It’s not clear what Joby Pool was planning for this year’s Easter feast, but if his snack plans were any indication, it would’ve been an epic celebration.
That’s because police arrested Joby Pool for stealing a trailer containing 200,000 Cadbury Crème Eggs earlier this year (2023). As you know, the sweet confectionary treats contain a mixture of white and yellow fondant resembling an egg yolk covered by a chocolate shell and are always in demand due to their limited availability in the spring.
Cadbury valued the haul at approximately $37,000, an amount that local police described as “eggs-travagant.”
Police say that Pool broke into an industrial unit in Telford before driving off with the goods in a previously stolen tractor unit. Prosecutor Owen Beale claims the crime had to have been premeditated. He said, “This is clearly an organized criminal matter. You don’t just happen to learn about a trailer with that kind of value being available” (Daniel Victor, “Thief Steals Nearly 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs in Britain,” New York Times, 2-15-23; www.PreachingToday.com).
People pursue satisfaction in many strange ways. Oh, they might not steal a truckload of Cadbury Eggs, but their pursuits leave them just as empty as Joby Pool.
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, but what’s left to accomplish after you’ve proved you’re the best in the world? In the 2020 documentary “The Weight of Gold,” Phelps takes a long look at life after the Olympics.
In fact, “The Weight of Gold” features interviews with several Olympians who discuss going their entire lives without normal childhoods, without outside skills or interests beyond their sport, without any plans after the Olympics, and whose entire lives have been defined by a rapid, 40-second race.
Phelps says, “We’re just so lost. A good 80 percent, maybe more, develop a post-Olympic depression. I thought of myself as just a swimmer, and not a human being, and that’s where I thought, why don’t I just end it all?” (Brian Welk, “Michael Phelps Examines ‘Post-Olympic Depression’ in HBO’s ‘The Weight of Gold,’” The Wrap, 7-20-20; www.PreachingToday.com).
Tell me. If the wealth and fame of Olympic glory fails to satisfy, what does? What truly satisfies the hungry soul? What fills empty hearts? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 6, John 6, where Jesus offers to satisfy your hunger.
John 6:1-7 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little” (ESV).
200 denarii—that’s eight month’s wages!
John 6:8-13 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten (ESV).
These were not 12 little lunch baskets, no! The Greek suggests that these were 12 large, heavy baskets. But why 12? Well, that’s one for each disciple.
According to the other Gospels, the disciples wanted Jesus to send the crowd home, because they were ready to go on vacation, and they were physically and emotionally depleted. But Jesus took what little they had and used it to feed a multitude with more than enough left over for each disciple.
Isn’t that just like Jesus! When you come to the end of yourself, He can still use you to minister to others and abundantly provide for your needs, as well. The crowd certainly recognized the miracle!
John 6:14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (ESV)
1,500 years before this, Moses had predicted that God would raise up another prophet, a prophet like Moses, to speak to His people (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Here, the crowd recognizes Jesus as that prophet. Now, the original Moses had led them out of bondage to Egypt, and the original Moses had fed them in the wilderness. Perhaps, they think, “Jesus has fed us in the wilderness. Maybe, He’ll also lead us out of bondage to Rome. So…
John 6:15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself (ESV).
John 6:16-20 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid” (ESV).
Literally, “I AM. Do not be afraid.” You see, Jesus is more than a prophet like Moses. Jesus is YHWH God, Himself, taking on the same name by which God declared Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14.
John 6:21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going (ESV).
Another miracle—Jesus’ fifth in the Gospel of John. The fourth was a public miracle, feeding thousands of people. This fifth is a private miracle, taking care of His 12 disciples.
Again, isn’t that just like Jesus? Jesus cares for His own while He cares for the rest of the world. His followers experience those private miracles no one else ever sees. That’s certainly been our experience this past year…
JESUS PERFORMS MIRACLES.
He works signs and wonders publicly and privately. He feeds 5,000 men and their families with a boy’s lunch, and He walks on water to rescue His disciples from the storm. But those miracles have a point. Jesus designed those signs to invoke faith. So now…
JESUS PREACHES A MESSAGE.
He points out the significance of those miracles, urging people to believe in Him.
Do you want Jesus to feed your hungry soul? Do you want Jesus to fill your empty heart? Then, 1st of all…
COME TO JESUS and hear what He has to say. That’s what the crowd did.
John 6:22-24 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus (ESV).
First, the crowd eats. Then, the crowd seeks Jesus. And that’s what you must do if you want Jesus to satisfy your hungry soul. After you have tasted of His goodness, come to Jesus seeking only Him.
Frederica Mathewes-Green, in her book The Jesus Prayer, says “Picture yourself walking around a shopping mall, looking at people and the window displays. Suddenly, you get a whiff of cinnamon. You weren't even hungry, but now you really crave a cinnamon roll. This craving isn't something you made up. There you were, minding your own business, when some drifting molecules of sugar, butter, and spice collided with a susceptible patch inside your nose. You had a real encounter with cinnamon—not a mental delusion, not an emotional projection, but the real thing. And what was the effect? You want more, now. (Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer, Paraclete Press, 2009, pp. xiii-xiv; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s what happens to people, who catch a whiff of the goodness of Christ. They want more, NOW! So, they go seeking Him. You do the same if you want Jesus to fill the hunger of your soul. Come to Jesus, not to your bank account, not to your friends, not to anything or anyone else. Come to Jesus, seeking only Him.
Then TRUST IN JESUS.
Believe in Him. Depend on what He has already done for you. That’s what Jesus urges the crowd to do when they find Him.
John 6:25-33 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (ESV).
Jesus says, “Believe in Me and so accomplish God’s work.” Trust Jesus with your life and so do the work that gives you eternal life.
A 67-year-old woman scheduled for routine cataract surgery in November thought it was just dry eye and old age causing her discomfort. But the real cause of her discomfort was much more concerning: 27 contact lenses, stuck in the woman's right eye in a "blue mass."
Rupal Morjaria, a specialist trainee in ophthalmology, said the woman hadn't complained about any visual trouble before the operation. But when the anesthetist at the hospital started to numb her eye for surgery, he found the first cluster of contacts. Morjaria said, "He put a speculum into the eye to hold the eye open as he put the anesthetic in, and he noticed a blue mass under the top eyelid."
Eventually they found a mass of 27 lenses. "We were all shocked," Morjaria said. "We've never come across this." A representative from the American Academy of Ophthalmology said he's seen patients have one lens stuck, but never 27. "This is one for the record books, as far as I could tell," he said.
The woman had been wearing monthly disposable contact lenses for 35 years, but it's unclear how long they had been gathering in her eye. Sometimes when she would try to remove a contact from that eye, she couldn't find it. The patient had just figured she'd dropped it somewhere, but it was actually getting stuck in her eye with the others (Nancy Coleman, “Doctors find 27 contact lenses in woman's eye,” CNN, 7-19-17; www.PreachingToday.com).
Instead of going to the doctor and trusting him to correct her discomfort, she just tried harder. She kept adding something else, thinking she had to do more to correct the problem. No! What this woman needed was someone to take the problem away!
So it is with people who think they have to do more to find satisfaction in life. If that’s you, then stop! Stop adding more and more to your life, working harder and harder to fill the emptiness in your soul. Just come to Jesus and trust Him with your life. Trust Him to remove the sin and satisfy your soul. That’s all the work you need to do. Jesus says, believe in Me and so accomplish God’s work.
More than that, Jesus says, “Believe in Me and so be sure of eternal life.” Trust Christ with your life and be certain that you will be with Him forever.
When Jesus talks about the life-giving bread from heaven, the crowd expresses their eagerness for this bread.
John 6:34-40 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (ESV).
Jesus gives His personal guarantee that He will lose no one who comes to Him. No one will slip through His fingers. No one who believes in Him will ever be eternally lost or ruined. Jesus will guarantee the safe arrival of all that come to Him. Jesus will personally guarantee their resurrection to glory! So put your faith in Him and lay aside your fear. Trust Christ with your life and know that you know that you know that He will take you all the way through the storm to glory!
Pastor Craig Barnes talks about his father, who left when Craig was sixteen. And once he left, he never stopped running. Every time they tried to find him, he would only leave and disappear again. He died alone in a raggedy trailer park somewhere in the middle of Florida. A neighboring pastor, who did not know him, spent two days trying to find his family even though he did not know their names.
Pastor Craig says, “My Dad missed all of the important events in his sons' lives: graduations, weddings, birth of children, our two ordinations, and both of our Ph.D. ceremonies. He missed all of it. I prayed and prayed that he would return to us. I used to yearn for the day that he would show up in a congregation where I was preaching. My longing was for him to come through the line at the end of worship, take my hand and say, ‘Good job, son.’ But he never came.”
At his funeral, Pastor Craig stared at the casket and wondered what happened to all of those prayers for him. Were they just lying around on the floor of heaven?
When the service was over, his brother and he went to his little trailer in hopes of piecing together something about his life. That’s when they saw a devotional journal sitting on his kitchen table. In it, Pastor Craig’s dad had written his prayers and thoughts about various Bible passages. Pastor Craig was relieved to discover that his dad did not also abandon his faith. But then he came across a dog-eared, tattered page with the title "Daily Prayer List" at the top. The first two items on that list were his brother's name and his name.
Pastor Craig says, “I will never understand the lonely madness that drove my father away from everyone who loved him. But I am so thankful to know that to his dying day, he never forgot us.
But even more remarkable is the fact that Jesus never forgot him. Despite all his problems, Jesus never lost Pastor Craig’s father. Pastor Craig says, “Through all of those years of praying for my dad, I was speaking with the Heavenly Father, who will never leave me or forsake me (Craig Barnes, from his sermon The Hopes and Fears of All the Years, 12-5-10; www.PreachingToday.com).
Please, dear friend, trust Christ with your life and know that He will never forget you. He will never lose you. He will never forsake you. Don’t be like the crowd here in John 6 that begins to reject Him.
John 6:41-42 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (ESV)
First, the crowd eats. Then, the crowd seeks. Now, the crown gripes. They don’t like what they hear when they find Jesus.
John 6:43-51 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (ESV).
Jesus will give His flesh on the cross, where He will die for your sins and mine. He will pay for the crimes we have committed. Then He will rise again, offering eternal life to anyone who believes in Him. It’s a life you can never lose no matter what happens.
1557 was one of Martin Luther’s worst years. It was ten years after he nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church. During those ten years, he weathered many storms, at times being in danger of his very life. Now, he was battling some of his fellow reformers, and Luther was deeply disturbed. In fact, he suffered severe depression.
On April 22, 1527, a dizzy spell forced Luther to stop preaching in the middle of his sermon. Then, on July 6, as friends arrived for dinner, Luther felt an intense buzzing in his left ear. He went to lie down, when suddenly he called, “Water or I’ll die!” He became cold, and he was convinced he had seen his last night. In a loud prayer, he surrendered himself to God’s will.
With a doctor’s help, Luther partially regained his strength. But his depression and illness overcame him again in August, September, and late December.
Looking back on one of his bouts, Luther wrote his friend Melanchthon, “I spent more than a week in death and hell. My entire body was in pain, and I still tremble. Completely abandoned by Christ, I labored under the vacillations and storms of desperation and blasphemy against God. But through the prayers of the saints [his friends], God began to have mercy on me and pulled my soul from the inferno below.”
Meanwhile, in August, the plague had erupted in Wittenberg. As fear spread, so did many of the townspeople. But Luther considered it his duty to remain and care for the sick. Even though his wife was pregnant, Luther and she transformed their house into a hospital, but he watched many friends die. Then his son became ill. Not until November did the epidemic abate, and the sick begin to recover.
It was a horrible year for Luther, but it was that same year—1957—when Luther wrote his most well-known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (“Martin Luther—the Later Years and Legacy,” Christian History, Issue 39).
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe—
His craft and pow’r are great, and armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim? We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.
My dear friends, trust Jesus with your life and have the same assurance Luther had, no matter how bad life gets for you.
Jesus says, “Believe in me and so accomplish God’s work. Believe in me and so be sure of eternal life.
Then Jesus says, “Believe in me and so feed on me.” Trust Christ with your life so that you absorb Him into your very being.
The crowd had asked Jesus for a sign that gave them a reason to believe in Him (vs.30). They said, Moses gave their ancestors manna in the wilderness, but Jesus reminds them that those who ate that bread still died. In contrast, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (vs.35, 48); “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (vs.51). And He invites them to partake of His flesh so they can live forever. It’s a metaphor for faith.
Those who believe in Jesus receive Him into their very souls. It’s like they ingest Him into their lives. Jesus does not mean for them to actually eat His flesh. Rather, He wants them to invite Him into their lives, but the crowd doesn’t get it.
John 6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (ESV)
First, the crowd eats. Then, the crowd seeks. Then, the crown gripes. Now, the crowd fights. They don’t understand what Jesus is saying. They think He wants them to cannibalize Him, but Jesus only pushes the metaphor further.
John 6:53-59 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum (ESV).
Now, some people think Jesus is talking abou taking communion here. But just like the bread and juice are metaphors for the body and blood of Jesus, so Jesus presents his own flesh as a metaphor for feeding on Him spiritually. That’s because He is the only one who satisfies the hungry heart.
Joyce Carol Oates, an American novelist, and her husband, Raymond Smith, also a writer, met while attending graduate school in 1960. They got married and spent 47 years side by side. In 2008 Smith entered a hospital with pneumonia, and it took his life. His death was sudden, before his wife could get to him.
In her memoir, A Widow's Story, Oates describes how she went through her husband's things following his death and discovered an unfinished novel. In the notes for this work, she found that he had fallen in love with another patient when he was in a hospital prior to their marriage. To Oates' surprise, she also discovered that a psychiatrist had diagnosed her husband's condition by calling him a "love-starved" individual. She was shocked and even disillusioned. She had been close to her husband for years and never knew that he was starved for love. Oates wrote, "It should not fill me with unease to learn this, after Ray's death, and so many years after it happened. But he hadn't told me! It was his secret. He'd been 'love-starved'" (Author of the week, Joyce Carol Oates, THE WEEK, 2-15-11; www.Preaching Today.com).
Perhaps, that describes some of you—loved-starved. If that’s the case, then put your faith in Christ and let Him fill that emptiness in your own heart. If you want Jesus to fill the hunger of your own soul, then come to Him, trust in Him.
And STAY WITH HIM. Remain with Jesus and keep following Him.
John 6:60-63 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (ESV).
Here, Jesus makes it clear that He is not talking about eating His physical flesh, but about ingesting His Spirit. Then Jesus goes on to say…
John 6:64-66 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him (ESV).
First, the crowd eats. Then they seek. Then they gripe. Then they fight. Now, they leave. They leave the only One who can fill their empty hearts.
John 6:67-71 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him (ESV).
All but Judas had come to realize that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. Jesus alone can satisfy the hungry soul. Jesus alone can give them a life that really matters. Even though Jesus confused them sometimes, they decide to stay with Him when everybody else leaves.
You do the same. When the path is hard and Jesus confuses you, stay with Him. Remain with Him until He reveals Himself to you in all His fullness.
Tony Hsieh, former CEO of the online shoe retailer Zappos, recently died at 46 after suffering injuries in a house fire (November 27, 2020). He had sold Zappos to Amazon, while still maintaining the freedom to run it as a separate division.
Among his many culture-shaping practices was something known simply as “The Offer.” After a week or so on the job, he gave new employees at Zappos an option: they could continue on, or they could take a cash incentive to quit—an initial figure of $1,000 that only grew larger as the company did.
At the time of its inception, it seemed odd to pay people to leave the company, but Hsieh knew that it was worth far more to ensure that everyone who worked at Zappos truly wanted to be there. The Offer was a painless off-ramp for the less-than-fully-committed. The radical idea was consistent with his business philosophy: “we don’t sell shoes; we sell customer service.”
The idea quickly caught on, and as proof of its appeal, it spread to Amazon after it purchased Zappos in 2009. Business writer Bill Murphy summed up its lesson in a recent profile for Inc magazine: “Life is far too short to follow the wrong path. And today is always a great day to start finding the right one” (Bill Murphy Jr., “Tony Hsieh Had a 2-Word Employment Policy at Zappos, and It Was Absolute Genius,” Inc., 11-29-20; www.PreachingToday.com).
The right path is following Jesus, but He offers you an off-ramp if you find the way too hard. For Jesus is not about attracting the crowd. He wants only the committed to follow Him. Will you be among those few who stay with Jesus no matter what? I hope so, because those are the only ones who live full and satisfying lives, even if their lives are hard sometimes.
If you want Jesus to fill your hungry soul, come to Him, trust in Him, and stay with Him.
Oswald Chambers once said, “The man or woman who does not know God demands an infinite satisfaction from other human beings which they cannot give… The human heart must have satisfaction, but there is only one Being Who can satisfy the last abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ (Oswald Chambers, Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 11; www.PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, find your satisfaction only in Jesus.
