Pack a Sandwich

“And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.” (Mt 16:5 AV)

Being obsessed or negligent concerning the temporal things of life opens us up to missing more needful things.  Knowing His disciples had forgotten to procure necessary supplies, Jesus remarked to be leery of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees.  They took that to mean that since they did not bring victuals with them, they should avoid attaining them from the scribes and Pharisees.  This is not what Jesus was teaching them.  He spoke of their doctrine.  Jesus used an incident of negligence to teach His disciples a relevant truth.  Had they been prepared and had bread, they would have gotten it.  But since they were not prepared with the things of this life, they missed the greater truths of spiritual relevance.  Forgetting to tend to the necessary things of life will cause one to define their lives solely by those things.  Tending to the necessities of life will open the mind and care for great things of life.

There is a lot of detail that goes into packing for a trip.  In my younger years, I was able to keep that imaginary list in my mind.  When we were planning to go off for a week or two, I would go through all my clothes and pack what I knew I needed.  I would leave my electronics until the day we left.  Personal items or medical items were not all that complicated.  Then we got older.  Packing got a lot more complicated.  Now our personal items bag and medicine bag went from a simple toiletry bag to a roll-behind picnic cooler.  There are accessories an older person needs.  It is not as simple as it used to be.  This led me to write out a list of needful items.  I printed several copies and each of our suitcases contains one copy.  That way, if I decide to take one over the other, there will be a list inside.  These copies of the list stay with the suitcase at all times.  When it is time to pack, all I have to do is open the empty suitcase and there is my list.  Brilliant!  All the way down the road, I don’t have to worry if I forgot something.  I know that if I followed that list, I would have everything I needed for my trip.  Taking care of the necessary things liberated my mind to pay attention to driving, conversing with my lovely wife, or anything else that was immediately needful. Taking care of the basics relieved my mind to think about the big picture.  The purpose of the trip, the best way to get there, and the things I wanted to accomplish could be on my mind.  Taking care of the basics opens the thinking to bigger things.

The disciples forgot to take bread.  It was the biggest thing on their mind.  So much so that when the LORD tried to teach them something of eternal value, all they could think about was the temporal.  This is how they looked at life.  What they would eat or what they would put on was of infinitely greater concern than the eternal.  This is the point of Jesus.  This is the truth He is trying to establish.  Had they not forgotten to take meat or bread, then when Jesus warned them of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, they would have gotten it.  There is nothing wrong with caring for the temporal.  The temporal is what gives us the strength to think about the eternal.  There is nothing wrong with taking care of the things of this life as long as they are not more important than eternal life.  Making sure one’s needs are met enables the saint to then dwell on that which the body cares nothing for.  This was the whole point of Jesus’ warning.   They were hungry.  They had forgotten to pack a lunch.  Until their stomach stopped growling, bread was pretty much going to be on the mind.  A nice mutton sandwich with garlic aioli would occupy the mind.  Not until the temporal was met would there be any headway made in the spirit.  So, take care of your immediate needs.  Make sure the body does not give you fits.  Take care of yourself or you will miss the great doctrines which the Spirit has in store for you.