our souls is nurtured with the food of Your table and not the comfort food of the world that is full of calories containing no nutrients. Amen.

*http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174833

**A Greek sea God that can tell the future but will change his shape to avoid having to. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus

*** Triton’s special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was such a cacophony, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_(mythology)

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.