I had a church member once who displayed a bold sign in his Laundromat. On it were these words: “Everything I enjoy is illegal, immoral, or fattening."

Food—we have a love affair with it. It is a source of temptation and cause for celebration. We can't get along without it. The Bible is full of it: Eve was tempted with an apple. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of pea soup. Heaven will be like a wedding banquet prepared for a king. In our Scripture today, Jesus feeds 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two sardines. This compelling story told in all four Gospels has a couple of phrases that I want to point out on our way to Holy Communion.

The first is a COMMAND given to the disciples who are concerned about a crowd at suppertime. In Verse 37 Jesus responds to them saying, “Yo…