Really, This is Nothing New

Years ago I heard a similar story. It was of a cruise ship’s captain who, while strolling on the deck one evening near the end of the journey, found a young man eating crackers with cheese as though it were his last meal. Stopping to observe the ravenous behavior, the captain finally said, “Young man, was the dinner meal not to your liking?”

The man looked up, startled. “Oh, no,” he replied. “I’m sure it was just fine. But I…I brought crackers and cheese for my meals.”

“But why?” the captain asked, stupefied. “There are delectable feasts in the dining hall below.”

The man hung his head between his shoulders, forlorn. “I wanted to come on a cruise for so long,” he said. “To see the ocean, to feel the waves beneath me, to stop at exotic places along the way. But I don’t make a lot of money and I could only afford my room. I’m sure the beautiful food I’ve seen being served is way out of my budget.”

The captain raised his brow. “But, young man, you don’t understand! The cost of your ticket bought you both your room and dining privileges. You’ve gone hungry for no reason at all.”

Spiritual Perspective

In John 10:10, we read the often quoted words of Jesus:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Too often we look at this verse and concentrate only on the second half. We like having life “to the full” or, as the KJV version puts it: “more abundantly.”

But this verse comes in the middle of Jesus giving his “Good Shepherd” talk. Even though those who heard it were accustomed to the lifestyle of a shepherd and the dangers he shielded his flock from, they didn’t get the metaphor Jesus was trying to give them. They understood it was the shepherd’s work to bring the sheep out each morning, lead them along paths to fields of thick grasses for pasturing and streams of sparkling water for drinking. He led them to cool places to rest and then, at the end of the day, back “home” again where he stood watch over them. But they didn’t understand that Jesus was defining himself as the Shepherd and those who would follow him as his sheep.