Title: Food of Life (John 06:2-40)
Contents A certain king had three sons. The king wanted to hand over the throne to the son who would rule the country best. However, it was not easy to discern who was the right person. So the king summoned three sons and left the world. He promised to hand over the throne to the one who finds the most precious thing. So the three princes parted to get the most precious thing.
Not long after that, war broke out in that country. A large neighboring country came in with a large army, and the country was on the brink of ruin.
At that time, the great prince brought a treasure. It was a mysterious fan that turns the leaves into soldiers. The great prince made many soldiers with the fan and easily defeated the neighboring army. Fans were hailed as the most precious treasure in the world. They said that the throne should go to the great prince.
However, after the war, a problem arose. As the population increased, there was a food problem. The hungry people ran out of food and had the momentum to riot.
At that time, the second prince retrieved a precious treasure and brought it back. The treasure was a stone boulder that overflowed with rice just by turning it. The country made a lot of rice with the stone that the second prince brought with him and cleared the food shortage. They exclaimed that the wild stone is the most precious treasure in the world. And, of course, the succession to the throne should go to the second prince.
Some years have passed. Another problem arose within the country. As the food shortage was resolved, the people became lazy and licentious. They made alcohol from the excess rice and ate, got drunk, fought with each other, and engaged in sexual immorality and pleasure. As a result, the whole country became confused and like living hell.
Then the third prince came with a book.
It was a book of truth that gave wisdom about how people should live and what they should do. The prince spread the truth recorded in the book to all the people. After coming here and working hard, the country has become a peaceful and good place to live again.
The king thought that the third prince would be a great prince to succeed him, and he succeeded him as king. This story is a good metaphor for realizing that the truth is more valuable than military power or food (economic power).
The ancients wanted sages, and the Middle Ages longed for saints, but now only the rich (economic supremacism) are required. I do not know.
Among today's intellectuals, there are many people who love a single bill more than a clean conscience. So, early <Erich Fromm> in his book <Possessing or Existence>, "Modern people try to confirm their existence by owning and consuming. Modern people, immersed in the idea of tyranny, put gold in the place where God should be, and replace machines in place of the Messiah, and sex instead of the salvation of souls. We are making Gomorrah. The present age is becoming an era of confusion and fear due to debauchery and corruption amid abundance.
Material things are absolutely necessary for human life. However, we must know that there are things more precious than that. It is none other than the 'Word of God' which is the word of 'truth'. Both strength and strength are useful to man. The Bible says.
"(Isa 55:2) Why do you give silver for what is not bread, and toil for what is not satisfied? obey me, and you will eat good food, and your hearts will find joy in the fatness of your heart." There are two types of hunger. There is a material hunger that material food can satisfy, and a spiritual hunger that material food alone can never satisfy.
It is said that the luxury of Roman society after A.D. 60 was unprecedented. It was then that feasts were celebrated with peacock bones and nightingale tongue dishes, and they drink laxatives in order to eat better food that continues to come out. It was at this time that he came up with the idea of how to do it, and that meals that cost thousands of pounds were commonplace. There was one reason for this. They are hungry. They were looking for some new thrill and a new taste of life, because they were incredibly wealthy and terribly hungry.
As Mathew Arnold wrote:
"The Roman nobles lie in a spacious room with a hawk's gaze.
Dressed in splendid clothes, he glided along the Appian Highway in a wagon.
He opened a festival, drank fervently, and put a crown on his head with flowers.