The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-09
Tor March II is, Jesus the Bread of
Life John 6:22-40.
Starving, and Did Not Know 1t.


| Starving, and Did Not Know 1t.
! During China's great famine of ten
years ago it was my lot to be the
famine field. 1 saw hundreds of thou
sands of starving people. all with the
| famine pallor on their faces. Among
the most dramatic of the experiences
of those crowded days was tour of
| the famine refugee camp at Chin
| kiang, along with a woman mission
airy who was going out to distribute
| medicines among the sick. After we
| had talked with many groups of these
abject creatures sitting on the cold
ground. my friend turned to me with
a puzzled, awed look on her face.
| DO you know what most of them say
! is the matter with them? Loss of
appetitei They say that even if they
can fight their way up to our relief
station, and get bowl of rice, they
have no stomach for it. So they want
me to give them something that will
restore their taste fer food"
| Yet every one of these persons wore
on his face the unmistakable famine
pallor, as distinct as an Ethiopian's
hue. They were starving to death, and
yet complaining of loss of appetite! In
| truth, they were not hungry for the
| terrible reason that they had reached
that stage of starvation wherein even
the desire for food has disappeared.
They did not have any appetite, sim
|
In that awful picture, which is in
| delibly on my memory, l see the plight
| of myriads with respect to the food
of the spiritual life. They do not de-
sire it because they need it. Their
souls have grown SO emaciated that
they are incapable of the normal de-
sires. Theirs is the saddest of all fates,
/ the nearest thing we can imagine to
the objectionable sin-they have
ceased to hunger for God To them
| there in 10
of Life.
A friend from Hamilton told me a
story, few days ago, that illustrates
this entire theme of life food, and life
satisfactions, which is the lesson for
the week. He had been sitting at
the same table in the hotel with a
man of fifty or Whereabouts, who at
length unburdened himself as to the
| cause of his manifest unhappiness. He
was a wealthy man, and he had lived
for the qualification of his senses; but
now he had come to the point where
| his money would not buy for him
those things which he had once de-
sired. His appetite for them was gone
All the fires that had once warmed
his life were ashes on a cold hearth
He had lived for the flesh. and now
the flesh had failed him He frankly
said that he would jump into the
ocean and end it all, except that he
had not the courage. He was afraid
!
labored for the bread that perishes
and had vitiated his taste for the food
| OF the spirit. He had had his fling
and by it had flung away his soul.
There is a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death" Our lesson is
crowded with vital truth for present
living. All scripture and all of life
| illustrate it.
Seeking Short Cut to Eden.
| Our modern idea of seeking to live
! without work, and of plucking our
| daily bread from the trees of sorse
social paradise, is by no means new.
The crowd whom Jesus had fed, by
| the miraculous multiplication of the
loaves and fishes, were quick to jump
at this alluring possib iIity. They saw
the bread in the sign, but not the sign
in the bread" Although they had
tried to make Him king because Of
the miracle, hoping thereby to find
a short and easy solution of the bread
| and-butter problem, they really had
not sensed the greatness of the won
der that had been wrought. To them it
meant bread. in abundance and with
out labor.
That is why the crowd thronged the
| Wonder-Worker, even as today every
man with a panacea for our social ills
Will not lack for following, provided
| he asks little and gives much. Now
the Lord understood perfectly the Sc
cret of this sudden popularity. He
was never under any illusions. He
knew what was in man-and yet loved
| him. A lesser leader would have been
| EN- Filtered by the sordidness and self
ishness of the crowd. Many men in
public life have turned in scorn upon
| the public at the first sign of ingrati-
tude- Have you ever listened to a
public gifts, rail at the cries of
''more!" which besiege him? Times
beyond counting the milk of human
kindness has been turned to gall, by
unworthiness or lack of appreciation
on the part of recipients of bounty.
Here is a wonderful thing, a di-
vine thing, reminding us that God is
kind to the evil and unthankfu1." AL
| tho he was never for a minute in
doubt as to their real motives. Jesus
showed no impatience or petulance
with people. He was not alienated
because folk were not ideal. He took
them as He found them-but He also
tried to leave them better So with
disconcerting candor, He remarked,
I'VE seek me, not because We saw the
| miracles, but because We did eat of the
loaves, and were filled If we want
to deal with folk after the Jesus fash
ion we should be open-eyed to reali-
ties, yet patient and loving with peo-
pie nevertheless.
Loaves That Did Not Last.
All the world is acutely aware to-
day that bread is oaily bread. The
underlying problem of Europe is the
problem of food supply. If this is not
continuous and uninterrupted disaster
follows. We are as hungry today as if
we had not eaten yesterday Food
perishes in the using. All its work has
to be done over again day by day.
Yesterdays miracle would have to be
repeated today. and every day there
after. if Jesus were to satisfy the de-
sires of the crowd that had pursued
Him over the lake And though they
did not realize this-their program
required that Jesus should have re-
NAMED on earth forever. repeating
that miracle every day Whereas God
Is doing a greater work in providing