_THE NEEDS OF THE BODY_
JOHN vi. 1-21.
The Lord who came to save His people was sensitive to His people's hunger.
In the presence of the supreme need the smaller need was not forgotten. He
honoured the body as well as the soul. He ministered to the transient as
well as the eternal. And that is ever the characteristic of true
kingliness; it has a kingly way of doing the smaller things. I can measure
my own progress toward the throne by my sovereign attention to scruples.
"He that is faithful in that which is least, the same also is great."
The Lord is not oppressed by the multitude of His guests. "He Himself knew
what He would do." We need not jostle one another for His bounty. We shall
not crowd one another out. "There is bread enough and to spare." Even in
the material realm this is true, and everybody would have his daily bread
if the will of the Lord were done. There is no straitness in the gracious
Host! It is the greed of the guests which mars the satisfaction of the
feast.
And how careful the Lord of Glory was to "gather up the fragments"! Our
infinitely wealthy Lord is not wealthy enough to "throw things away." He
cannot afford to waste bread. Can He afford to lose a soul? "He goeth out
after that which is lost until He find it"!